Dancing House History
History
A gem of modern architecture awarded by Time Magazine in the Best Design of the Year category and the first building in the world built with Catia 3D software. Vlado Milunić attributes the fact that such structure was pushed through to the post-revolution euphoria, President Václav Havel, Věra Millerová, the then director of the Prague Office of the National Heritage Institute, as well as a rare coincidence.
The gem of modern architecture made its first dance steps on the right bank of the Vltava in 1996. And as usual with exceptional structures, it aroused great passions among professional and lay public from the very beginning. Nevertheless, the Dancing House has become an unshakeable icon of Czech contemporary architecture and a symbol of new Prague, just as Charles Bridge symbolises old Prague. Soon after its opening, the building won Time Magazine's Best Design of the Year and received a number of other prestigious awards. It is hard to believe that the structure was erected on Rašín Embankment only thanks to a rare combination of circumstances.
Plans for filling the vacant lot of a house destroyed by bombing during World War II in 1945 had been discussed since the 1960s. Adjacent to the vacant lot, stands the birth house of playwright and then still a dissident, Václav Havel. One day, when he was renovating his flat, he talked with Vlad Milunić, a Czech architect of Croatian descent, about his idea of building a new house on the site that would fulfil a cultural purpose. In 1986, these were more fantasies and wishes than realistic plans though.
However, this changed a few years later when Václav Havel became president and the idea of building on the vacant lot was revived. Vlado Milunić picked up where they once left off. From the start, he envisaged a building composed of two parts – static and dynamic. The house was conceived as leaning over the crossroads in order to symbolise Czechoslovak society regaining its momentum after years of totalitarian rigidity.
It took some time to find an investor for the ambitious design. Eventually, the project was embraced by Nationale-Nederlanden, a company from the Netherlands. As the execution was blocked by an ongoing heated debate in society, the company management recommended engaging an architect of world repute to help push the daring plan through.
The first choice was French architect Jean Nouvel who declined. Canadian-American architect Frank Owen Gehry happened to be in Geneva at that time and he said he would do anything for the country that gave the world hockey player Jaromír Jágr. The project was ultimately brought to life thanks to the patronage of a world-acclaimed architect and the efforts of the then President Václav Havel boosted by the post-revolution euphoria.
Prominent British architect with Czech roots, Eva Jiřičná, collaborated on designing the building interiors. She introduced elements of lightness and elegance that reflected Gehry's original design. The overall concept is thus quite airy and allows visitors to perceive the building as an organic whole.
It is no wonder that today the Dancing House is one of the most photographed buildings in the metropolis and the entire country. If you have not visited it yet, it is high time you did.
