Arts Prague's boring modern architecture
“I’m standing outside “Tančicí Dům” or “Dancing House” which is on the waterfront of the Vltava river pretty much in the centre of Prague. This is quite an unusual building for the centre of Prague because it is a modern building – it was designed by the Californian architect Frank O. Gehry. The spot on which it is built was bombed during WWII by Allied troops by mistake – they thought they were bombing Dresden. The location then remained an empty spot until after the Velvet Revolution. The building is actually located right next to the former flat of Václav Havel, the dissident-turned-president. And for a long time, Václav Havel hoped that something unusual and interesting would be built here - a house of culture of sorts, which didn’t quite turn out to be the case as it is in fact an office building. But the point is that this is only one of a very few new buildings in Prague which could be said to be of any kind of architectural distinction. It divided people when it was first built – some loved it, others hated it. So what I am asking in the programme today is – why is there not more interesting new architecture in Prague?”
Zdeněk Lukeš
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