Cisarstudio creates "whale wing" lighting installation for Prague office revamp

Architecture firm Cisarstudio steered its redesign of this office in Prague around the client's joint interest in air travel and the deep sea.

The Deveron office is set within a postmodern building that dates back to the 1990s, and used to be congested with plasterboard partitions and false ceilings.

Locally based Cisarstudio was therefore tasked with making the interior feel brighter and more open, while weaving in aesthetic references to the client's two key interests: aviation and diving.

The studio started by stripping back the interior to reveal the building's concrete framework, adding a huge lighting installation spanning 16 metres in width that has been suspended from the ground-floor ceiling.

The installation features a translucent PVC skin that exposes its inner aluminium skeleton, lending the piece an airy, lightweight appearance that is meant to mimic Blériot XI – a pioneering monoplane that was the first aircraft to cross the English Channel in 1909.

Cisarstudio has taken to calling the installation "the whale wing" because its curving form is reminiscent of the large marine mammal.

"In diving, there is the terminology of buoyancy, a balanced state a diver achieves in the water," the firm's founder Tomáš Císař told Dezeen.

"I wanted the 'wing' to function similarly – as a balanced, floating element that gently moves through the space, introducing fragility, lightness, and dynamism under the heavy concrete vault."

The office's colour palette is established in the reception, where there's a blue ombre feature wall that resembles the sky.

Placed in front is a coral-red desk; the shade is not only meant to be evocative of underwater landscapes, but it also alludes to The Red Baron, an influential world war one fighter pilot.

These two hues continue to appear in the meeting rooms, where fluted blue surfaces have been paired with red seating.

The rooms also have improved acoustics thanks to the micro perforations on the underside of the light installation that enhance sound absorption.

Formal workstations can be found upstairs on the first floor, which is illuminated by a lightbox ceiling.

Red storage shelves hide behind hole-punched aluminium cupboards that nod to the materiality of modern planes. There's also a blue-and-red kitchen and bathroom.

Splashes of green are provided by climbing plants that cover the building's original structural columns.

Elsewhere in Prague, architects at Prague Exhibition Grounds have completed the renovation of the Křižík Pavilions; the once-temporary structures are now modern venues topped by public gardens.

Heatherwick Studio has also announced plans to redevelop a city block in the Czech capital.

The photography is courtesy of Alex Shoots Buildings.

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