Tichy Ocean Museum, Prague. Utilisation concept of the Tichy Ocean Museum envisages a high flexibility without cost increase. The concept should enable different utilisation scenarios, that could be realised with minimal effort. As a result the distribution core lies centrally, in order to facilitate a splitting of the building in the future. It should meet the requirements of a museum, residential use and office space. The „access space“ consists of two separate staircases that are interlocked in a double helix allowing to reach the residential and office floors without interfering with the opening hours of the museum. Because each of the two interlocked stairs has a landing on each floor, every level can be configured and accessed independently. This „staircase space“ constitutes the heart of the building, offers a sculptural and spatial experience and reminds of the Stair labyrinths by M. C. Escher or of kafkaesque burocratique moments. It is dedicated to Miroslav Tichy, whose life and work represent the guideline for all aesthetic decisions. The ground floor will include a café, a bookstore and a children’s play area, in order to create a dynamic public space, a local meeting point. This large multifunctional space can be used for concerts, readings and other social activities. The basement does without natural lighting and thus offers ideal conditions for exhibiting the photographs of Miroslav Tichy. Generously sized exhibition spaces are located on the first and second floors and can be subdivided if needed. The third and forth floors contain the artist apartments, studios and offices. The attic apartment of Roman Buxbaum is set back from the street facade line in order to create a generous terrace. Also for reasons of urban planning the facade appears towards the street as a five-storey building. Thermoactive component systems (TABS) allow cooling and cost efficient heating for the exhibition spaces. Windows allow a natural ventilation.
    We envisage a bare construction aestethic, resembling an industrial workshop. The attitude of objection of Miroslav Tichy should be reflected in the construction, materialisation and detailing of the museum. The building is shaped by understatement and modesty, but also allows for eccentricity and wilfulness that harkens back to Miroslav Tichy’s outsider nature. The desired architectural expression celebrates the imperfection of rough surfaces, with traces of the construction process telling a story. Technical installations are left exposed as far it makes sense and in order to save costs. The damaged and the imperfect stands for the human vulnerability and transience. That does not mean that „anything goes“. Respect and precise realisation of the spatial concept as opposed to rough untreated surfaces requires an unconventional thinking as seen in Miroslav Tichy’s work.

project: AFGH
collaboration: Carlo Fumarola, Andrej Zouev