Exhibition of Czech history on a farm. Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA
07/02/2024.
[Lošany - Kolín] Czech Republic
metalocus, ANA GARCÍA LUJÁN
metalocus, ANA GARCÍA LUJÁN
The IXA architecture studio has transformed an old farm, located in Lošany, a town in the Kolín district located in the central area of the Czech Republic; in a Memorial of the Three Resistance Movements.
Zdeňka Mašínová recovered the farm of her father, Josef Mašín, thirty years after the fall of the communist regime, in 2017. Zdeňka Mašínová decided to found a company and open the farm to the public to expose the modern history of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic through the experiences of a rural family while paying tribute to General Josef Mašín and his family for their sacrifices in the fight for freedom and democracy in their homeland.
The project has been a finalist for the Czech Architecture Awards 2023.
Zdeňka Mašínová recovered the farm of her father, Josef Mašín, thirty years after the fall of the communist regime, in 2017. Zdeňka Mašínová decided to found a company and open the farm to the public to expose the modern history of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic through the experiences of a rural family while paying tribute to General Josef Mašín and his family for their sacrifices in the fight for freedom and democracy in their homeland.
The project has been a finalist for the Czech Architecture Awards 2023.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Site plan wide. Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA.
Site plan. Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA.
Floor plan. Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA.
Detail. Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA.
Axonometry. Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA.
Demolished construction. Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA.
Newly construction. Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA.
When designing the Memorial of the Three Resistance Movements, the IXA architects found few original elements of the house, since it had undergone several transformations. The authenticity of the house lies in the masonry and the vaulted rooms on the ground floor hidden and protected behind a layer of sprayed concrete.
In the lobby there is a text taken from a letter by Josef Mašín in which he says goodbye to his family, with love and pain and reveals the experience of a man of two resistance movements, which together with his legacy, make up the three, which are symbolized in the next room with a trio of sun tunnels in the vaulted ceiling. In the last space, a place of reflection without a roof, there is a mulberry tree that represents freedom and hope.
The farmyard is designed to accommodate large groups for ceremonial events or presentations. The farm building, with its original ceiling beams, houses an exhibition on the history of the farm, the family and the resistance movements. The barn on the upper floor is only opened in special cases and, together with the stable and hayloft, will be rebuilt in the final phase.
In the lobby there is a text taken from a letter by Josef Mašín in which he says goodbye to his family, with love and pain and reveals the experience of a man of two resistance movements, which together with his legacy, make up the three, which are symbolized in the next room with a trio of sun tunnels in the vaulted ceiling. In the last space, a place of reflection without a roof, there is a mulberry tree that represents freedom and hope.
The farmyard is designed to accommodate large groups for ceremonial events or presentations. The farm building, with its original ceiling beams, houses an exhibition on the history of the farm, the family and the resistance movements. The barn on the upper floor is only opened in special cases and, together with the stable and hayloft, will be rebuilt in the final phase.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
Project description by IXA
In 2017, nearly thirty years after the fall of the communist regime, Mrs. Zdeňka Mašínová regained the ancestral farm of her father, Josef Mašín, in Lošany. The very same year, a society was established for the purpose of creating a Three Resistance Movements Memorial in the house. The goal was to open it to the public and use it to preserve the legacy of Major General Josef Mašín and his family, has made significant personal sacrifices in the struggle for their homeland, freedom, and democracy throughout the 20th century.
The Three Resistance Movements Memorial reflects the extraordinary opportunity to view the modern history of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic through the story of one rural family and its companions. The memorial is conceived as a place for preserving the history of not just the foundation and operation of the resistance movements, but also their context and integrity.
Following many reconstructions, the ancestral home of Josef Mašín lost its original character. The only trace of authenticity is represented by the masonry and vaulted rooms on the ground floor, preserved and hidden under a shell of sprayed concrete. The concrete serves a protective and stabilizing function. Other soft parts of the building, such as non-original windows and doors, the roof, and the beamed ceiling, were removed. To quote artist Rachel Whiteread, the process can be described as the mummification of the base structure, whose interiors can be entered and traversed.
Three Resistance Movements Memorial by IXA. Photograph by Benedikt Markel.
In two opposing recesses of the entrance hall, the text of a letter by Josef Mašín is installed, where he bids farewell to his wife and children. Capturing a moment full of love, pain, and determination, underpinned by the knowledge of impending doom, it shows a man who experienced two resistance movements, and whose legacy gave rise to another. In the second room, a trio of sun tunnels located on the vaulted ceiling symbolizes the three resistance movements. The last space, with no roof, is a place for reflection. A mulberry tree grows here as a symbol of the Mašín family, representing freedom and hope which gradually exceeds the horizon of the memorial.
The sizeable courtyard of the original farm remains empty, ready to accommodate larger groups of visitors or serve as a backdrop for ceremonial and social events with presentations on the history of resistance activities.
