sternberg palace prague castle

We took the renovation and reintegration of the original Baroque vestibule of the palace by architect Giovanni Battisti Alliprandi as the base for our modifications. We removed inappropriate partitioning and bricked in the openings disturbing the spatial composition. The key services for the gallery (ticket counter, cloakroom, and bookshop) were relocated to the new building built in the former yard between the Šternberk and Archbishop Palaces. This built-in structure has two levels of roof – the lower one over the ancillary spaces (cloakroom, ticket counter) with a green surface that, seen from the nearby windows, creates an illusion of a real ground of a yard. A conical volume of a small hall pops up from this ´terrain´ – the bookshop with a glazed roof and suspended light-diffusing lamellas. The feeling of an inserted body is also supported by the exterior material (copper scales) entering the cloakroom’s interior. By its height accentuated by the view through the glass roof, this room is an extraordinary space for bookselling and occasional small exhibitions. A coffee shop was located in the former coach house also utilising the adjacent south courtyard.