The Environmental Centre

This theses provides a complete study and all encompassing plan for the creation of an environmental centre on the edge of the South Moravian village “Horní Němčí”. During my thesis we will refer to my plans for this build as simply “Bílé Karpaty”. The building is situated on a large gently sloping plot and is intended for educating children and youth groups in the field of ecology, nature protection and human impact on the landscape in PLA “Bílé Karpaty”. This environmental centre has great potential for drumming up interest in the form of eco-tourism and for raising public awareness of environmental topics. Planned forms of education consist of lectures in teaching rooms, practical workshop sessions, outdoor activities and experiential programs in the surrounding environment. “Bílé Karpaty” environmental centre has a capacity of twenty students per day time session. The optimal teaching format would comprise of three trainers and three operational staff at a time. The building consists of a ground floor, first floor, partial basement and a full size attic. The ground floor comprises of a dining room and the workshop. The dining room´s function is flexible, and can be used as a meeting room as well. The workshop will be where people experience practical demonstration of traditional handcrafts. The first floor contains two further rooms for teaching and operational offices. The basement performs the function of housing two necessary rooms, one technical in nature and one for food storage. During the design stage my intention was focused on the use of traditional building elements, namely wood, firebrick and stone, so the build sits comfortably in its surroundings