An Abstract Space with Subtle Elements of Uncertainty

Project: Yoga Garden and Art Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic; Architects: RO_AR Szymon Rozwalka architects, Czech Republic An open dialogue in which the new and old coexist, this project is a conscious attempt to defy the expectations from a yoga studio and an art gallery in the conventional design sense

- Szymon Rozwalka

Within the European context, yoga like architecture often succumbs to false preconceptions. The idea for the Yoga Garden and Art Gallery in Brno was thus to avoid such preconceived notions and create a space sans the deceitfulness of nostalgia or the exotic cliche of spirituality. The architecture for it is the result of a search for a natural and, at the same time, an abstract space.

The original building was a post-industrial structure within a historical block development, a severed fragment of a former whole. A fragment in which certain traces of the past were visible, others hidden and still others entirely forgotten. All of these traces were interesting, and could have become the initial point of departure for the project. However, the architects decided on a different manner of radical intervention—without fear, but with respect for the old. The result was not intentionally determined in advance, but was the culmination of individual decisions.