On the last day of October, at eleven minutes past eleven sharp, the Quadrio Shopping Centre on Národní třída, Prague, welcomed its first visitors. The ceremonial ribbon was cut by Zdeněk Havelka, CEO, and Igor Klajmon, Development Director, CPI Property Group, along with the Mayor of the Borough of Prague 1, Oldřich Lomecký. The Quadrio multi-functional compound with excellent traffic and walking accessibility has enriched the centre of Prague not only with a shopping gallery with 66 shops on four floors but also with luxurious flats and an offer of top-class offices. "It is unrivalled in central Prague thanks to its position in the historic centre of Prague and directly above an underground station and due to its technical quality, efficiency and unique panoramic views and its own parking facilities. The project is so extraordinary that we will use a part of the office space for the new seat of our real estate group," said Zdeněk Havelka, CEO, CPI Property Group.
The developer fulfilled a very ambitious plan to open the shops to the public as early as for the pre-Christmas market. "We have built a unique project that will not be repeated in a similar location and extent. We are opening a compound of buildings only a year after a unique foundation pit with a volume of 90 thousand m³ was finished. I presume to compare the complexity of construction in the lively city centre to a heart operation in a phone box," said Igor Klajmon, Development Director, CPI Property Group, on the course of the building work. The total shopping centre area is 8,500 m². The shopping gallery consists of two above-ground and two underground floors; three of them are connected with the department store My, and a new hall of the busy underground station Národní třída opens into the gallery, too. "Customers can look forward, for example, to a BILLA supermarket, a first-class restaurant Polpo by Kogo, shops of the brands Sephora, Dermacol, Euronics, Neoluxor, dm chemist's, fashion shops Kara, Promod, Calzedonia, cafes Bistro L, Café Level and Pauseteria, and toy shops Sparkys and HM Studio. In addition, Quadrio will offer customers a pharmacy, a dry-cleaner's, a bank, an insurance company, a sweet shop and a newsagent's by the underground entrance. Visitors to the shopping centre will have an opportunity to make use of attractive starting special offers and discounts," said Peter Fazekaš, Shopping Centres Lease Director, CPI Property Group.
QUADRIO – A NEW DIMENSION OF EUROPEAN CITY LIFESTYLE
By opening the compound, Prague 1 got a new public space. A new square, which has changed the face of the centre of Prague between Spálená and Vladislavova Streets in cooperation with the municipality, received its final appearance, too. Together with distinctive architecture of Cigler Marani Architects, Quadrio brought a new quality of public space with greenery into the location, only metres from Wenceslas Square. "In the territory of our borough, Quadrio considerably contributes to the creation of a new public space, which, especially in the case of the Národní třída location, was a big eyesore until recently. Thus, besides tourism, everyday life with various services and shopping, working and relaxation opportunities returns to this part of the historic centre of Prague 1. Moreover, the new square with a cafe, a restaurant and greenery as a whole connects to the system of our municipal pedestrian areas," said the Mayor of Prague 1 Oldřich Lomecký. The project also includes luxurious housing in a separate block of flats, which complies with the requirements of the current lifestyle in European cities. "The residential part involves flats from the smallest ones to spacious luxurious flats the area of which covers the whole floor and which also have a large terrace, which is absolutely rare in the centre. At this moment, there is one last flat left for sale, which is proof of the project's attractiveness and uniqueness," said Igor Klajmon of CPI Property Group. Quadrio will offer its residents and tenants underground parking with the capacity of 250 cars, which will be entered from Vladislavova Street. The modern housing residence, as well as the entire compound, bring unique architecture into a unique location of the historic centre of Prague.
QUADRIO – WORK FACILITIES IN THE SIGN OF COMFORT AND MODERN DESIGN
On the above-ground floors over the shopping part, there are top-class offices with an overall area of 16,400 m², where future tenants will receive especially high comfort, modern design, above-standard quality of services and an attractive location in the very heart of the city and at a central transport junction. In addition, the roof of the top eighth floor carries a spacious terrace with a fantastic view of all of Prague. The tenants will appreciate not only the remarkable efficiency of the offices and the high technical standard of the building but also low operating costs.
