Studio Efler – Vernacular Architecture Heritage Design Studio

Czech Paradise. The heart of our country, home as each of us pictures it. Bohemia in its most beautiful, almost ideal form. Rolling countryside, forests, rocks, fields, orchards, waters, fairytales. Enthroned among them are symbols like Trosky, Kost, and Malá Skála. And that is where we will head. Even this landscape has its continuing hidden values, as well as sore spots; it continues to evolve, change, and adapt to modern times, modern usage, and human needs.

Sobotka, a small, picturesque historic town near Jičín, a recreational and tourist resort known as the 'southern gateway' to the Czech Paradise, serves as an entry point to the Protected Landscape Area (CHKO). Historically, via the Humprecht hunting chateau with its former game preserve offering views across all of Bohemia and the Plakánek Valley, it is connected to Kost Castle. Many prominent artists come from or visit the area, which has inspired them to the point of being a source of creativity for centuries. The native language and its legacy are carefully maintained in museums, libraries, and the rectory; celebrations of the beautiful landscape and national culture have come to life here for decades through festival gatherings.

In cooperation with key local actors, we will seek out existing and hidden values, potentials, and negatives, working sensitively and respectfully to integrate them into the demands of the modern era. Emphasizing, reviving, and connecting public spaces, distributing visitor pressure, and meeting the needs of the town, with a special focus on the possible future form of existing and other sites, spaces, and surroundings in connection not only with the festival but also with the personality of Fráňa Šrámek and other poets and artists. Humprecht—serving as a dominant feature of the town and surrounding landscape, as well as a unique Baroque hunting chateau—awaits the challenge, following the chateau's reconstruction, of adapting its former game preserve into a forest park in direct connection with the town and the landscape toward Kost.

In cooperation with the Trevisan-Sklenář studio (Institute of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University in Prague) - link to the assignment.

Site assignment:

• Regeneration of the Šrámek House area, the theater, library, information center, and the rectory in the center of the town of Sobotka.
• New townhouse developments in the urban gaps of the town of Sobotka and the restoration of selected historic buildings in the town.
• Urban regeneration of the town's historic center.

Field research in cooperation with the Trevisan landscape architecture studio:

• October 1–3, 2026 - Meeting with city representatives and workshop (including overnight stay)—attendance is mandatory.
• Further field trips during the semester.

Kost Castle - one of the most significant and best-preserved Gothic castles in our country—is undergoing long-term structural restoration and a gradual change in usage. The owners, the Kinský dal Borgo family, have many plans to introduce the property and its surroundings to visitors in a new concept. Future apartments, new parking and events, as well as the need to disperse the huge volume of tourists (up to 70,000 annually) and visitors to the Czech Paradise within a very narrow space, will change the dynamics around the castle and in the wider surroundings. Now, our task is to design options for the appearance and use of the settlement below the castle, ponds, adjacent forests, rocks, and valleys while preserving or rediscovering their values. We need to create a system and structure for potential offerings to visitors beyond the castle itself, including scenic loops, connections to the surrounding landscape, changes to the traffic regime, and a contemporary approach to facilities and unusual programming.

Assignment:

• Overall concept and adaptation of the castle's immediate surroundings in connection with the current intentions of the owners and the needs of the Protected Landscape Area (CHKO)—including new apartments, parking, modifications to existing dining options, converting the existing gamekeeper's lodge into light dining facilities, staff accommodation, restrooms, making the ponds and the Plakánek Valley accessible, and addressing overtourism.

• Creation of a new tourist circuit featuring points of interest around the castle (signage/orientation system).

In cooperation with the Trevisan-Sklenář studio (Institute of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University in Prague) - link to the assignment.

Field research in cooperation with the Trevisan landscape architecture studio:

• October 1–3, 2026 - Meeting with city representatives and workshop (including overnight stay)—attendance is mandatory.
• Further field trips during the semester.

Other topics of your own choice or from the current offer are possible only after prior consultation by e-mail or MS Teams.

Students who completed ATSBP or DSN with us in the previous semester may again enrol in the continuing follow‑up of their bachelor’s (BP) or master’s thesis (DP). It is also necessary to register via the registration form of the FA CTU in Prague.

Assignment options:

• Conversion of the brewery and completion of the Kolín chateau complex.
• Visitor center in front of Karlštejn Castle.
• Custom assignment by individual agreement with the studio management.