The Masaryčka office is officially completed, the band Morcheeba played at the event

Prague - The Prague office building Masaryčka, owned by the investment group Penta and designed by the studio of the famous architect Zaha Hadid, officially completed its construction today. In addition to the rooftop terraces, which will open before the end of this year, the building has been operational since last autumn. The festive opening of the complex this evening was accompanied by a concert by the British band Morcheeba and a light show projected on the western facade of the building. Marek Dospiva, co-founder of Penta, announced at the opening celebration that David Musil, the commercial director, will replace Petr Palička as head of the development sister Penta Real Estate.

The redevelopment around Masaryk Railway Station began in 2011 when Penta acquired a majority stake in Masaryk station development (MSD), which had signed a purchase option agreement with Czech Railways for land in the area. In 2015, Penta built a commercial-administrative space named Florentinum on Na Florenci street. The following year, MSD purchased the opposite plots spanning 10,300 square meters for 235 million crowns, where Masaryčka now stands. Preparatory work on the office complex started in 2020, and a year later, a building permit was issued, and construction began. The construction lasted over two and a half years, and the total investment reached 2.5 billion crowns.

Masaryčka, named after the neighboring Masaryk Railway Station and the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, has approximately 22,100 square meters of usable space. It consists of two buildings that combine administrative and commercial spaces.

According to earlier statements from Hadid, the building's facade is meant to resemble tracks, which symbolically culminate in a kind of golden tower. The British architect of Iraqi origin was the first woman to receive the most prestigious worldwide award for architects - the Pritzker Prize. According to experts, her groundbreaking work was the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati in 2003. In the Czech Republic, she is mainly known as a member of the jury that ultimately selected the unrealized design by architect Jan Kaplický for a new National Library building in Prague's Letná. The architect passed away in March 2016.

However, the construction of the office was also accompanied by legal disputes. The dispute has been ongoing since 2020 when the Prague 1 building authority issued a zoning decision for the construction of a multifunctional building. The complex on Na Florenci street went through an environmental impact assessment in 2017, so civic organizations were supposed to be part of the subsequent permitting process. However, the investor, according to the ecological association Arnika, made minor adjustments, thereby avoiding both the impact assessment and the participation of organizations that pointed out the negative aspects of the massive building. Arnika defended itself at the Municipal Court in Prague but succeeded only at the Supreme Administrative Court. Penta previously stated that the lawsuits are merely obstructions and an attempt by Arnika to gain visibility.