Facelift of City Tower's lobby, Prague

implementation: 2024

The City Tower management approached us to make the lobby of what was once the tallest building in the Czech Republic more attractive. We were there when, under the leadership of Richard Meier, the house of horrors was transformed into a self-confident building proudly towering over Prague. Its elevated lobby, with a height of over two floors and a shining Barisol ceiling, lost none of its impressiveness, but suffered from a layer of minor unconceptual improvements, visual smog and furniture that had already lost its luster.

Our main goal was to clean the lobby so that its charm could shine through again. We placed three types of seating furniture in the lobby: comfortable armchairs for longer sitting, padded benches for short waits and café tables where you can drink coffee from a mobile stand at the entrance.

The lofty white spaces of the lobby most of all resemble a gallery, so we proposed to enhance this feeling and place modern art in the lobby. An original collage by Richard Meier, created specifically for this lobby, takes pride of place. There is a constantly changing exhibition of contemporary Czech artists by the elevators, and above the main corridor is a large sculpture by Pavla Sceranková and Dušan Záhoranský, "Sundial", which brings dynamism and color to the space.

We have placed flowerpots with large indoor flowers in carefully selected places, thus drawing the surrounding greenery into the interior. The largest architectural intervention remains the new reception, which, with its massiveness and conciseness, matches the airiness of the lobby. As the material for the reception, we chose wood veneer, a natural material that insulates the white purity of the entrance lobby.

We wanted to achieve the greatest possible effect with deliberately small interventions and with respect for Richard Meier's architecture. Judge for yourself how we succeeded.