Within the framework of the revitalization project for the chateau hill, the design studio HŠH architekti was entrusted with the task of designing the reconstruction of two historical public buildings: the chateau riding school (01-133b) and carriage house (01-134) and two adjoining public spaces – the upper section of the first chateau forecourt and the park below the chateau. The architects chose a non-traditional material as a unifying feature for all four projects – glass-fibre, whose production has been associated with Litomyšl since the 1950s with the construction of the Vertex factory.
The glass-fibre features in the park below the chateau are intended, with their amber colour, to represent “jewels”, the most distinctive of which within the space is the course of the stream. Its convoluted course was designed using a voronoi diagram. The course begins at the chateau pond at the highest point of the park and flows into a grotto, restored according to original plans. The overall effect is rounded off with several smaller details – crystalline-design benches taking their inspiration from the sgraffito pattern on the chateau, and the peacock aviary in the shape of the bush inside on which the peacocks can perch.
Prior to the placing of the individual elements, the park was cleansed of its various building interventions from preceding years which had significantly disrupted its original layout and pathways. The most substantial change being the removal of the natural amphitheatre for operas at the annual music festival (Smetana's Litomyšl) and film festivals. Built in 1974, it was designed by the State Institute for the Reconstruction of Heritage Towns and Buildings and was a reconstruction of an existing amphitheatre built in 1949. Moreover, its dismantling was a condition of the chateau being awarded UNESCO World Culture and Heritage status in 1999. The architects designed a mobile substitute for it.
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