Dancing House Museum of Modern Architecture

 Prague - The developer Central Group wants to purchase the Dancing House in Prague for a quarter of a billion crowns. They would like to transform it into a museum of architecture and design. The company officially announced the offer today. The building is currently owned by CBRE Global Investors, which previously tasked the consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle with organizing the sale.
    "The Dancing House is a unique building in a unique location. It certainly deserves a different use than the current offices. It should be opened to the public. If our company acquires it, we would like to establish a museum of modern architecture and design here in collaboration with experts," stated the head of Central Group, Dušan Kunovský.
    However, changing the function of the building from office space to exhibition areas is subject to approval by the authors of the design and project - architects Frank O. Gehry and Vlad Milunić. Nevertheless, the developer expects that the authors may agree to the change of use and the necessary construction modifications associated with it.
    The Dancing House, located on Rašínovo nábřeží in Prague, was completed in 1996. The modern building filled a gap left by a historic house that was hit by American bombing at the end of World War II. The Dancing House was designed by Milunić together with Gehry, who was invited to the project by the investor. The interiors of the investor's offices were partially entrusted to the British architect of Czech origin, Eva Jiřičná.
    The decision to build on the gap was made as early as 1963, but a crucial step occurred only in 1992 when the Dutch insurance company Nationale Nederlanden purchased the plot of land. The cornerstone was laid on September 3, 1994. The building is founded on a reinforced concrete slab supported by a series of drilled piles. Attached to the reinforced concrete structure are 99 original facade panels. The unofficial name of the building comes from the two towers that resemble dancing figures. Therefore, the building is sometimes also called Ginger and Fred, after Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. At the top of the tower symbolizing the male figure is a dome made of pipes covered with stainless steel mesh - the head of a jellyfish.
    The building has nine floors with a vertical division into two parts. Due to the shape of the building, each floor is different. This also causes certain impracticalities - asymmetrical rooms are difficult to furnish, and sloping walls seem to "fall" on people. The building also protrudes from the street line, which obstructs pedestrians.
    The usable area in the building includes 2,965 square meters of office space on six floors, a restaurant with an area of 679 square meters on the top floor, and a conference center (400 square meters) in the ground floor and basement.
    The Dancing House received the highest design award in 1997 in a prestigious poll conducted by the American magazine Time. In a domestic poll by the magazine Architekt, it was among the five most significant Czech buildings of the 1990s.
    Central Group is one of the leaders in the domestic residential market, building mainly in Prague and its surroundings. Last year, the company sold a total of 1,309 apartments, increasing its net profit to a record 888.6 million crowns.

• The unconventional building by architects Vlad Milunić and Frank Gehry on Rašínovo nábřeží, which commenced operations on June 20, 1996, is today one of the city’s symbols and a tourist magnet.
• However, the project was not unanimously accepted. Its supporters appreciated the bold modern architecture that Prague lacked, while opponents argued that it did not fit into historic Prague and would disrupt the city’s panorama.
• In the places where the Dancing House was built between 1993 and 1996, there stood a structure that was destroyed in an air raid in 1945. The decision to build on the gap was made as early as 1963, with a crucial step taken in 1992 when the Dutch insurance company Nationale Nederlanden purchased the land.
• The project of the Croatian-born Czech architect Milunić was selected for realization, who invited the renowned Canadian-American architect and designer Gehry to collaborate. The idea to fill the lot was revived in the early 1990s by Milunić together with President Václav Havel, who lived in the neighboring building.
• The original idea envisioned a building with a library, theater, and café that would continue the cultural line from the Rudolfinum through the National Theatre to the Mánes. However, no investor could be found for this non-commercial project. Nationale Nederlanden set commercial use and the participation of a world-renowned architect as conditions.
• Milunić initially considered French architect Jean Nouvel (whose design later resulted in the Zlatý Anděl in Smíchov), but was only successful with Gehry. As Milunić later noted, Gehry, a hockey fan, allegedly said he would do anything for a country that produced Jaromír Jágr.
• Gehry is known for the construction of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, which was completed a year after the Dancing House. Reportedly, it was on the Prague project that Gehry explored the possibilities of utilizing 3D computer modeling, which he later employed in Bilbao.
• The cornerstone of the Nationale Nederlanden Building, as the structure became officially known, was laid on September 3, 1994. The building is founded on a reinforced concrete slab supported by a series of drilled piles. Attached to the structure are 99 original facade panels.
• The unofficial name was given to the building by the two towers resembling dancing figures. Therefore, it is sometimes also referred to as Ginger and Fred, after Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. At the top of the tower symbolizing the male figure is a dome constructed of pipes covered with stainless steel mesh - the head of a jellyfish.
• The building has nine floors with a vertical division into two parts. Due to the shape of the building, each floor is different. This also causes certain impractical aspects - asymmetrical rooms are difficult to furnish, and sloping walls seem to "fall" on people. The building also protrudes from the street line, thus obstructing pedestrians.
• The building has a usable area of 2,965 square meters of office space on six floors, a restaurant of 679 square meters on the top floor, and a conference center (400 square meters) in the ground floor and basement.
• A portion of the interiors was designed by the well-known architect Eva Jiřičná.
• The Dancing House received the highest design award in 1997 in a prestigious poll conducted by the American magazine Time. In a poll by the magazine Architekt, it ranked among the five most significant Czech buildings of the 1990s.
• The Czech National Bank selected the Dancing House as an example of a contemporary building for one of the ten coins it issued as part of the Ten Centuries of Architecture series. Photographs of the building are currently included in tourist guides and publications on architecture.