The TELEHOUSE building is a conversion and extension of a telephone exchange sub-station from the late 1970s. The original building was designed as a pure technological plinth topped with 4 recessed floors mainly for administration. All telecommunication areas are preserved and remained in full operation throughout the construction process. The existing technology is fully integrated into the new architectural and structural concept, creating one fused compact unit – a technological sarcophagus which is embedded inside the new building.
The site was previously organized as an isolated building surrounded by green trenches. The extended footprint and facades are following the urban context by reaching the existing street lines and completing the form of a city block.
A new public park is carried out along the neighbouring PPF-Gate office building (designed by us in 2009), connected to a piazzetta and arcades covering grand stairs and escalators leading to the elevated main entrance patio (bridging the telecom machine rooms).
The building massing concept consists of three 18 metres wide office fingers oriented in north-south direction and a mutual distance of 12 metres. This grid follows the six-meter modular step of the preserved structures. Two glazed vertical communication cores are placed into the court yards between the fingers, connecting the main entrance hall placed in the middle of the plan.
The new underground parking object in five levels is wrapping the existing structures and cable rooms. The appropriate cornice level of the block allowed six additional floors on top of the existing structure. This limited load bearing capacity, was achieved by using light construction methods - like cavity ceiling panels placed on Peikko steel beams and load-bearing facade walls.
In memory of the original building we re-installed the statue “Winner” by Olbram Zoubek into the entrance court yard, as wished by the sculptor and the architect of the original building Václav Aulický.
