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This project in the Czech Republic conserves the austere and linear identity of the original complex, underscoring its industrial past
We're in Moravia, a history-rich part of Central Europe on the Prague-Vienna artery, a time-honored route that until the last century was studded with warehouses and staging posts for merchants and travelers. Kocanda Kravsko, located in the south of the Czech Republic, was an inn for a lengthy period. Later, from the mid-1800s onwards, extension and conversion made it into a ceramics factory, until the warehouses and production premises closed in the 1990s. Today the complex has undergone another conversion, by the studio ORA (Original Regional Architecture), this time into hospitality facilities.
Kocanda Kravsko is now a hotel and events space, and part of a broader upgrade project encompassing the local area, which plans to become a destination for alternative and eco-sustainable tourism. Also visible from a distance, the ex-factory's chimney has been preserved to emphasize the site's industrial past: its austere and linear identity is paired with a more contemporary feel.
The main request made of the ORA designers was to conserve the industrial aesthetics and layout of the former ceramics factory as far as possible. The original block adjacent to the chimney now houses the reception area and personnel facilities, which are accessed from a long colored concrete ramp. This, along with a staircase, serves as the new entrance to the hotel, overturning the previous layout with the factory accessed from the rear.
Recently finished, the Kocanda Kravsko II project specifically involves the second phase of conservation and reconversion, and centers on the plaster molds warehouse ‒ where the hotel rooms are found today ‒ and what used to be the sorting facility ‒ now an events hall. The first phase was completed in 2020 and instead focused on upgrading the Baroque-style central building that used to be the inn.
The building's entrance hall is now located inside the former plaster molds warehouse, where the clay used to be mixed. Here the old molds for casting pottery have been kept, and although they no longer have any practical value they do pay homage to the site's industrial past. Given the edifice's limited width ‒ its plan is an elongated rectangle ‒ a new salvaged-timber volume has been placed alongside the existing block, and this contains a gallery acting as a corridor for the rooms on the upper floor; it is positioned above the arcade, which instead provides access to the ground floor rooms.
Brick has been kept on the ground floor, as has timber on the one above. On the north side, the steel of the ex-factory's window frames has been retained, while some support pillars have been added to the façade to stabilize it due to the frequent subsidence episodes. The roof trusses have also been conserved and fully reconditioned after years of neglect. However, the eastern portion is the one that has undergone the most change: a glass front has been fitted, providing views of the surrounding landscape.
The former sorting facility constitutes the most recent part of the complex as it dates from the 1950s. Although this unit is certainly the least characteristic, the designers chose to leave it unaltered since it stands as an excellent example of industrial architecture. The ground floor houses the restaurant with kitchen, and a greenhouse. Instead, the upper level provides a large hall for use by groups: the open airy layout offers guests versatile multi-functional spaces that are well-suited to events and ceremonies.
Location: Kravsko, Czech Republic
Completion: 2022
Site Area: 6850 m2
Architect: ORA (original regional architecture)
Landscape: Klára Jordánová
Bathroom Furniture: Duravit
Photography by BoysPlayNice, courtesy of ORA
