The lifespan of a building reveals a lot. As years pass, layers of meaning and history accumulate over the architecture. In the Czech Republic, along the banks of the Chrudimka River in the centre of Pardubice, architect Josef Gočár—often credited as being the man who brought the movement of modern architecture to the region—erected one of his first buildings in 1909. Created for the Winternitz brothers, the monumental mills marked an important moment in the fabric of industrial architecture here, enhanced by Gočár’s incredible attention to detail and intricate material treatment. For over a century, the mills operated continuously, ebbing and growing in formal massing to accommodate diverse requirements. In 1924, the complex grew to include a grain silo. As the mill brownfield started transforming in 2016 into a social and cultural beacon for the urban district of Pardubice—under the initiative of the Automatic Mills Foundation—the conversion of the grain silo addition under the able hands of architects Martin Prokš and Marek Přikryl of Prokš Přikryl architekti breathed new life into the form.

“Every building has layers, historical, structural and conceptual and we like to discover them and add new ones. The whole, thus, becomes more complex, as the world is,” Prokš tells STIR. A century after its construction, the Silo conversion places newfound meaning upon this space, dislodging its previous industrial function. Three parts comprise the whole – the milling technology by Prokop and Sons, the skeleton framework by builder Pollert and an exquisite outer shell by Josef Gočár. Owing to this contribution by the iconic Gočár, the mills were never perceived purely as an industrial building, but rather as a mystery, a machine tucked away behind a fortress, veiled from the public eye.

It is Prokš Přikryl architekti who uncover this secret, opening the gates to the ground floor to carve out a freely accessible space underneath the silo bins – a design decision coinciding with the opening of the site to the city after more than a century. A previously closed opening restored, the brick plinth also reveals glimpses of the spatial narrative inside. “We think that the final design communicates well with the Gočár`s monumentality, while still being civil. The inside is quite rational, while the outer shell has something special, monumental and magical. The wide opening in the ground floor attempts to speak the same language as the original facades,” mention the designers.

A sense of verticality comes to the fore through this design, as the silo, its bins and its technology direct the volumes that comprise the building. The design firm intervenes with three radical reformations – the former machine room on the fifth floor (occupying a privileged position in the structure) becomes a multipurpose hall; a massive basement, an underworld of its own spanning the length of the structure is excavated between massive columns; and the insertion of a redesigned core (as in the past, a single communication core connects the whole building). They also enliven the grain bins, allowing one to truly explore the essence of the silo. “The condition of the old concrete, which is now approximately C16/20, was very good, showed no defects and no repair was necessary,” aver the architects, who only retrofitted horizontal structural members that did not meet required loads. In the new hall, earlier peppered with columns, only the original brick perimeter remains, while the ceiling, columns, roof slab and attic were remade to integrate a new structural scheme – from a frame to free-standing walls fixed into the ceiling slab. “Sometimes, it is necessary to resort to demolition to allow the building to breathe again and revive,” adds Marek Přikryl.

Inside, the distinct geometry and materiality of the grain bins give the space its characteristic atmosphere. Interior modifications feature a restrained quality, adhering to the principle of additions not standing in contrast to the old. For the restoration architecture, original muted surfaces are retained, complete with patinas, drill holes and scars left by demolished partition walls. The use of colour appears confined to the brickwork on the facades. Light punctures through glass-concrete floor panels, establishing a path through all the floors to the vast basement.

Theatre performances, lectures, concerts and other such events will populate the multi-functional upper hall, while a roof terrace and bar open to beautiful vistas of the city, both made fully accessible by wheelchair. The ground floor of the silo opens up to the city as a shaded public square, with facilities in the basement and the now-accessible grain bins morph into galleries for exhibitions.

“When coping with the national heritage context, while being aware that the building was designed by Josef Gočár, probably one of the greatest Czech architects of the 20th century, we strived to find the right balance between confident and conservative in our intervention,” reveal the designers.

Today, the mills stand as a national monument in a rich context of institutional buildings and cultural architecture—the regional Gočár Gallery, the city's “Gampa” Gallery, the “Sphere” central workshops for schools, the Infocentre and the Silo—linked equally by a brick carpet and by the unique tension between them as exceptional architects from the region grasped with individuality at each building. Gočár’s mills, however, continue to stand tall, a silently resilient monument adopting the evolving spatial ethos of the times by embracing cultural relevance – an ambition paved for by Prokš Přikryl architekti.

Project Details

Name: Automatic Mills Grain Silo Conversion
Location: Pardubice, Czech Republic
Area: 1,848 sqm (plot surface); 357 sqm (built surface)
Year of completion: 2023
Architect: Prokš Přikryl architekti
Design team: Martin Prokš, Marek Přikryl