HOUSE OF LABEM

At its core, the building proposes something small: households of six to eight people, each with a kitchen, living room, fireplace, and terrace. Private rooms open not onto anonymous corridors but onto something familiar: the smell of coffee, the same faces at the table each morning. For residents living with dementia, this matters. The household is small enough to be understood, consistent enough to be trusted. It does not ask people to remember where they are; it simply makes forgetting less consequential.

Each household faces a central courtyard planted with trees and seasonal greenery, gently enclosed so residents who wander may do so safely, without the experience of being stopped. The ground floor belongs to everyone: a public hall, chapel, café, and medical centre with physiotherapy and hydrotherapy, all open to the surrounding neighbourhood.

From a distance, the building reads as a cluster of distinct structures, with brick façades and terra cotta rooflines that echo the vernacular of Lysá nad Labem. It will age by becoming more itself, treating those who live there with the beauty they deserve—not as a luxury, but as a form of respect.