Renaissance of the Prague Brownfield – The Story of Masaryčka

"Masaryčka" is the popular name for Masaryk Station, which was established in the 1840s on the outskirts of New Town in Prague. This year, the renovation of the surrounding brownfield was completed. The author of the winning proposal for the first phase, which includes the construction of the Masaryčka building complex, is the renowned and world-famous British studio Zaha Hadid Architects. The investor, for whom Masaryčka is a new flagship project, is Penta Real Estate, which also has its new headquarters here. The office and commercial complex of Masaryčka is compositionally divided into two buildings with a shared two-story basement. On the western side, the building takes the shape of a tower. From a distance, the building draws attention with its original façade, notably decorated with golden ribbing featuring motifs of a railway yard. While the common spaces in the building are the work of architectural design by the studio, individual fit-outs were designed based on the requirements of specific tenants. It is therefore evident that they differ in architecture and execution, including demands on the acoustic properties of the offices. In its projects, Penta Real Estate has long used Knauf's dry construction for interiors, with this time the contractor being Farrao, s.r.o.

KNAUF Diamond combined with KNAUF White

The structural solution of both buildings features a reinforced concrete monolithic column frame with a system of internal communication cores. For entrance to the building, two reception areas are available, whose design is shaped by organic contours. They are predominantly made of Corian (AMOS DESIGN), which has been modeled into concave and convex curves, followed by Barrisol and drywall constructions. Both buildings feature thirty lobby areas, which contain communication corridors, staircases, and elevators. All lobbies are clad in drywall, including ceilings, which house recessed LED fixtures. The surface of the drywall constructions was designed to quality Q2, but in reality, it approaches quality Q3, as the demands for detail quality were high at Masaryčka.

On each floor, there are tenant offices separated by security and fire partitions, as they constitute different fire sections. The fit-outs feature interestingly shaped partitions and walls, including arches with a diameter of up to 1.5 meters. All partitions, which are anchored in the ceiling and concrete floor, are mostly standard. More attention is deserved for the partitions suspended from the ceiling toward the floor, which are finished with glass, thereby creating what is known as a "transom." As is common in similar situations, the connection of the drywall partitions to the glazed façade is slip-prone, with much attention paid to the acoustic properties of these partitions. Therefore, for example, the façade columns are clad in drywall on both sides. As previously mentioned, the acoustic demands of individual tenants varied, thus in many cases, partitions made entirely from blue Knauf Diamond boards appear here. To supplement, the requirements for building airborne sound insulation ranged from 38 to approximately 52 dB. A traditional challenge in such a complex building is to fit all installations into the ceilings and partitions while adhering to regulations. Therefore, a mutual consensus must be reached between the contractor, architect, and investor. A precise solution is the situation when a classic partition is additionally fitted with a false wall that not only perfectly conceals everything but also achieves nearly perfect airborne sound insulation since no distributions interfere with the acoustic properties. For example, televisions were installed on this false wall.

Fire resistance addressed with KNAUF drywall

Safety is also a frequently mentioned word in similarly designed administrative buildings. This is why safety partitions of category RC3 (BT3) were mandated among all fit-outs. However, it does not end there. Fire resistance became a separate topic. In part of the basement, it was necessary to use the properties of Knauf Fireboard fire-resistant boards (two layers of 25 mm each) because a resistance of 90 to 120 minutes was mandated here. On the floors, either Knauf White boards or red RED Piano boards (only 60 minutes) were used. Increased resistance to moisture applied only to the restroom facilities and washing areas for cyclists, where there is a higher risk of moisture load. Conversely, impregnated Knauf Green boards were used to a greater extent at the beginning of the construction, at a time when it was still open and there was a danger of damage due to weather conditions.

It is logical that such discreetly unique and completely original architecture has become the subject of much discussion. However, when taken holistically, this is only good. Prague has been enriched with a new project from a world-renowned studio that evokes emotions. And emotion (emoce) is derived from the word motion (pohyb), and Prague certainly needs that in both architecture and the minds of visitors.

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