Josef Opatřil

The life and work of the architect Josef Opatřil is inextricably linked with the Brno State Project Institute where he worked for forty-one years (1960–1991). Despite predominantly designing department stores and hotels, he also participated in the designing of several sacred buildings and in the liturgical modifications to interiors of churches.

A native of Brno, he was one of the last to be trained, under the guidance of Bohuslav Fuchs and later of Bedřich Rozehnal, at the Faculty of architecture, University of Technology (study branch Architecture and Urbanism), where he graduated in 1960. He gained experience from both professors in designing functional yet aesthetically sophisticated buildings, features which he later implemented in his own designs.

One of the first designs he carried out was that of Hotel Vyšehrad in Český Krumlov in 1966, from which he drew inspiration for his designs for other hotels. However, Opatřil was always passionate about sacred buildings. Sporadically, he took part in architecture design competitions (e.g. in 1971 a church that was never actually built, for a housing estate in Hustopeče). Amongst other work, he participated in the design of the new Saint Václav Church in Most and the Church of our Lady Help of Christians in Brno. Above all however, he worked on liturgical modifications to church and chapel interiors. In designing them he observed the principles of clarity, unity and well-balanced proportions; he worked with religious symbols in an original manner, and worked sensitively with light, thus evoking a unique spiritual atmosphere. Although he liked to work with traditional materials, his sacred buildings retain their modern nature supported by the utter simplicity and functionality of all their components.

After the closure of the above-mentioned project institute in Brno in 1991, the architect turned freelance, set up his own studio and continued to participate in design competitions for sacred buildings, of which there was a marked increase after political changes.
 

1966
Hotel Vyšehrad, Český Krumlov

1975
Hostel ZETOR, Brno

1977
Shopping centre Lípa, Klimkovice

1978
Department store Jednoty, Topoľčany

1979
Hotel Morava, Pohořelice

1980
St. Wenceslas Church, Most (co-author of design)

1986
Interior modifications of the Church of the Assumption of the Holy Mary, Ivančice

1990
Town Gallery and Retiree Club, Blansko

1992
Carillon and landscaping of surroundings of Church of Pilgrims, Vranov u Brna

1995
Church of Our Lady Help of Christians, Brno

1996
Interior modifications to the Holy Trinity Church, Vysoké Studnice

1996
Interior modifications to the Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord, Jablonec nad Nisou

2004
Interior modifications and new altar of the Church of the Assumption of the Holy Mary, Kojetín