Czech architects modern. A brief context to set expectations.
Czech architects modern: Quick notes
In the South Bohemian village of KamennĂ¡ Lhota, House Oskar is Prague-based architect Jan Žaloudek‘s own home—a retreat for himself and his wife, art historian and writer Jolanta Trojak—within the former gardens and Baroque barn of a neighboring chĂ¢teau.
The house, named after composer Oskar Nedbal, takes inspiration from both the rural vernacular and concept of a chapel, tempered by the constraints of building on a culturally-protected site. Its elongated form and gabled roof recall traditional agricultural buildings, while its defining feature—a perforated southern gable wall—filters like a screen, animating the interior with shifting patterns of shadow and sun. Niches on each façade form loggias and entryways that allow the house itself to breathe: it can open fully to the orchard and fields or close for a retreat.
Inside, the palette is spare: white stucco walls, concrete floors, custom ash furniture, granite, and Czech larch. Sculptural elements, niches, and arches are a nod to ecclesiastical architecture. Furthermore, Žaloudek and Trojak have envisioned the space as a Gesamtkunstwerk, open to the public, whether through rentals or as a venue for artist residencies, events, and workshops. More than a private residence, House Oskar is a study in how art, architecture, and landscape convene to form a unified whole.
Photographed by Boys Place Nice for Jan Žaloudek.
A short mention of Czech architects modern helps readers follow the flow.
Czech architects modern comes up here to connect ideas for clarity.
Above: The white stucco façade echoes the tone and texture of neighboring buildings. The roof is clad with fired ceramic tiles, and the shading panels are made from whitewashed Czech fir and spruce. 
Above: The house can either fully open to the landscape or close off to highlight its meditative quality. 
Above: The southern façade, with its perforated gable wall, features a 6-foot-wide circular window. 
Above: The dining table is the Oku Dining Table with the Bufala Chair and NY11 Chair all from Nor11. The trio of pendant lamps are the System Pendant Luminaires from Bega. 
Above: Light pouring in to the living room, designed with polished concrete flooring, the HAY Quilton Sofa, the Norr11 Gear Side Table, a tapestry of undyed sheep’s wool (Rug No. 07 at Cappelen Dimyr), and a trio of washi paper lampshades from Ferm Living. 
Above: A view of the living room with open doors.
Twilight kneads the chateau’s jaw, where blueprints blur with ivy’s crawl. His chimneys climb like smoke-spirals— steel bones anchored in old stone’s swell. The courtyard drinks the sun’s last sigh, glass panes etch the dusk’s faint blush. Vines drape the walls, slow rebels, their roots hum where foundations thrush. Beneath the eaves, the day unfurls— a wraith of wind through birchwood bones. Each window’s frame, a ghostly URL, mapping where the past has grown.
Sleek concrete melts next to weathered stone, a tower leans like a memory. The courtyard breathes glass and wind, steel beams hum with quiet light. Balconies stretch toward clouds, roots curl beneath floors— a language of brackets and vines, all held together by the weight of what’s unspoken. Chateau walls murmur in corridors, windows wink at the past. Here, the new is not loud—it’s just what’s left when old things learn to breathe.