Golden Angel

The Golden Angel (Czech: Zlatý Anděl) is an administrative complex situated in Prague. The designer was French architect Jean Nouvel.[1]

Golden Angel
Zlatý Anděl
Front view
General information
Typeoffice complex
LocationAnděl crossroad
AddressPlzeňská 344/1, Praha 5 - Smíchov
Town or cityPrague
CountryCzech Republic
Coordinates
Construction started1999
Completed2000
Cost1 billion CZK
ClientING Real Estate
OwnerING Real Estate
Technical details
Floor count7
Floor area20,700 m2 (222,800 sq ft)
Lifts/elevators2
Design and construction
ArchitectJean Nouvel
Architecture firmAteliér 8000

The structure is located in the immediate vicinity of The Angel Crossroad (Křižovatka Anděl) which was named after The Golden Angel's Pharmacy (Lékárna U Zlatého Anděla). The pharmacy as well as its symbol - gilded statue of an angel - was demolished in 1980 to make a room for new subway station.

Origin

Nouvel started The Golden Angel project in 1994. The construction was launched five years later and the complex was completed in November 2000.[1] The exclusive investor of the building is the ING Real Estate company.

Exterior
Detail

The Golden Angel is curve-shaped and edges are rounded. Technology of the layered facade allows to vary the building appearance during the daytime. Glassed facades bear passages from the writings of notable authors who had been creating in Prague: Jiří Orten, Konstantin Biebl, Franz Kafka, Guillaume Apollinaire, Rainer Maria Rilke and Gustav Meyrink.

Picture of an Angel-protector, inspired by a Wim Wenders' film Wings of Desire, looks down upon the golden Angel crossroads, floating among clouds.

A unique technology has been developed for portraying clouds and the Angel. Graphics is printed on an advert foil and cut into millimetre-sized dots, which are stuck onto the facade in a density of 80,000/m2. Number of dots on the complex is reaching 150 millions; the printing and cutting process ran uninterruptedly for over 7 months.

References
  1. "Creating landmarks". The Prague Post. 20 June 2001. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2013.


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