Introduction — A Building That Opens to Its City
Completed in 1969, the existing building represents a modernist public architecture — functional, yet inward-facing in its relation to the public realm. The project transforms this monofunctional administrative structure into a living organism serving its inhabitants. Architecture here is the instrument of transformation, reinterpreting the City Hall as an open, accessible, multifunctional civic infrastructure generating public life and social interaction.
Concept — The Scala
The central element is the new main staircase attached to the building's south façade, facing the city square. It is not merely a vertical link between floors but a gesture that makes visible relationships usually hidden in administrative buildings — the movement of officers and visitors becomes legible from outside, and the institution opens itself to scrutiny.
Within the glazed staircase volume, exhibition areas and informal meeting spaces coexist. Communication across the administration shifts from an internal procedure to a visible, spatial act. A public route runs diagonally from the ground-floor reception to the top floor, where the registry office and café are located — creating a new urban anchor of Přerov and an organising logic for the whole building.
Four Themes That Define the Building
1. The Scala: The Main Character
The glazed staircase links all floors at once, revealing the building's internal movement in a single section. Shifting communication from closed corridors to the transparent façade turns a functional necessity into a bold civic gesture, making the institution legible and open.
2. The Open Entrance Hall: Continuity of the Square
The ground floor is a fluid extension of the T.G.M. main square — fully glazed and visually permeable, with clear sightlines through the building into the backyard, dissolving boundaries between public and institutional space.
3. The Pavilion: Café and Rooftop Terrace
An accessible rooftop terrace and café on the top floor form a light architectural pavilion with panoramic views over Přerov — the culmination of the public route and a vibrant civic destination.
4. The Open Floorplan: Adaptable Workspace
Non-load-bearing walls have been cleared to maximize spatial efficiency. The liberated floor plates create an adaptable layout around a stable central core, letting the administration reconfigure its workplace with lightweight partitions — a cost-effective solution.

Materialization — Layering of Materials
The reconstruction is grounded in respect for the building's original structural substance, complemented by new technological and material layers. Valuable elements of the late-1960s structure are preserved and extended by new constructions meeting current demands for energy efficiency, fire safety, comfort, and long-term sustainability.
From the original building, the load-bearing steel frame and the floor and ceiling slabs — formed by prefabricated reinforced-concrete PZD panels — have been retained. These form the building's primary structural layer: cleaned, structurally assessed, and adapted for new use. The new interventions are not a replacement of the original architecture, but its next developmental layer.
Steel Structure
The original steel skeleton of columns and beams remains the building's primary structural system. To meet fire-resistance requirements, it received a fire-protective plasterboard cladding finished with anodized aluminum sheeting, giving the structure a unified, contemporary expression while marking a legible boundary between the building's historical substance and its new form.
Floors
The original reinforced-concrete panels have been extended with new floor build-ups: thermal and impact-sound insulation, a leveling anhydrite screed, and a final polyurethane resin finish. The material offers high durability and easy maintenance, producing a continuous interior surface that underscores the structural logic of the original building.
Façade
The new façade follows the original modular system of alternating glazed and solid panels, preserving the rhythm and proportions of the original architecture while significantly improving the envelope's thermal performance. New thermal insulation and modern window fillings have been added. In the south-facing parts, expanded-metal shading reduces interior overheating, increases energy efficiency, and creates a distinctive visual layer that transforms with the time of day and light conditions.
Concrete Arcade Elements
The reinforced-concrete arcade elements in the passage on the building's west side have been preserved and finished with a new pebble-dash render ("břízolit"), in keeping with the building's traditional material approach while ensuring long-term protection. The renewed surface unifies the architectural expression of the public space and underscores continuity between the original and new layers.
The overall materialization is based on a dialogu