The Dancing House (Czech: Tancící dum) is the nickname (another nickname is “Drunk House”) given to an office building in downtown Prague, Czech Republic at Rašínovo nábreží 80, 120 00 Praha 2. This building was designed by Frank Gehry & Vlado Miluni located in Prague, Czech Republic.

With a vision of creating an iconic building in Prague , ING contracted Frank Gehry for this forward-looking architectural project, giving him an almost unlimited budget and artistic freedom. The construction for the Dancing House began in 1994 and finished in 1996. The house has also been nicknamed the Fred and Ginger for its vague resemblance to the two dancers or the Drunken House for its twisted and unruly shape. The roof is host to a French restaurant with magnificent views over the Vltava . Located on Resslova Street, it is a short distance from the metro station Karlovo namesti.

The site of Gehry’s Dancing House was originally occupied by a house in the Neo-renaissance style from the end of the 19th century. That house was destroyed during bombing in 1945, its remains finally removed in 1960. The neighboring house (with a small globe on the roof) was co-owned by Czech ex-president Vaclav Havel, who lived there from his childhood until the mid-1990s. He ordered the first architectural study from Vlado Milunic (who has been involved in re-building Havel’s appartment in the neighboring house). Afterwards the Dutch bank ING agreed to build a house there, and asked Milunic to invite a world-renowned architect. Milunic first asked Jean Nouvel, who rejected the invitation because of the small size of the site (491 square meters); he then asked Frank Gehry, who and he accepted the challenge. Gehry had an almost unlimited budget, because ING wanted to create an icon in Prague. The construction started in 1994 and the house was finished in 1996.

The building is an example of deconstructivist architecture, with an unusual shape. It reflects a woman and man (Ginger Rogers and Fred Astair) dancing together. Construction is from 99 concrete panels each of different shape and dimension, each therefore requiring a unique wooden form.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Architecture Design. Tags: Dancing House, deconstructivist architecture, Drunk House, Frank Gehry, Fred Astair, Ginger Rogers, ING Groep N.V., Jean Nouvel, Neo-renaissance house style, Prague, president, Resslova Street, unique wooden form, Vaclav Havel, Vlado Milunic, world-renowned architect. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.