Dancing House
The
dancing house is the nickname given to the Nationale-Nederland building in
Prague. Dancing House is set in a fine location by the Vltava River in Prague. Its
design is unique, and especially striking in the city centre because it is a
modern building surrounded by historic architecture.
Prague,
the capital of the Czech Republic, is rich in a variety of sights, historical
ones such as the Prague Dancing House, a highly original building resembling
and also inspired by two dancers – the immortally famous duo of Fred Astaire
and Ginger Rogers.
The
building was designed in 1992 and completed in 1996. The top floor of Dancing
House is the only part of the building open to the public, and is home to one
of the city's leading restaurants: the Ginger & Fred Restaurant.
The
Dancing House is located between buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries and
articluated in two central bodies. Each of the two towers is essentially a distorted
cylinder. The diameter of the solid dominant male tower expands as it extends
as it travels skyward, while its glazed female partner is dramatically girdled
at the waist.
The
first volume is a glass tower which narrows halfway up. At that point a single
terrace juts out and hangs onto the concrete tower. The volume is supported on
a small forest of inclined columns- metaphorical legs which appear from under
Ginger’s skirts and mark the entrance to the building.
The
second structure extends parallel to the river, on three sturdy pillars, and is
characterised by the undulating mouldings of its façade and the incoming and
outgoing windows distributed non-linearly. This manner of placing the windows
corresponded to the architect’s idea that they should not be perceived as
simple forms on a flat surface, but achieve the effect of tri-dimensionality,
hence the idea of protruding frames, like picture frames. The sinuous mouldings
of the façade made the perspective more ambiguous, tempering the contrast with
the neighbouring buildings. Behind the twisted façade there are relatively
simple floors, based on a conventional connection of leaseable space, organised
around a core of circulation in an L-shape.
On
the ground floor of the building, between the large circular pillars, there are
shops, a hotel and a small cafeteria. This area for public interaction at
ground level allows for the building to be much less isolated than traditional
office developments.
From
the second to seventh floor, the building is filled with offices. However on
the top level there is a restaurant with panoramic views of the city, the
Moldava river and the nearby castle.
The
glass tower has a concrete structure with a conical shape which is supported
atop a series of inclined columns which rise from ground level, creating a
portico and continuing to the end of the building. The tower is closed by a
double curtain wall: an interior one of retracted glass and the second an
exterior skin, also glass, supported on a steel frame which separates it from the
main body of the building. The supports of the steel structure are fixed to the
structure of the building. The vertical profiles are T-sections connected to
each other by hollow profile sections.
The
building which faces the river rises as a solid cylindrical concrete volume on
the corner, where it joins with the steel and glass structure followed by a
larger façade which faces the river and is constructed on a base of 99
prefabricated concrete panels and numerous windows.
The
buildings, with a surface of 5842m², were constructed in steel, glass and
prefabricated concrete panels, finished with plaster characteristic of the
local architecture.
For
the building parallel to the river, they used concrete panels in 99 different
shapes and dimensions. At the inauguration, a sculpture, Medusa, was placed on
top, made of metal tubes and covered with stainless steel wire mesh.
The
architects, Gehry and Milunic, decided not to paint the exposed materials, but
to display their natural colours: the glass is green, the concrete grey and the
steel structure silver.
The
Nationale Nederlanden building, known as the “Dancing House” or sometimes “Fred
and Ginger”, is one of the most significant landmarks in Prague and definitely
the most internationally renowned piece of post-1989 Czech architecture. It is
home to almost 3000 square meters of office premises, a restaurant, a gallery,
and a conference centre. Most importantly, there is a sightseeing terrace on
top of it, from which you can overlook the breathtaking panorama of Prague.
The
principles adopted in the design included the contrast between static and
dynamic figures. In the first sketches, Gehry envisaged the building as a panel
with square shapes similar to pillows, to which Milunic added a tower in the
form of a geyser.
Turning
on the corner where the building would be constructed, a pivoted tower was a
logical starting point. But Gehry considered a single concrete building to be
too “masculine” and was motivated to develop the idea of a feminine
counterpoint: a feminine Yin balancing the masculine Yang. This gave rise to
the analogy of the dancing couple, whimsically described as “Ginger Rogers and
Fred Astair”, the legendary film couple who rallied the entertainment industry
in the 1930’s with their dance steps in musical comedies. The masculine part of
the dancing couple is represented by the more solid tower, supported on three
sturdy pillars and with an imaginary mat of hair made of steel and wire mesh
which swings with the breeze atop his head. The feminine half is the glass
tower with eight columns at its base, inclined toward her partner with a dress
of steel and glass.
With
its clear-cut deconstructivism and unusual form, the style of the headquarters
of the Nationale-Nederlanden is considered by the designers of architecture to
be “new-barroque”.
The
design tools and technique used on this building served as a test for future
processes that Gehry would use in all his projects, including the Guggenheim
Museum in Bilbao. The use of curves in the building imitates the aerodynamic
form of planes and sports cars. The software which his company developed was
later used to design French aircraft.
Controversy:
Nowadays,
the Dancing House is considered one of the most valuable postmodern buildings
in Prague and an important part of the Czech capital’s architecture, but there
were times when it sparked a lot of controversy. The opponents of the building
were convinced that the Dancing House would not fit into its surroundings,
since most of the buildings in its neighbourhood are in the Art Noveau style.
There
was also a great dispute about the highly unusual shape of the building, with
the impression of the towers leaning. However, the Dancing House proved itself
to be a true architectural gem of Prague, and today you would be hard pressed
to find anyone who doesn’t like or at least accept it.
