International Bussines Center

PRAGUE / PRAHA - 5. 9. 2010

	ARCHITECTURE:

	Architect

	The entrance Lobby

	Restaurant

	Attention to Details!

	Glossary

Interview with ing. Arch. Martin Kotik, atelier Omicron-K

What was the incentive that made you take part in the IBC project?

ing. Arch. Martin Kotik

I founded the Omicron-K atelier in 1991. In the beginning of the 1990's, there were many architectural competitions opened while there had not been any for the last two decades. Thus every architect who had professional ambitions took part in every competition. We won second place in the competition for the IBC building. But the winner presented a project of lower capacity than was the original request and he was not willing to make any changes in the project. That is why the investor, FCC, addressed us to start cooperation in the end.

The IBC building is located in a neighborhood of old houses in the Karlín quarter and Negrelli viaduct, on the other side there is the modern Hilton hotel. Was it difficult to situate the IBC building in such an area or were the assorted surroundings more of an advantage and inspiration for you?

Concerning the Hilton hotel, the same investor had finished it just a year before the IBC project competition was opened. The hotel is rather over sized compared to its surroundings and it was already criticized while being constructed. Karlín quarter has a classicist ground plan, its streets are even, houses formed into blocks and its parts create a repeating rhythm. The Negrelli viaduct is a phenomenon in itself and it is a pity that it has not been used in any way. In our project, we suggested opening the spaces and arches of the viaduct and connecting the IBC's groundfloor with the rest of the estate. Thus it was difficult to draw a building that would be in accordance with the over dimensioned Hilton hotel and old houses of Karlín at the same time. The height of the building was the centre of our concern. The investor requested 30 thousand square meters of administrative space, that was enormous at that time. All the area falls within the historical part of Prague so every feature had to be as requested by the Sights Protection Office.

I think it was a very interesting area and a very hard decision, which approach to choose. In the end, we went for a compromise. We wanted the outer facade to resemble a single block but we cut the building in half and put glass walls in to lighten the space. We made the contrast which the stone facade simulating the blocks of Karlín houses with the inner space that provides the mirror effect. In every sight on the mirror facades, you can see a different part of an opposite building. From Florenc, there is the advantage that you can never see the building from a distance properly. One can never see all the building in one view, looking from the street you can always see just a segment. That feature is especially friendly to the Karlín architecture.

Non-traditional features like a glass bridge or an outer spiral staircase are parts of the IBC building. Why did you choose such features?

The investor requested that the building have just one entry with reception desk. After having cut the building in half we had to join it again. We wanted to use a different kind of material so the glass bridge was the only choice. We drew two alternatives of the spiral staircase - outer and inner one. The investor wanted the staircase to be inside the building for maintenance reasons but we insisted on placing the them outside the building because of the mirror effect. I admit we did not think the mirror effect to would be so strong. It was the 1990's. Till that time, there were only state companies and if someone tried to make something a bit unusual they had big troubles. In the 1990's we got the idea that we had to make something new, unusual. Unlike most others our investor was willing to accept the things that make architecture uncommon and attractive while earning no money. There was a tendency to prefer the size of the office space to the architecture itself, this still prevails here in the Czech republic. There have not been many companies that build office complexes for themselves and not for a profit and that want to be proud of the building and include it into their portfolio. Most companies are interested only in leasing as much of office space as possible.

There is an in-house restaurant in the IBC complex, which is not typical for office buildings. Why did you decide to place it in the building?

It is again an issue of the 1990's. Everyone thought that the Hilton restaurant is too expensive and there was no other dinning place in the area where ordinary employees could go for a meal. About 1500 people work in the IBC building. That made it a necessity to place an in house restaurant there. It was the time when catering service was first introduced and catering companies brought food to the building so there was no need to build big kitchens. We had the experience from abroad that such big buildings have their own restaurants. It was also an intuition that with 1500 employees the building should house a restaurant. It is a trend typical for big complexes everywhere in the world.

Why do you think it is important that companies have preferred the IBC building to other Prague office buildings?

At the time the IBC building was finished it was the only building of its kind in Prague. Many firms were located in various flats, old office spaces were rebuilt but there was no air conditioning or security. The IBC was the first building providing all the necessary services and facilities like security, parking, in-house restaurant, technical, maintenance and cleaning services, computer network etc. It even had an excellent location, in the neighborhood of a subway station and the Hilton hotel. According to my opinion, at the beginning of the 1990's, it was automatic for an ambitious company to rent an office in the IBC. Another advantage was the maximum flexibility and other attributes that other quickly modernized buildings failed to have. Nowadays, the quality of most of the office complexes is similar so now the issue is it how much office space the company wants, where the company wants to be located and how much money it is willing to pay.

Does the building have any feature that people do not notice in a hurry but it is worth to pay attention to?

Not everyone notices the outer spiral staircase because it is partially hidden when looking from the street. Also, next to the entrance on the left side there is a sloping glass wall that mirrors space and people in an interesting way - I have already mentioned that one perceives the building differently from various corners. I think it is quite interesting and it is typical for the building.

What kind of feeling do you have when you walk along the IBC building nowadays?

While we were working on the IBC project most of the architects were - thanks to the changes from the beginning of the 1990's - confident that they were world's champions and the time came when they could afford anything. We got over such feelings very quickly after realising that we were not only supposed to draw a building but we were responsible for it and worked with hundreds millions of crowns. It was a good experience for us, we learnt to handle a project of such extent, to work with details, new material we had had no experience till then. I have a good feeling because we did not have enough knowledge in certain fields at the beginning but the final building does not carry any amateurish or greenhorn features. I have a good feeling because I think it might appear as if we knew how to work with those materials from the beginning. It is a professional piece of work.