KOGAA

22/09/2026

💥 MAKING USE IS HERE 💥

For the last ten years, we have been working with buildings that were overlooked, underused, unfinished or simply considered easier to replace.

That work became projects.
Then research.
Then conversations.
And now, a book.

MAKING USE brings together the thinking behind KOGAA’s approach to existing buildings. Written by Tomáš Kozelský and based on his PhD research, the book features contributions from people working across architecture, cities, development, art and circular economy.

Edited by Michaela Hečková and Adéla Vaculíková, designed by Jan Kosatko, and published by Nakladatelství Meziměsto

We are launching it during DesignBlok, Prague International Design Festival, in our new Prague studio.

7 + 8 OCTOBER
17:00 to 19:00
KOGAA Prague
Eliášova 1, Prague 6

Two evenings to open the book, the studio and the conversation around what already exists.

🎟 Registration via 👉 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/making-use-by-kogaa-uvedeni-knihy-tickets-2001071570936?aff=oddtdtcreator

Places are limited.
Our new studio will also be open during Designblok. Come visit us!

16/09/2026

HELLO, DESIGNBLOK 👋

For the first time, KOGAA joins the DesignBlok, Prague International Design Festival city programme.

We’re opening our new Prague studio…and there’s something else we’re ready to reveal.

It starts with a question:

What if demolition isn’t the answer?

More soon.

11/09/2026

What does a clinic designed around longevity look like?

HX Clinic brings together the precision of healthcare, the comfort of hospitality and the openness of the contemporary workplace.

A highly technical medical environment is shaped through transparency, warm timber, ceramic surfaces, colour and soft geometries. Spaces shift between openness and privacy, while curved lines guide movement through the clinic and give rhythm to the different moments of care.

A new environment designed around care, longevity and the human experience.

01/09/2026

Happy to see ŠMERAL ART FACTORY featured on Dezeen.

Set within a still-active industrial complex in Brno, the project gives a new public life to a hall that had been used for storage for decades, keeping its raw industrial character and working with as much of the existing structure as possible.

A small intervention, but an important first step in opening the Šmeral complex to the city.

Thank you Dezeen for sharing the story, LINKA for making it happen and KOGAA team for everything.

Green metalwork signals the transformation of this former industrial shed in the Czech Republic into an exhibition and events space by KOGAA.

10/06/2026

Last week, www.EARCH.cz published a feature on Šmeral Art Factory, a project that began with a simple question: what happens when a functioning industrial site starts opening itself to the city?

Rather than replacing the existing structure, we focused on making use of what was already there. The steel frame, industrial lighting, windows and much of the original fabric remain. Around 85% of the building was preserved and adapted for a new role as a space for exhibitions, events and contemporary culture.

For us, the gallery is a way of testing how culture, public life and industry can coexist, and how former production grounds can gradually become part of the everyday city again.

The project is also the first public step in the gradual transformation of the wider ŠMERAL district along the Svitava River, opening a site that has long been part of Brno's industrial history to new forms of civic and cultural life.

Thank you to EARCH and Veronika Pařízková for the feature.

V Brně se právě otevřela nová galerie. Šmeral Art Factory sídlí v bývalé industriální hale a bude se soustředit na prezentaci moderního umění. Za její renovací...

07/06/2026

This week, people stopped.
They stopped on their bike ride home. They stopped for a coffee. They stopped to look at art. They stopped to meet friends.
For the first time in a long while, a small piece of the ŠMERAL riverfront became a destination rather than a shortcut.
The opening of ŠMERAL Art Factory and its first exhibition is only a small intervention within a much larger industrial site. But seeing the gallery, the café and the riverfront filled with people over the past two evenings was a reminder that city-making often starts with simple things: opening a door, creating a reason to stay and giving existing places a new use.

Thank you to everyone who joined us.

01/06/2026

This Friday, Šmeral Art Factory opens to the public.

Located on the banks of the Svitava River, the project transforms a former industrial hall into a new platform for exhibitions, events and contemporary urban culture.

More importantly, it marks a new relationship between the city and a site that has shaped Brno for generations.

Rather than reinventing the building, we worked with what was already there. The existing steel structure remains, original industrial light fixtures were restored, and new roof openings bring diffused daylight into the space. Outside, over the existing street art wall, and new public-facing entrance begin to open the site towards the riverfront and the city.

Join us for the opening vernissage.

More about the project 👉 https://smeralfactory.art/

21/05/2026

Tomorrow we’ll be joining the CÉRKA Design Forum in Trojanovice a discussion bringing together architecture, culture and regional transformation through design.

Tom Kozelsky will speak about the potential of brownfields not as obsolete remnants of the past, but as existing structures carrying spatial, social and environmental value already embedded within the city. Reuse today is no longer only an architectural question, but increasingly a strategic one, tied to housing, climate, culture and the future identity of regions.

Looking forward to discussing how adaptive reuse and long-term thinking can help shape more resilient futures beyond major capitals, directly within places and communities already rich with history and potential.

Beskydy se 22. května 2026 stanou centrem diskuse o tom, jak chytře a s perspektivou proměnit náš kraj. Nultý ročník Cérka Design Forum (CDF) nebude jen o

13/05/2026

Papírák 2030 officially moves forward.

Together with the other selected teams and the city of Liberec, we started work on the transformation of a neglected inner-city site into a new mixed urban quarter focused on housing, public space and long-term urban resilience.

What makes the process unique is the collaborative format, multiple architectural teams working within one shared framework toward a collective vision for the future of the city.

23/04/2026

Yesterday we opened the former fire station Hasička in Město Mikulov to the public.

A shared reading of the building in its current state. On site, with the city and visitors, discussing what is there and what could come next.

The building sits just off the main square, in a position that connects everyday life with tourism and local activity, yet today it remains underused and in poor technical condition.
The intention is to bring it back into use through a mix of working, cultural and community functions — coworking, studios, workshops, and spaces for smaller events. Not a single program, but a framework that can evolve over time.

Early stage, open questions.
Thanks to everyone who came, looked closely, and asked.