The farm building, rebuilt into a stable in 1904, and later used as a tractor station for the local collective farm, is the site of an exhibition dedicated to the history of the farm, the Mašín family, and the three Czechoslovak resistance movements, located the former carriage shed. Under the original beamed ceiling, contrastive exhibition inventory is installed on renewed walls. The authentic granary on the upper floor is only accessible in very special cases, and like the stable and hayloft in another part of the building, it will be the subject of the final stage of reconstruction.
More information
Architects
IXA.
Design team
Tomáš Hradečný, Klára Hradečná, Julie Kopecká, Benedikt Markel, Bronislava Volentičová, Silvia Snopková, Vladěna Bockschneiderová, Jakub Kochman.
Co-author.- Petr Blažek, exhibition curator. Michael Baroch, Dominika Kovandová, Branislav Kožej, Magdaléna Piterková, Patrik Ölvecký.
Co-author.- Petr Blažek, exhibition curator. Michael Baroch, Dominika Kovandová, Branislav Kožej, Magdaléna Piterková, Patrik Ölvecký.
Collaborators
Construction work.- PROSTAV.
Sprayed concrete.- Podzemní stavby Brno.
Carpentry.- Jiří Sušický.
Landscaping.- Jakub Kratochvíl.
Exhibition production.- SIGNUM 1995.
Multimedia solutions.- st.dio.
Lighting.- Etna iGuzzini.
Sprayed concrete.- Podzemní stavby Brno.
Carpentry.- Jiří Sušický.
Landscaping.- Jakub Kratochvíl.
Exhibition production.- SIGNUM 1995.
Multimedia solutions.- st.dio.
Lighting.- Etna iGuzzini.
Client
Zdeňka Mašínová.
Investor: Mašínův statek — památník tří odbojů.
Investor: Mašínův statek — památník tří odbojů.
Area
Built-up area.- 745 sqm.
Usable floor area.- 1 085 sqm.
Plot size.- 11 539 sqm.
Usable floor area.- 1 085 sqm.
Plot size.- 11 539 sqm.
Dates
Project year.- 2019-2021.
Completion year.- 2022.
Completion year.- 2022.
Location
Lošany 1, 280 02 Lošany, Czech Republic.
Budget
Progression windows.— Slavona.
Deos lights.— Etna iGuzinni.
Open Frame Touchscreen displays.— Elo.
VIA headphones Handset.— Molitor.
Outdoor furniture: Emau benches, Quinbin bins, Velo bicycle stands.— mmcité.
Deos lights.— Etna iGuzinni.
Open Frame Touchscreen displays.— Elo.
VIA headphones Handset.— Molitor.
Outdoor furniture: Emau benches, Quinbin bins, Velo bicycle stands.— mmcité.
Photography
Benedikt Markel.
Tomáš Hradečný, Benedikt Markel. IXA Studio
IXA Studio. Architecture studio founded in Prague by architects Tomáš Hradečný and Benedikt Markel following their long-term collaboration.
The studio comprises a team of six individuals whose work spans a diverse range of scales and typologies, encompassing tasks from conceptual design to construction implementation. The studio is actively involved in addressing public spaces and buildings within historically protected areas.
Tomáš Hradečný is a Czech architect and professor. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague. From 1998 to 2009 he was a partner at the HŠH architekti studio together with Petr Hájk and Jan Šépka. Since 2014 he has directed his own studio IXA. He is also studio director of the Institute of Design I of the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University. Among his most important projects are, for example, the reconstruction of the Vrbata shed, the project of the new WIKOV changing rooms and the T-S 72 Stachelberg emergency exit.
Benedikt Markel is an architect, he studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University and at TU Graz from 2004 to 2010. From 2013 to date he is collaborating with studios and architects such as HXH architects, Petr Hájek ARCHITECTS, NOT BAD and ČKA, correlatively; At the same time, he has been part of IXA since 2014.
The studio comprises a team of six individuals whose work spans a diverse range of scales and typologies, encompassing tasks from conceptual design to construction implementation. The studio is actively involved in addressing public spaces and buildings within historically protected areas.
Tomáš Hradečný is a Czech architect and professor. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague. From 1998 to 2009 he was a partner at the HŠH architekti studio together with Petr Hájk and Jan Šépka. Since 2014 he has directed his own studio IXA. He is also studio director of the Institute of Design I of the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University. Among his most important projects are, for example, the reconstruction of the Vrbata shed, the project of the new WIKOV changing rooms and the T-S 72 Stachelberg emergency exit.
Benedikt Markel is an architect, he studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University and at TU Graz from 2004 to 2010. From 2013 to date he is collaborating with studios and architects such as HXH architects, Petr Hájek ARCHITECTS, NOT BAD and ČKA, correlatively; At the same time, he has been part of IXA since 2014.
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