QUADRIO – GENIUS LOCI
The Quadrio compound follows the genius loci, the history of this place, and sensitively gives it a new face. In the past, there were houses called U černého koně (By the Black Horse), U bílého lva (By the White Lion) and U bílé boty (By the White Shoe), and this historic line is remembered by artistic sculptures by Maxim Velčovský, which are situated in the entrance reception hall of the office part of the building. Besides the spirit of the place, the building also has its symbolic heart, which is represented by a pulsating sculpture (design: Jiří Máca and Ondřej Karpiánus). The most dominant artistic element of the whole compound is a moving head by David Černý, which is almost eleven metres tall and is placed in the square behind Quadrio. "The project of Franz Kafka's head was one of the last ones and made it possible to give another significant face to a public space in the historic centre of Prague. We chose a design by David Černý to complete the character of the Quadrio project with his idea and originality," stated Igor Klajmon.
QUADRIO – ELEGANT AND TIMELESS ARCHITECTURE
The extraordinary architecture and the shape of the compound attract great attention. "Our vision was to create a modern, self-confident building with a very strong conception, but also to set the project into the city environment context and into a nationally protected historic area and surroundings," said Jakub Cigler, an architect from Cigler Marani Architects studio, which designed Quadrio. The compound consists of six buildings, which, viewed from above, form the shape of a four-leaf clover, and it is just this architectonic solution that the offices will appreciate most. A unique ground plan with an above-standard proportion of glass facade allows maximum efficiency of the working space without so-called dead and unused spots. The reason is that daylight falls almost on every square metre of the area, due to which up to 350 workers can be comfortably seated on a typical floor with a net leasable area of 2,800 m², In addition, the ground plan and the arrangement of the technologies make it easier to arrange the offices, which can be designed both as separated offices and open-space ones. The latest technologies along with the shape of the building and the layout efficiency have a major influence on the operating costs of the building. The project also monitors an ecological consideration parameter; therefore it was built so that it complies with the conditions for acquiring the Leed Certificate for green buildings. The compound exterior is interesting, too. The main internal building is decorated using a unique 3D glass facade, and the outer office buildings are encircled in their lower part by firm plates which also partly cover the glass walls of the shopping gallery units. The name Quadrio is based on a play on foreign words referring to the basic shape of the building, the floor ground plan in the shape of a four-leaf clover, the project quality and also four basic functions that link business, work, housing and leisure at the same time.
INTERESTING FIGURES
QUADRIO MULTIFUNCTIONAL COMPOUND
- 16,400 m² of offices
- 8,500 m² of the shopping gallery
- 66 shops
- 13 exclusive flats
- 35 metres – the building height
- 3.1 billion Czech Crowns – the total amount of investment
What was used:
- 40,000 m³ of concrete
- 4,000 tons of concreting reinforcement
- 58,000 m² of damp-proofing
- 400 tons of steel constructions
- 10,000 m² of facades
- 19 full-grown trees
- 210 km of conductor, low-voltage-current and data cables
What was taken away:
- 90,000 m³ of soil from the foundation pit
What was drawn:
- 6,500 project documentation drawings for the construction realisation
What was built up:
- 5,000 m² of land
What was carried out:
- 21 special testing rides of the underground train due to vibration measurement
What has taken place:
- 70 final inspections
- hundreds of surveys / passportisations / measurements on surrounding buildings
MOVING SCULPTURE OF FRANZ KAFKA'S HEAD
- 42 floors
- 21 motor modules
- 24 tons of stainless mirror-finish plate
- 2 expert opinions concerning statistics and dynamics
- 39 tons of weight
- 1 km of cables
- 10.6 m height
