Media House
The new office spaces of Czech News Center and Active Radio were built within the new Hagibor administrative complex on the border of the Vinohrady, Strašnice, and Žižkov districts, directly connected to the Želivského metro station. Developed by Crestyl and designed by Bogle Architects, the project consists of a nine-story office building featuring an organic shape with cascading terraces.
The interiors across six floors, designed by Studio Reaktor, are conceived as a technologically intensive working environment for contemporary media. They house newsrooms, photo studios, editorial spaces, recording studios, and other specialized operations. Embedded within the building's organic structure is a central spatial concept—a digital organism called the mediameba—which connects all floors, reflects the identity of the 70 brands under the CNC and Active group, and creates a striking visual element facing Vinohradská Street.
The Mediameba – The Spatial Digital Organism
The interior environment of the media house is designed as a fluid, living organism that responds to the continuous flow of information and the transformations of media production.
The multifunctional character of the offices was inspired by the biological principle of the amoeba—a simple organism that absorbs, processes, and distributes information. The architects translated this principle into the spatial organization of the interior. The mediameba concept represents the building's internal spatial infrastructure, permeating individual floors and adapting to specific operations and workflows on each level.
Integrated within its volumes are recording studios, photo studios, meeting rooms, focus rooms, phone booths, as well as storage and technical facilities. The mediameba thus functions as the spatial core of the office infrastructure.
Its "membrane" consists of a combination of corrugated metallic sheets, polycarbonate with a gradient color transition, reflective stainless steel, and brass or copper surfaces. This envelope also integrates notice boards, digital displays, and screens that act as an information interface between different operations. Relaxation zones and informal seating areas emerge along its perimeter, allowing for brief pauses during the workday.
Spatial Connections – Zoning Principles
At the center of a typical floor plate lies the elevator lobby, offering two entry points into the office spaces. The central cores are enveloped by the fluid mediameba, whose shape and internal layout adapt to specific operational needs on each floor. A neutral gray band of space unfolds between this active core and the facade, designed for freestanding furniture and supplementary work functions. These elements are referred to in the design as orgaspots.
The elevator lobby also provides access to relaxation and coworking zones that intentionally break up the regular ring of the office layout along the facade. The final layer consists of newspulses—a system of spotlights and linear fixtures that freely permeates the interior. They represent the light layer of the space, metaphorically visualizing the continuous flow of information through the media house.
Orgaspots – Functional Micro-Workstations and Furniture Islands
Orgaspots are independent functional elements distributed primarily outside the main body of the mediameba. They create specialized micro-workstations and spaces tailored for various modes of work within the office landscape.
They are divided into three basic types: infocells—modular workstations designed for information processing; relaxeceptors—spaces dedicated to rest and relaxation; and cowozomes—short-term coworking workstations featuring an alternative style of seating.
Their color scheme is always directly related to the mediameba: if its membrane is vibrantly colored, the orgaspots remain neutral; conversely, if the mediameba features more understated or reflective materials, the orgaspots take on a bolder color character.
Newspulses – The Light Layer of Information Flow
Newspulses consist of linear and spotlight fixtures that form a continuous light network throughout the space. They are understood as the visual equivalent of the information flows constantly traversing the media house.
These lighting structures appear as dynamic lines that surround, intersect, and connect individual zones. Here, information is stored within the perimeter structure of the mediameba, designated as the gravitational field of the satelitas, where it undergoes temporary concentration and transformation.
Subtle information structures emerge within this field—fragmented signals reminiscent of Morse code. At the same time, the lighting elements transform in response to the acoustic environment above the infocells, where they gradually fragment and "grow" into smaller circular or point structures.
References – Inspiration from Global Media Hubs
Large-scale media headquarters with highly sophisticated interior design served as key references for the project. Examples include the BBC in Cardiff and London, ITV Media, and Economia in Prague’s Karlín district, all of which define contemporary standards for media workspaces.
