Tábor Psychiatry – an architectural space linked to nature

When did you decide to become an architect?

“When I was a little boy. I’ve been lucky to have people who have inspired and pushed me. I went to the 'People’s School of Art' to study drawing with a fantastic graphic artist. Instead of playing sports, I was able to delve into the mysteries of graphics, painting and architectural composition. By the time I was 15, I knew I wanted to be an architect. I just had to overcome the not-so-small obstacle of getting into college. I graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague. There I met professors who revealed the horizons of high-tech architecture and Japanese Metabolism, as well as early Czech Modernism and Functionalism. I started working in Hradec Králové. I worked on civil and technical buildings and urban planning.”

When did buildings for the health sector come into the picture?

“In the early 1990s, with the development of private healthcare in the Czech Republic. Private healthcare projects gave me the opportunity for greater self-realisation and I was able to apply more experience in these projects, and realise them using my master’s in architecture. Otto Dvořák in Prague. My approach began attracting attention back in 1995, when the SANUS building in Hradec Králové won the national Building of the Year award for
'... humanisation of the medical environment'.”

Where do you find inspiration for your work?

“I am naturally inspired by the client, the assignment, the construction location and above all the mission – 'why and for whom'. And of course my experience from travelling around the world. Japanese architecture has been a major influence on my work since my schooldays. For example, Japanese Zen gardens are confirmation that physical and mental energy is not lost, but radiates back. It is up to us whether we perceive it as beauty, as composition or as a flow of energy.”

The psychiatry building in Tábor is unique in its conception and the range of services it provides, for instance. Can you mention a few unusual solutions?

“The building is not a traditional five-wing hospital, but a three-wing design. The façade, including the roof lights, also floods the interior of the building with daylight. In addition, there is a covered outdoor living terrace that is located on the first floor and complements the closed ward. This creates an outdoor environment for hospitalised patients; a link to the surrounding nature and art therapy studios. The protective façade is designed to overcome any sense of confinement or enclosure. And then there is the willow tree in the waiting room of the children’s outpatient clinic. It appears to be just a coat rack, but it is also a place where children can post their wishes; it is magical, glowing with different colours and you can even hide sweets in it.”

How would you rate the cooperation of all the actors in this project?

“In this case, I was again lucky to have all the partners around – including the client, i.e. the management of the hospital and the psychiatric department – while working on the concept, and then during the construction and completion of the interior. Everyone, including the companies that implemented the project, was open to my slightly non-standard approach and requirements for execution. If any of them had been unwilling to communicate and collaborate, this unique project would never have been realised. As an architect, I had a certain vision, a slightly different view of 'Ratio' and 'Imagination' that is uniquely incorporated into this project. These were suggestions that the other partners did not expect but were able to accept in the end.”

You created a building for people who were suffering emotional distress. So did your work require a different approach?

“Absolutely. A mentally ill person doesn’t have the same perception of the environment, they have different feelings. Their emotions are predominantly negative, they are depressed. In this situation, the architecture, its volume, space, the interconnection of spaces, their openness and interconnectedness, the maximum use of daylight, the special approach to acoustics and reverberation, the texture of surfaces, colours and safety in use, in this case, all have a strong influence on the direct, but mainly subliminal perceptions of the patients and their safety, as well as the safety of the staff.

The return to stability takes place through subliminal perceptions that are genetically encoded in our subconscious... In psychiatry it would be wrong to suggest a blue floor, as blue evokes water, while red evokes fire. Colours and textures express nature’s archetypes – and using them is a way to anchor a person, to bring them back to certainty and stability! For example, in the shower rooms, textured and wood-coloured materials are used on the walls and the floor colour is dark. The feeling of returning to nature was necessary in this space and all others.

The concept for the New Psychiatry building itself is 'not just a building, but an architectural space with a link to the surroundings and nature'. We tread confidently on gravel, sand or grass... but not on water, right? The psychiatry building has 24 patterns of vinyl and ceramics (in wood plank, carpet, meadow and sheet metal patterns). You can imagine what the building contractor’s initial reaction was to so many materials.”

Watch the video and listen to Architect Jan Hochman and others talk about the thinking behind the new psychiatric building.

“I perceive sound as an important part of the environment that surrounds us. I think it worked in the new house!”, Libor Macák, Senior Consultant.