The Nova Skola Losbates is conceived simultaneously as a school and community center. Conceptually the project is divided into programmatic strips which react to their context accordingly. To the north, a green strip containing the sports field (athletic oval), external playground, teaching garden… is placed in vicinity to the forest. It forms a landscaped backdrop to the school building proper which borders it in a linear and modular fashion allowing seamless expansion. To the west at the intersection of Soubezna street and the new road from I/2, a piazza with drop-off signals the main entrance of the school but also acts as public space at the scale of the neighborhood. This piazza extends into a central atrium space which serves a dual purpose as an internal playground and as a covered public street after school hours. Towards the south and in direct interaction with the developments to the east, west and along I/2 we have placed the semi-public activities (visual arts school, auditorium, cafeteria, gymnasium) as urban objects deriving their shapes and colors from the traditional architectural repertoire of Lounovice and neighboring towns (such as the traditional pitched roofs and colors of roof tiles , the near-by blue building…).
A light steel structure roof connects these elements and unifies the composition. The linearity of the school building is broken by niches in the facade which can simultaneously be enclosed gardens or external classes. Within the central atrium, only the library volume bridges the gap between the two strips (school and semi-public) to rest on the cafeteria rooftop, thus providing the library with exterior reading spaces.
Wooden slats on the ground floor provide a sense of enclosure to the academic building allowing it to be locked and sealed after hours, thus enabling the free usage of the atrium and venues by the general public while preventing access to the classes. The internal facade of the school is animated by access stairs (which function as seating areas) as well as by the colorful “boxes” of the labs and workshops. Each floor is color coded according to the academic level (preparatory, primary, and secondary).