Location: Horka nad Moravou, Czech Republic
Client: The city of Olomouc

1st prize in the architectural competition
The Czech Grand Prix of Architects 2007
Prize of the Minister of the Environment 2007
International Green Apple Award 2008
Nomination for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2009
Grand Prize of the Building with Environmental Contribution 2010
CEEP title 2012
City of Olomouc Award 2015
Patria Nostra Award 2020                                       

The Centre for Ecological Activities was designed as part of the “Slunakov Project” - facilities for ecological activities and an educational bio-center.  It is located northwest of Olomouc, in the Morava River valley. The facilities are used to educate the public about the environment and its processes and to support public environmental awareness. The building is also used as an information center and the gateway to the Nature Protection Area of Litovelske Pomoravi and for a wide range of other activities. The main focus is to provide one-day and weeklong environmental education programs for school-aged groups and professional seminars on ecology and education. The building also encourages “soft tourism” that includes environmental education programs. Because the Center has been designed for energy-saving, it is also a public example of the advantages of ecological building and sustainable development.                                                             

The building was conceived of as a curved, inhabitable land wave that fluidly blends into the surrounding terrain and symmetrically follows the North-South axis. The architectural design addresses  southern orientation with a south-facing glass façade with movable sun shades. Two recessed entrances are situated at the north side. The eastern side of the building symbolically ascends from the ground plane to enhance the display of the southwestern sunlight. The earth-sheltered northern side of the building fluidly adjoins the building’s earth-covered roof, which gradually increases in height from west to east. A path from the main entrance over the “ridge” of the building to the “top” lookout point provides a unique view of the entire bio-center. The area between the building and the artificial mound in front of the southern façade is used as a living garden.

Competition: 6/2003
Planning period: 2003 - 2004
Construction period: 2005 - 2006
Total solved area: 48 681 m2
Built-up area: 1 282 m2
Usable area of the building: 1 482 m2

Author: Roman Brychta, Adam Halíř, Ondřej Hofmeister, Petr Lešek
Co-author: Kateřina Horáková, Katarína Jägerová, Lenka Slívová
General idea concept: Michal Bartoš, Tomáš Lampar

Landscape architect: TERRA FLORIDA
Energy conception: Jan Tywoniak, Pavel Kopecký
Graphic design: Kultivar
Transport solution: VIA dopravní atelier
Photographer: Andrea Thiel Lhotáková, Filip Jančo