Studio Plyš revamps Borová Lada Cottage outside Bohemian Forest

Architecture practice Studio Plyš has renovated a 19th-century cottage at the edge of the Bohemian Forest in the Czech Republic, repairing its original stone and timber structure with additions in plywood, concrete and fibre cement.

Named Borová Lada Cottage after the nearby village, the 333-square-metre home was overhauled to improve its structural integrity and maximise space by inserting living areas into its attic.

According to Studio Plyš, the cottage's original structure had been subject to a series of unsuitable repairs in the '80s and '90s, requiring the practice to introduce new foundations and roof reinforcements.

The Prague-based studio repaired the building fabric with new materials such as steel, concrete and fibre cement, which are left exposed to deliberately highlight the different layers of the building's history.

"The design was guided by respect for the building's layers – its material presence and history," founders Lenka Vávra and Petr Vávra told Dezeen.

"Removing damaging interventions became an opportunity to weave a new structure into the fabric, one that stands alongside the old while amplifying its inherent qualities," they added.

Borová Lada Cottage's original compartmentalised floor plan has been retained, with the ground floor divided by the original chunky stone walls.

However, at the cottage's southern end, greater reinforcement was required to support the roof, which led to the construction of three board-marked concrete columns, cast in-situ alongside its new foundations.

This gable end, where new meets old, became the focal point of the home, with a living area connected to the kitchen through a large opening and to the garden through full-height sliding glass doors and a covered terrace.

Externally, the gaps between the concrete columns have been clad in dark timber panels, incorporating matching doors and motorised shutters on exposed steel rails that conceal two porthole windows.

In Borová Lada Cottage's living room, the largest of these porthole windows has been padded internally to create a sit-in reading nook within the plywood-clad wall.

Above, the reinforcement of the original roof trusses with steel beams allowed for the insertion of skylit attic spaces, treated as a standalone structure that Studio Plyš described as being "quite literally screwed into the building".

Timber beams clad in fibre cement boards, which stop short of the gabled ceilings, frame a more communal, central space, while the bedroom units sit at the edge of the plan, beneath sloping steel and timber beams.

"The new layout supports multigenerational living, with individual units and shared spaces linked by a central staircase," Lenka and Petr said. "The inserted structure houses sanitary facilities, carefully separated from the historic fabric to preserve its vapour‑open character."

Borová Lada Cottage is topped by a metal-shingle roof, the edge of which is finished with a zigzag pattern that references a zmijovka – a traditional type of Czech wool cap.

Elsewhere in the Czech Republic, local studio Atelier Hajný recently converted a derelict 1970s hut near Prague into a timber-lined country retreat, while Mjölk Architekti and Marie Vondráková rebuilt a fire-ravaged pool house in Liberec.

The photography is by Tomas Slavik.

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