Designing places that care

Human-centred public architecture. We designed House for Juliet, the first children's hospice in the Czech Republic, opened in Brno in 2024. We share what we learned, and we're looking for partners to do it again.

House for Juliet: a low timber and white building around a lawn courtyard with tall pines.

House for Juliet, Brno · New European Bauhaus Prizes 2026 finalist

THE PROJECT

A hospice full of life

House for Juliet is the first children's hospice in the Czech Republic. It cares for children and young adults with life-limiting conditions who depend on round-the-clock care, and gives their exhausted parents time to rest. Until it opened, there was no such place in the country. Czech law still does not recognise children's hospices, so it remains outside the public health service system. Today care and social organisations from Czechia and abroad come to Brno to learn from it.

Through her volunteer work, Radka Vernerová found that the Czech Republic had no children's hospice, and set out to build one. The organisation carries the name of Julinka, who died of an infection at seven months old.The City of Brno provided the land, and Radka asked us to imagine the house together with her: a place of care, relief and support for families who had nowhere else to go. There was no budget and no model to follow, so the brief was simple: do it as well as you can. We designed the ideal house, one that would offer more than the services families need, a calm and emotionally safe place to be. We split it into four phases that donations could pay for one by one.Then the city had unspent funds from a delayed public project. Because our documentation was ready, the whole hospice could be built at once. The city became investor and owner, and Dům pro Julii runs it. It opened in 2024, six years after planning began.Most families come for respite stays of one to three weeks. The team cares for children and young adults with life-limiting conditions, so their parents can rest.Being a hospice, it may seem like a sad place, a place to die in. In reality it is quite the opposite: a place to live fully, despite the odds. A place of relief, new experiences and ordinary happy moments. A place to make memories.

Opened · 2024, BrnoServices · Respite stays, day and home careInvestor and owner · City of BrnoOperator · Dům pro Julii, z.ú.Cost · About €7.5 million, of which about €3.5 million were EU fundsLandscape · Marek HolánPhotography · Alex Shoots Buildings

Aerial view of the hospice among mature trees, with Brno's housing estates behind.

The mature trees were protected throughout construction.

Inner atrium with a fish pond, old pines and a timber deck.

Children's rooms look into a closed atrium with old trees and a fish pond.

“Not a place to die in, but a place to make memories.”

Karel Kubza, ČTYŘSTĚN

WHAT OTHER PUBLIC BUILDINGS CAN TAKE FROM IT

The building can't be copied. The process can.

Meet the people early
Time with staff and parents changed our view of the brief: relief, joy and new experiences matter as much as care.Design the ideal, build in phases
With no budget, we designed the best possible house and split it into four phases that could be funded one at a time.Be ready when money appears
Finished documentation let the city fund and build the whole hospice at once when the chance came.Privacy, light, restraint
No views in from outside, no dead-end corridors, skylights, concrete and larch. Soft light and contact with nature do the main work.

Where the approach applies: inclusive schools · mental health facilities · dementia and assisted living · autism support centres · community hubs · libraries

TALKS AND CASE STUDIES

Karel Kubza speaks about

Karel Kubza is an architect and co-founder of ČTYŘSTĚN, and co-author of House for Juliet with Milan Joja and Tomáš Págo.

Designing compassion: lessons from House for Juliet
Designing the first children's hospice in the country with no model to copy, around relief, privacy and everyday life.Beyond the building: human-centred public infrastructure
What House for Juliet teaches about public buildings that combine architectural quality with lasting social and environmental value.From human need to architectural response
How architects, municipalities, service providers and communities can turn complex social needs into public architecture.

Karel is glad to contribute to
– Conferences, webinars and panel discussions
– Municipal and regional peer-learning events
– Architectural forums and schools
– Case-study interviews and editorial featuresČTYŘSTĚN is looking for
– Public authorities planning ambitious schools, care or community buildings
– NGOs and operators shaping a new public service
– Architects and consultants across Europe interested in partnering

RECOGNITION

House for Juliet

2026 · New European Bauhaus Prizes, finalist
Champions · Strengthening Local Democracy and Inclusion2026 · EU Mies Award, nominee
European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture2025 · Czech Architecture Award, Grand Prize and Public Award
Czech Chamber of Architects2025 · Dezeen Awards, shortlist
Leisure and wellness project

THE STUDIO

ČTYŘSTĚN

An architecture studio in Brno, founded in 2015 and led by Karel Kubza, Milan Joja and Tomáš Págo. We design public buildings, educational, cultural and social, with strong social impact, and we often help our clients shape the brief before we draw.Municipal Library extension, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. Won in an open competition in 2016. Czech Building of the Year 2024.Social housing, Bílovice nad Svitavou.Primary school Kuřim–Záhoří. Competition winner, in design.The name means “tetrahedron”, the simplest solid with four faces. Say it “chtir-shtyen”.

Common room at House for Juliet opening onto the garden

Soft light and contact with the outdoors, in every season.

CONTACT · KAREL KUBZA, ČTYŘSTĚN

Let's talk

Write to me about a talk, a case study or a public building you're planning.

[email protected]

LinkedIn · House for Juliet on the NEB Prizes site · ctyrsten.cz (in Czech)