Main entrance to the National Gallery and the new entrance between the palaces of Salm andSchwarzenberg, located on Hradcanske Square in Prague.
An open space, with no opaque facingsat the sides and using the minimumnumber of structures. Its façadesare those of the adjacent buildings,allowing it to exploit natural light.
Two sheets organize what used to bean empty space without weighing itdown: one forms the floor, the otherthe roof.
The floor emerges as a surface layer of the earth, folding subtly over itself to adapt to minor differences in level andease access to the neighbouring buildings. It is hard but it also conserves some of its organic nature that is materializedin plants, earth and water.
The roof, the boundary that separates us from the sky, a continuous sheet that does not actually touch the buildingsaround it, producing great skylights and generating an enigmatic interplay of reflections. An organic layer, topped withgravel, that marks the bounds of a secret garden.
Space is the gaseous fluid that moves between these two limits.
The inner space, open, flexible, multiple and complex, as well as light filled. Daylight filters in by means of existingnature, in this case permanent yet fragile.
