Almost in the heart of Roudnice nad Labem, a town situated on the left bank of the Labe river, stands a corner town house with one underground and three above-ground floors. The ground floor is currently occupied by the restaurant “U Faustů”, with its kitchen and facilities for guests and staff all located on the same floor. There are flats on the remaining floors and there is also an unused attic and a beautiful basement lounge. The client asked for a complete reconstruction, which would include an extension of the kitchen facilities, an outdoor bar, a summer garden, small apartments on the upper floor, a regular-sized apartment in the attic and a garaged parking. This was not an easy task because the building had to serve multiple purposes which all had to be separated from each other so that the comfort of the employees, the guests as well as the residents would be preserved. We came up with a number of ideas, out of which four were presented to the client. After extensive discussions, one solution was selected and tailored to the client’s needs. And the result? We kept the existing restaurant and its entrance but we enlarged the kitchen area by placing all its facilities inside a new extension (now housing the pantry, staff cloakroom, the office, staff restrooms, garbage storage, summer bar and a place for vegetable preparation), we also designed two garages for a new three-bedroom luxury attic
apartment with an area of 137 m2 and a terrace overlooking the garden, and finally on the first floor, we designed three single-room apartments for rent. The restaurant is now dominated by an outdoor garden divided into two levels. The first is hidden in the inner courtyard and provides shade and tranquillity in contrast to the bustling Pracner Street. The second part of the garden is designed as a roof terrace above the restaurant facilities and garages and has a visual contact with the street life. The entire design is functionally clear with none of the purposes of the building trespassing on the others. Guests enter the restaurant from the corner of the building, the garden is then accessible through the street or through the ground floor. There is a separate entrance for both the staff and suppliers. The service between the indoor restaurant and the outdoor garden operates within the kitchen and its facilities. Tenants and apartment owners enter from the street through a separate staircase. The new extension is covered by Cor-Ten weathering steel sheets, which contrast to the Art Nouveau facade of the house and also hint to the industrial history of adjacent factories. In addition, the steel sheets are highly durable and maintenance-free, which was a key requirement of the client. Restaurant guests will soon be able to enjoy good beer and Czech specialties in a new spacious garden.
