LOŠBATES Primary School was developed through an international architectural competition as a collaboration between Canadian studio Pelletier de Fontenay and Czech practice SOA architekti, which brings extensive experience in designing educational environments. Conceived first and foremost as a contemporary educational institution, the project supports modern pedagogy through the everyday experience of space rather than declarative principles. Teachers are provided with a well-designed, multifunctional spatial tool for their work, while children gain a place for life—clear, safe, diverse and inspiring.
The school stands at the geographic centre of four municipalities, at the forest line, deliberately outside the historic core of any of the towns. This position allows it to operate as a shared hub for the wider area—a natural destination within a network of walking and cycling connections.
The campus follows a clear logic: a protected inner world at its heart, a sports zone to the east, and traffic and service access kept to the perimeter. The “forest cloister” concept forms a porous ring around a generous courtyard; the building is low, two-storey and horizontally articulated, fitting naturally into the surrounding built context. The central yard transforms the idea of “a forest inside the building” into a protected, green play landscape—an outdoor microclimatic heart for rest, play and learning.
The programme is legible and organised into a shared core with assembly hall, canteen and after-school facilities, the lower school, the upper school and a sports hall—connected by the ring as the school’s main “street”. The building is open to the community yet secure: selected parts can operate independently at defined times. Inside, a variable, open learning landscape offers choice of environments—pivoting walls and acoustic curtains quickly create smaller “pockets” for focused work, teamwork or presentations; the campus also includes a music and arts school and a STEM cluster for experimental, project-based learning. LOŠBATES represents a 21st-century school: an open institution with a welcoming atmosphere and a carefully designed spatial ecosystem.
LOŠBATES Primary School is designed as a robust, long-lasting and sustainable building, with a rational structural concept, high-quality indoor environment and reasonable operating costs. The load-bearing system is primarily reinforced concrete with an open structural layout, enabling long-term flexibility and adaptations without compromising the building’s core. The larch façade naturally weathers and develops a patina, and a large part of the roof area is designed as extensive green roofs.
The building meets the passive standard and is heated by heat pumps. Sustainability is strongly supported by rainwater management, with retention primarily in planted areas, including the green roofs. Excess water is stored and reused for irrigation as well as for toilet flushing and cleaning. A rooftop photovoltaic system is sized mainly for on-site consumption; surplus electricity is preferentially used for domestic hot water and thermal storage, and only then fed into the grid.
Team:
Studio: Pelletier de Fontenay, SOA architekti
Authors: Hubert Pelletier [Pelletier de Fontenay], lead architect
Ondřej Píhrt [SOA architekti], lead architect
Yann Gay-Crosier [Pelletier de Fontenay]
Štefan Šulek, Ondřej Laciga [SOA architekti]
Client: Lošbates Voluntary Association of Municipalities
Project engineer: BKN
Energy consultant: Porsenna
Gastro engineer: InGastro
Graphic designer: Barbora Zachovalova
General contractor: PKS stavby
General interior contractor: Santa
Larch wood facade cladding: TESKO konstrukce
GRC facade ledges: DAKO Brno
Large-format glazing [structural facade system]: PRUNIWERK
Movable acoustic partitions supplier: VETOS Group
Photographer: Alex Shoots Buildings
Materials Used:
Vinyl flooring (classrooms, canteen, halls) — Tarkett
SAGA acoustic ceiling panels; FOCUS acoustic ceiling panels (classroom, offices) — Ecophon
Sendwix sand-lime blocks (exposed interior masonry) — KM BETA
Pervia permeable concrete (courtyard) — Cemex
Singleflex Stadium wooden sports flooring — BOEN
skylights / light tubes — Sun Line One
interior wooden doors — SAPELI
wood-aluminium windows and doors — PKS Okna
elevators — MP lifts
Pinna student chairs — Santal
Active; Flex Table; Moving Boards — Flötotto
koi-booki conference chairs — Pedrali
