J&T BANKA Café

The theme of the solution is a stylized conceptual architectural project "Mountains and Stars".
The goal was to draw users in as ordinary visitors, not just as esteemed clients of the bank, into a specific framework for moving beyond - into the realms of ordinary reality. The areas in the murals symbolize the outline of our reality. The play of surfaces and shapes here can evoke this image of transformed horizons in an aesthetic dream. The solution itself is based on an illusionarily assembled stone core set before the horizons and the starry sky above the glowing stone nucleus. The wall paintings express " horizons". The stones used for the cladding of the core symbolize what is valuable, what is worth something as exceptional above the ordinary, something that does not succumb to decay in rapidly changing situations, nor to the whims of nature, which transforms through the abilities and will of man. The colors of the murals on the ground floor move away from the artistic origins of one branch of the functionalist legacy, which found its development precisely in Brno, where new accents emerged according to new discoveries of color in space. The last theme was the resolution of the furniture and designed details of the café, which are intended to enhance the atmosphere; this includes the symbolizing lighting on the ceilings. Architecturally, the realization had to depend on both the idea - the story, and the shape that expresses it as architectural space more than on the details of industrial design.
The walls are clad with makassar veneer arranged into patterns according to the meaning of the space, the floors are covered with massive walnut parquet with an oil finish, featuring a more demanding joint cut. The stone core is clad with large-format marble slabs of atypical dimensions. The stone core with stylized "mountains" above the horizons transitions on the first floor again into illusionarily composed murals executed in stucco technique. The ceiling on the ground floor is composed of metal panels, whose gaps evoke the principle for lighting, and there is hidden air conditioning within them. The ceiling of the second floor, visible through the open gallery from the ground floor, is assembled into images of stars (with constellations). Metal details including handles (design by Hans Kolhoff) and the custom railing are made of solid bronze. Mobile furniture – leather sofas of various sizes and colors are designed by Moroso, model Bloomy, and resemble the shape of flowers. The tables in black and white variations are assembled from an atypical lacquered matte base and high-gloss tabletops. The bar around the stone core is clad with backlit stone slabs made from translucent quartzite, including the work surface. All details in the composition of the atypical " mountains" joint cut are very demanding in terms of careful design and craftsmanship. On the upper floor, there is a client lounge, where a wall mural creates the illusion of a mountainous space complemented by a transferred image of Golden Field by academic painter Markéta Jelenová. Velvet seating and other furnishings are from Hall by the design company Driade. Curtains, drapes, and drapery are from Shaco, porcelain tableware is by Rosenthal, Nido series, cutlery is designed by Alessi, Caccia series, glass is from Schott Zwiesel, Pure series. The bar equipment is by Sambonet.
The architectural goal here is not to highlight exclusive materials, but to draw contrasts between ordinary reality and imagination in the story theme - "mountains and stars", but so that the entire real space is inspiring even for ordinary reality. The whole solution is based on a variable vision of the real world composed of surpassed horizons. These are derived from the idea of necessary leaps of ordinary reality; steps graduating as if to the peaks of mountains into an imaginative starry landscape.
In the entire design, there is thus the most original concept of the starry sky above the metaphorical representation of heights through the stone core, dominating the adjacent horizons.