Urban Terrazzo

Kunsthalle Praha

In 2017 our architecture and design collective They Feed Off Buildings was invited by the Pudil Family Foundation and interior designers OH-Studio to develop material samples from debris of the former interiors (concrete, terrazzo, stone) of an old electricity substation in Prague's city center. The resulting material library was implemented by the help of local craftsmen into the new interiors in floors, counter and wall applications.

Witness to Prague’s early widespread electrification, the former Zenger substation stood empty for many years awaiting a new use. In 2022, the Kunsthalle Praha opened its newfound doors and since then not only shows art but also carries its own history to the visitors through its interior. The objective of this project was to transform the transformer station by creating the identity for the young art space while interpreting the building’s DNA in function and materiality. By sensitively collaging materials in a manner of reconfiguration rather than reconstruction, Berlin’s OH Studio created an interior of correlating layers.

The bush-hammered concrete meets UrbanTerrazzo, which incorporates fragments of the former substation like the porcelain of their insulators. The space is dominated by hatching and textures, a composition of gray tones. Copper cables and porcelain inform the „Urban Terrazzo“ floors and tell of the building’s past.