Maple Bear Elementary School Brno design, Czech Republic education building, architecture photos

Maple Bear Elementary School in Brno

5 June 2025

Architects: SOA architekti

Location: ZET.Office Nová Zbrojovka, Lazaretní 925/9, 615 00 Brno, Czech Republic

Photos by Studio Flusser

Maple Bear Elementary School, Czech Republic

The first two forerunners of the world’s largest network of Canadian bilingual schools in the Czech Republic—Maple Bear Kindergarten Olomouc and Maple Bear Elementary School Brno.

The interior design was based on Maple Bear Schools’ unique approach to student-centered learning in a stimulating environment that instills a love of lifelong learning. Thanks to the support of the Czech representative office, we created an original design to express the spirit of these schools and, at the same time, to meet the qualitative requirements of the global brand.

Kindergarten Olomouc
The layout of the kindergarten places the classrooms to the illuminated perimeter of the multifunctional building of the Olomouc BEA Centre so that a central space—the hall—is situated in the middle. This solution virtually eliminated the institute of a single-purpose corridor in favor of a multifunctional space. The central hall provides space for children and parents. The lobby, an indoor playground, a small amphitheater, and a relaxed seating area with a library and toys were placed in the hall. The cylindrical volume of the meeting room forms a visual landmark of the space. The different classrooms are thematically separated, which is conveyed through the design of the furniture, the color scheme, and the graphics on the walls.

Elementary School Brno
The Brno primary school is a fit-out of the ZET office building in the Nová Zbrojovka development area. A reference to the original industrial character of the building is the central entrance hall elevated over two floors with exposed steel beams. It includes a lobby, reception, and a multipurpose library. Aside from being a library, it provides space for displaying school merchandise and uniforms, and has storage areas for the reception area, or a play and reading corner for children.

Both schools feature original graphics designed for these specific spaces. This unifies the design of the schools and thematically expresses the very link between the global brand and the uniqueness of the place.

Maple Bear Elementary School in Brno, Czech Republic – Design Information

Studio: SOA architekti – https://s-o-a.cz/

Author Ondřej Laciga, Petra Valdman
Contact E-mail [email protected]
Website www.s-o-a.cz
Social media www.instagram.com/soaarchitekti
www.facebook.com/SOAarchitekti
Studio address Václavské nám. 828/23, 110 00 Prague, Czech Republic

Project location: ZET.Office Nová Zbrojovka, Lazaretní 925/9, 615 00 Brno
tř. Kosmonautů 1338/1c, Hodolany, 779 00 Olomouc
Project country Czech Republic

Project year: 2023
Completion year: 2024
Usable floor area: 650 sqm Brno
550 m² Olomouc
Cost: Brno 320 000 €
Olomouc 600 000 €

Client: Maple Bear Czechia
Client’s website: www.maplebear.cz

Photographer: Studio Flusser, www.studioflusser.com, [email protected]
Collaborators and suppliers: Graphic design: Graphite Studio [Mona Bublová, Tomáš Buble, Klára Maršíčková], www.graphitestudio.cz