The client’s brief was to create a company headquarters that builds on a strong glass tradition and combines glass and light in a contemporary language. Its artifacts are placed all over the world and are among the top in the industry. The client purchased two historic houses in the center of Nový Bor intending to convert them into company headquarters. The houses were historically glass workshops, had livestock, were lived in, and have undergone varied development over the two hundred years of their existence. In the late second half of the twentieth century, there was even a glass school and the houses were declared cultural monuments.
The architecture of the site mirrors the strong tradition of glassmaking, which the work and design of LASVIT continue. The design interprets the typical two-story glass house in a contemporary form and completes the site into a single functional unit. The original houses from the early 19th century are complemented by two new ones.
The glass house is a space for an office café, a meeting room, and also a sample library. The second, the black house, offers space for the presentation of 1:1 samples and glass objects weighing up to 5 tons.
The proposal for the restoration and completion of the Lasvit site is aimed at the prospect of its unification into a harmonious composition of the entire block. Two existing listed buildings have been supplemented with two new ones based on the proportions typical of the site. The shape of the houses is abstracted into a simple form of a rectangular plan covered by a hipped roof. The courtyard, surrounded by original buildings and contemporary architecture, becomes a protected ‘paradise’ garden for rest and work. On the side facing away from the square, a passageway for the public has been created.
A new glasshouse has replaced the brick neck that formerly connected the historic buildings. The house is the center of the company’s headquarters, a café, and a meeting space. Inside, it is surrounded by shelving for a library and sample storage. The glass elements in the shelves are illuminated by daylight and glow outward after dark. The shell and roof are covered with glass stencils that were developed in collaboration with Lasvit. They are based on the proportions and laying of slate slabs used on gables and roofs in the region, and the texture of the glass template is based on the fracture of the slate sheets.
