Old Customs House

In previous years, the investor purchased the building "Stará Celnice" on V Celnici street in Prague 1. The building was then acquired with a valid zoning decision. This zoning decision included an increase in the old Celnice building by approximately 2 meters compared to the original cornice, as well as roofing and glazing part of the courtyard.
The functional content of the zoning decision was automobile parking in the underground floors of the courtyard, retail units on two above-ground floors of the old building, roofing of the courtyard, and office spaces in the raised attic.
In November 1997, the investor decided to expand the program with subsequent construction in the courtyard of the old building.
Since then, the project has undergone various forms of transformation, which, however, shared basic common points:

• preservation of the characteristic shape of the building (open letter U) and the courtyard
• projection of the courtyard into the new building
• preservation of the Prague skyline and adherence to the horizon of the surrounding buildings
• drawing from the familiar morphology of the city (shaping the form of the new building)
• use of new materials respecting the details of the old masters

It is a single operating unit, including maximally flexible office spaces, bank spaces, rentable commercial areas, technical background rooms of the building, and underground automobile parking.

The "Stará Celnice" building is bordered on the north side by V Celnici street, the western side of the building leads towards the Republic Square, and the southern and eastern sides are bounded by the properties of Czech Railways and ONV - Prague East.
The new construction is founded in the courtyard of the old building and cantilevers above the existing roof of the old building.
The area is located in the Prague Heritage Reserve, and the existing "Stará Celnice" building is not heritage-protected.
The construction is situated on areas suitable as a general mixed urban core.
The existing "Stará Celnice" building is preserved. The new structure exceeds the ridge of the existing building by 2 floors and an inclined roof.
The new construction has four underground floors under part of the existing courtyard and 6 above-ground floors. The existing "Stará Celnice" building contains 1 underground floor, 2 above-ground floors, and an attic. In the four underground floors of the new building located in the current courtyard, the need for parking areas for the entire building is comprehensively resolved.
Variable office spaces are leased to multiple tenants. The building is designed with sufficient technical support areas, which are located in the basement of the existing building, on the 4th floor, and under the sloping part of the 7th floor of the new construction.
The entrance to the building is designed at the level of the 1st above-ground floor. The entry to the parking is from V Celnici street, as is the entrance to the rentable commercial spaces located in the northeastern corner of the existing building. The entrance to the commercial atrium is proposed from the terrace on the western side of the building, while the entrance for employees and visitors of the office areas is from V Celnici street through a control point in the lobby on the 1st above-ground floor of the existing building. Deliveries will be from the sidewalk on V Celnici street.
The building will be connected to existing engineering networks, the main lines of which run under the sidewalk on the western side of the property.

An important idea from the beginning was the consideration of a clear acknowledgment of the new construction, not hiding behind the old building, but rather creating an open and truthful dialogue between the individual values, while respecting the existing relationships of the environment, the undeniable existence of the old building, its size, proportions, structure, and morphology. Gradually, through work and consultations, the resulting form crystallized, fulfilling the stated ideas and the investor's requirements.
The new building maintains the characteristic shape of an open letter U and the courtyard, which is projected throughout the entire property. Its height arrangement preserves the Prague skyline and conforms to the horizon of the surrounding buildings, which it does not exceed.
The terrace on the west serves, on one hand, to equalize the height differences between the own 1st floor and the ground level, and on the other hand, to create a greater "opening" of the building towards the Republic Square. In this part, the existing greenery will also be preserved, supplemented with missing or damaged greenery.

The existing building is cleaned of later annexes. The new construction rises from the courtyard of the existing building and cantilevers above the cornice towards the ridge of the existing roof. In the courtyard of the existing building, there are 4 floors of parking with technological rooms.
In the 1st floor of the existing building and the two-story atrium of the new Stará Celnice construction, there are retail rentable spaces independently accessible from V Celnici street and from the terrace on the western side of the building opened towards the Republic Square. The two levels of the commercial atrium are connected by an interior steel staircase and a hydraulic rotating elevator.
On the 1st basement of the eastern and western wings of the existing building, there are rentable areas connected to the rentable areas on the 1st floor via an interior staircase. In the northern (connecting) wing, there are technical rooms necessary for the operation of the building. The basement of the new construction contains parking, which is connected to V Celnici street through the northern wing of the existing building. The remaining 3 underground floors are designated for parking, and necessary technical background facilities and a sprinkler tank are also located there.
The 3rd floor of the existing building (current attic) is accessed from hot-dip galvanized steel "tubes" covered with folded (accordion-shaped) expanded metal. These "tubes" are suspended under the belly of the administrative unit of the new construction. The 3rd floor is utilized for office spaces, with the perimeter of the building fully glazed to ensure adequate lighting of the attic office spaces.
The superstructure forms a light floating glass horizontal above the existing building, whose division, structural arrangement, and proportions are subordinate to the existing "Stará Celnice" building and the structural design of the old building.
In the 4th floor (the lowest floor of the new administrative unit), technology and its background are situated.
In the remaining above-ground floors, office spaces are situated with a maximum degree of flexibility and their necessary support areas.
In the 7th floor under the sloping part of the building, the remaining air conditioning technology is located.
In each wing of the building, vertical communications are designed to connect all above-ground floors; the northern and western vertical core also extends into the underground spaces. Escape concrete staircases located in the western and eastern wings pass through the old building into the new structure.
The main vertical communication on the northern side is designed outside of the existing building - positioned within the courtyard. It contains 2 elevators, one of which is connected to all floors and a staircase that also connects all floors of the building. The second elevator serves only the above-ground floors.
The atrium is covered at the level of the floor of the 4th floor with a glass walk-on roof supported by a lightweight spatial steel truss.
The fundamental principle of the entire building is a dialogue between the old and the new, functional simplicity, and spatial simplicity, as well as the flexibility of the rentable spaces.