Credit
Tomáš Mach for Svoboda & Williams
PRAGUE — Unlike their common Czech cousins — raised on local fish farms and destined by tradition to be deep-fried and served on Christmas Eve — the 70 carp in the koi pond at the joint functionalist villas of the K Dymaci property are of a rare breed, harking to the Japanese tradition of koi-rearing and revering.
Jan Prucha, the owner of the villas and a devoted carp enthusiast, had not just the koi pond designed around a certain Zen aesthetic, but the whole property, which includes a Japanese garden. The 3,180-square-meter estate, in the quiet village of Cholupice, in southern Prague, is now for sale, and Mr. Prucha is willing to sell the carp as well, so that the fish can stay in their cultured habitat. Listed by Svoboda & Williams at 50 million Czech koruna, or $2 million, the property is “not for the typical owner, but ideal for two families,” he said, and allows for creative license in completing the interiors of the main villa.
Built over 18 months between 2006 and 2008, K Dymaci originally comprised four farmstead buildings dating to 1870, making it one of the oldest properties in the village, located about a 20-minute drive from Prague’s city center. Its modern incarnation still has one of the original brick cellars — reachable by a trap door on the patio — that is now set up as a wine cellar.
Mr. Prucha and his partner, Barbora Filipova, found the original blueprints in the city archive and used the old houses’ bricks in the walls and stones in the fence. Elements of the garden’s history, too, were preserved.
“We kept the old trees. We tried to build around them and respect them,” Mr. Prucha said. “Since there are several big Douglas fir trees on the plot, we decided to have the buildings built with concrete skeletons just in case one of the trees fell.”
Credit
Tomáš Mach for Svoboda & Williams
Mr. Prucha and Ms. Filipova hired CS Architects for the project, which was nominated in 2009 for the Architecture Grand Prix, the Czech Republic’s biggest architectural award. The architects for the project, Jaroslav Zatko and Petra Brzobohata, envisioned the functionalist design of the estate. “Czech architecture is quite famous for functionalism, so we wanted to have the houses built in that style,” Mr. Prucha said.
The estate features two villas, both two stories. The smaller, at 230 square meters, or 2,475 square feet, has four bedrooms and two baths, and is in move-in condition. The upstairs en suite master bedroom has floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the garden, the koi pond and the adjacent swimming pool, as well one of the property’s highlights: a 136-square-meter open pool house featuring an indoor and outdoor fireplace, a pizza oven and a smokehouse, as well as a bar.
The larger villa, 514 square meters, has a completed 110-square-meter studio, while the rest is in shell-and-core state, allowing for a new owner’s personal touch. However, Mr. Prucha says the same architects and designers used throughout the rest of the property can be available to complete the villa, which is set up to be a six-room, three-bath, open-plan living area, with space for an office, spa and home cinema (one of the rooms has base soundproofing). Floor-to-ceiling windows let in an abundance of natural light, and all the rooms have views over the garden, which is leafy enough to obscure views of neighboring properties.
The entire complex is interconnected via a smart-home system — accessible by iPhone, iPad or AMX panels — throughout the property that manages security, lighting, temperature and entertainment. When first designing the villas, Mr. Prucha had sought such an integrated system but found the market lacking; seeing a niche, he started the company Insight Home, which has since used the property as a case study.
There are no restrictions on the type of ownership, so K Dymaci could even be home to multiple company seats. Previously it has also hosted small business conferences, with the convenience of private parking for 10 cars and built-in audiovisual facilities.
While sleepy Cholupice is part of the larger Prague 4 municipal district, it also has local amenities such as two restaurants and a grocery store, with schools, a post office and shopping centers just a few bus stops away.
