Designing a contemporary art gallery with young artists and curators in the historic centre of Prague is, for many architects—especially those just starting out—a dream project. To create open, pure spaces for expressive art. To let go of ambition, suppress ego, and simply provide a backdrop for contemporary works.

Clean walls and the original floor sealed with a layer of resin that reflects light—or paintings. At the opening, one of our professors from university came and said: “It’s crooked and slippery.” That might best sum up the entire project. Its beauty lies in the fact that it’s a reconstruction, and the gallery spaces must adapt to the existing building. The only new walls are freestanding exhibition panels in the basement. The gallerist gave us full creative freedom—our only limitations were time and budget. That allowed us to leave plaster exposed, retain the original floors, and focus entirely on the space. And from a spatial point of view, there was one key challenge: getting a 2×2 metre painting into the basement storage. On a limited budget, most of the funds were allocated to this very task. A new door—the only intervention to the façade—acts not just as a visual feature but as the first “threshold” the artwork must cross.