Jakub Janošík has completed Janošík Headquarters and Showroom in Valašské Příkazy, Czech Republic.

The new headquarters and showroom of Janošík, a company that makes windows and doors for modern construction, are located beneath the White Carpathians' ridge, where forest gives way to meadow.

Reflections on good windows and their capacity to influence space and ambiance by establishing a connection with the surrounding environment gave rise to the architecture. 

The structure was revitalized by rebuilding a cooperative hall from the 1950s that had used as a grain warehouse. 

A once-closed structure has been physically and metaphorically opened. In order to highlight the true meaning of windows, a barrier has been turned into a connection between the building, the meadow, and the far-off views. The structure is known as Spoj—The Link.

The architecture was designed by Jakub Janošík, who shapes the design and artistic direction of his family company: "We wanted to create a pleasant space for work. Also a place where we can present our products—windows, doors, sliding walls—where people can not only see them but also experience them. 

The surrounding nature and hills have probably influenced our perception of architecture in close relation with the landscape. It is something we are reminded of here every day."

Windows—Product and Atmosphere

Numerous window and door options are weaved throughout the structure, serving as an experiment in form and function as well as a display of potential. Various materials and details are used, ranging from sliding large-format glass walls to smaller, targeted windows.

It also features unusual designs, such as pivot doors, a seating window with a glass that retracts to put you right in the garden, a window that floats in the middle of a pane of glass, sliding windows that float on an electromagnetic field, allowing even abnormally large sizes to be moved aside, and windows and doors made of brass or corten.

Architecture of Connection and Merging

The architecture and ambiance of the building were influenced by ideas concerning high-quality windows, including emulating the idea of fusing architecture and landscape, being open to the outdoors, creating seamless transitions between the interior and garden, and providing unhindered views. 

However, there was also the hope that the structure itself wouldn't alter the surrounding environment. As a result, the outside is rougher and darker, while the interior is restrained and serene.

Two volumes are interwoven by the architectural mass: a new concrete "embrace" that opens the structure to the surroundings and the old hall with its classic gabled shape. 

This brings the meadow all the way up to the building, and one can step straight onto it from the offices, which are five meters above the ground. The hall was originally surrounded by walls and divided from the meadow by a road and a fence.

The dialogue of the two volumes is highlighted by the reduction of the original hall's form to its most basic lines. The building looks like a monument from three angles, but as it gets closer to the ground, it softens and is driven into the ground, becoming a thin horizontal line.

The hall was insulated from the exterior and covered in black-painted timber to draw attention to the steel structure within. This wooden volume was carved with four cutouts. 

Each gable end has a single big window. The largest, measuring 9 × 3.2 meters, is located on the main façade and serves as a prominent notice for passersby, disclosing what occurs within. In comparison, the smallest lovely window is located on the opposite side.

Direct access from individual offices is made possible by loggias set into the building's sides; on the southern side, they open into a terrace and garden. 

Additionally, they provide shade, preventing the interior from becoming too hot in the summer and letting in low light in the winter.

Environmental Approach

The existing structure was utilized rather than demolished and rebuilt. Energy demand was decreased by replacing windows and installing insulation. 

Southern sunlight warms the structure in the winter, and loggias and roof overhangs protect it from the heat in the summer, removing the need for air conditioning. 

Underfloor cooling can be used on hot days. Solar panels installed flat with the roof blend in with the building's dark bulk, making it less noticeable in the surrounding landscape.

Materials

Ideas of restraint guided the selection of materials and colors, allowing the forces of nature to blend in with the external environment and resound within. 

The larch on the façade has been coated black to reveal the grain of the natural wood. To make concrete look geological rather than technical, it is dyed to resemble sandstone and poured in layers. The clean interior, which serves as a gallery for nature photographs, is enhanced by linen, natural oak, bleached spruce, and dark grey concrete. The historic Wallachian architecture is reflected in its expression.

Interior—Both Empty and Occupied

Recessed loggias, an open roof, and a central corridor that runs the length of the building all contribute to the interior space. Enclosed for undisturbed work, offices and conference rooms are arranged along the sides. A sliding glass wall connects the core space, which is open like a common square, to the garden and meadow.

The building's furniture were custom-made. The company's own workshop created the kitchen, tables, and shelves; nearby seats and metal accents were made. 

Office supplies and chairs made by Ton, Audo, or LD Seating are uncommon standard items.

There is hardly any decoration, and the furniture design is uninteresting. Instead, the area is replete with constant views of the surrounding terrain and the inward-flowing natural forces that shape certain moments of space, such as structure, light, darkness, proportion, height, rhythm, open-to-closed transitions, and surprise.

From Nature to Culture

Three artistic-design interventions broaden the connection between architecture and landscape in areas where the forces of nature were insufficient. Discussions concerning the atmosphere and its evolution gave rise to them.

Hills, Maxim Velčovský

There is a 12-by-15-meter, 12-meter-tall area behind the low, dim entry hall. It reinforces the space's abstraction by projecting the building's main window onto it. Maxim Velčovský created this item, which falls midway between a sculpture and a staircase:

"The staircase depicts the silhouettes of the surrounding White Carpathians, famed for their unique nature. Made of solid wood—forty cubic metres of pine—it embodies natural beauty and reminds us of craftsmanship. Its hill-shaped mass represents the union of natural force and human skill, tied to cultural heritage, craft traditions, and woodworking. The staircase also serves as a kind of amphitheatre, a place to gather or gaze at the landscape through the vast window, since the view from one place to another is a key theme here," said Maxim Velčovský.

Through Landscape, Lukáš Musil (Musa)

The emptier spaces of the building are animated by a cycle of 15 paintings by Lukáš Musil, tailored in size, mood, and technique: "It was like meeting humanity again. To inscribe the landscape. To pronounce Man. To whisper deed. From inside out and back again. To pass through. Heartbeat, calm, reconciliation. 

Landscape entering from outside in. Through. Linearity and freedom from effect for effect’s sake. Lightness and untamed spirit. A dialogue with the Wallachian landscape. Pigment applied from the back, penetrating through the canvas, quietly speaking into the space. A sense of the ineffable," said Lukáš Musil.

Holt, DECHEM Studio

Glass was created by translating the material's unadorned, basic structure. DECHEM Studio produced a range of lamps, pendant lights, and different-sized vases. 

Only the spherical shape is used in the design, and each piece's glass texture is vibrant and distinct. The glass in the office doors was made using the same idea, which allowed light to pass through while maintaining privacy.

Simple Garden

The surrounding scenery is continued in the garden that surrounds the structure. There was a meadow with an apple, plum, and cherry tree orchard, as well as trees and plants native to the area, including oaks, firs, birches, and linden trees. 

There are low pines, wild strawberries, dog roses, and hawthorn on the concrete addition.

Site plan

Ground floor plan

First floor plan

Section

Section 

Section

East elevation

West elevation

North elevation

South elevation

Axonometric drawing

Project facts

Project name: Janošík Headquarters and Showroom

Architects: Jakub Janošík

Location: Valašské Příkazy, Czech Republic

Client: JANOŠÍK OKNA-DVEŘE

Completion: 2025

Built-up area: 1,050m2

Gross floor area: 2,100m2

Collaborators and suppliers:

Hills sculpture: Maxim Velčovský

Through Landscape paintings: Lukáš Musil

Holt lights, glass objects: DECHEM studio

All images © Filip Beránek.

All drawings © Jakub Janošík.

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