I am not sure that I would call it love directly, but some aesthetics of public space and in general of the world around us have interested me since childhood. Some of my earliest memories include my dad's traditional lament about the incongruity of the home facades and the excess of advertising signs around the road when we crossed the border back into the Czech Republic after a holiday. During my studies in Norway, I was drawn to the minimalism and austerity of architecture, but it was only David who taught me a real feeling for design and aesthetics. Not only because of his videos but also his overall view of the world.
My journey led through photography, which I love to return to again, only on the basis of free creation. Photography and working with light is the basis for all the filmmaking that I do. I was also lucky with people who made me reach world-class companies in the field of product design with an overlap into architecture. But certainly my family branch has a considerable influence, with at least 2 generations back, including my parents and sister, working or doing business in the construction industry.
J: I think this place really has its genius loci and can offer everyone who is going to sleep there, sauna, work or relax, what they need. For me, the place also has a personal charm in the fact that David and I had our wedding there.
D: One is really surrounded on all sides by the forest. This makes it feel private, plus it has a very nice view of the surrounding hills. For me, it has an added value in the aforementioned family hierarchy, when I remember in retrospect how I came here with my grandfather for the very first time to a dismal, overgrown forest, which cannot be compared to today's form of maintained orchard.
D: Bebech has the great advantage of being located on the border of several microregions and protected landscape areas, which are typical for their undulating landscapes and cultural subsistence. So it's a great starting point for trips, whatever side of the world you're heading to. It can be the nearby Lázně Luhačovice and their typical architecture, literally behind the forest there is a ski lift or the village of Vlachovice with a lot of interesting and enterprising people, behind another hill there is Vizovice with its summer festivals. I can not forget the great hiking and marked cycle routes of various difficulties, but also the gradually being realized project of the Vlachovice waterworks, when in a few years we could see a large reservoir in the valley between Bebech and the Vysoké Pole observation tower.
J: From the beginning, our intention was to “mine” the beauty of the place where we create something. That's why we wanted buildings that blend in as best as possible with the surroundings and disturb it as little as possible. For this reason, we have chosen large windows on both Bebek and sauna, thanks to which one can feel as much as possible part of the surrounding nature. At the same time, we perceive that saunas are something ritual, perhaps personal, that is why the sauna stands as a solitaire under a pear in an orchard and thus both structures function independently of each other.
A: This is related to the previous answer. We opted for two solitaires and therefore did not feel the need to unify the color of the sauna facade with the green facade of Bebechu. But maybe sometime in the future we will change our minds and our booth will turn white:)
J: Certainly. The ritual of starting and keeping a fire in the stove is something we don't want to impoverish saunters of. At the same time, we feel that it simply belongs to the place.
D: I probably couldn't imagine any other stove option in this place. In addition, I feel that dividing the fire and being patient to heat the sauna to the desired temperature go hand in hand with the whole ritual.
J: I grew up in a sauna family. However, I really fell for the benefits of regular sauna bathing only when I was studying beyond the Arctic Circle. My daughter and I have been sauntering in my parents' home sauna since she was three months old. In addition to the health benefits that the sauna brings me, I currently go to it to relax more mentally. In the sauna, I can think about things differently, new things.
D: I had probably my strongest sauna experience so far in Tampere, Finland, where we went to visit a friend. We were part of a really large, perhaps the most typical sauna in Tampere — Rauhaniemi, which was filled to the ceiling mostly with premises, we cooled down in a large cut hole of a frozen lake. I realized that this is something completely natural for them and instead of going to the pub, they automatically go to the sauna after work. I'm all the more looking forward to our private, wood-scented cube.
D: Bebech will be designed primarily for two adults who want to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life — this is how it was conceived. Anyway, it offers the possibility of sleeping up to three people or maybe a couple with a small child, a party of three friends, there are no limits to the combination:) We are working diligently on the details of the interior so that from spring 2025 it can be opened for reservation to the public. We plan to offer rental of the cottage in combination with sauna, but also separately
