A controversial skyscraper that looks like an upturned oil tanker in a crash with an office block could soon be Prague’s tallest building.
Bizarre new plans from Czech development company Trigema would see the 450ft structure towering over the historic city.
It would cost an estimated two billion Czech koruna (£70,000,000) and would have a public lookout with a 360-degree view at its peak, reached by an external lift.
Prague's historic downtown is a UNESCO World Heritage site where high-rises are totally banned, so the skyscraper – dubbed Top Tower – would be built in the suburbs.
Architect Tomáš Císař, who designed the tower with his Black n' Arch studio colleague, sculptor David Černý, said the boat was a “fundamental element” of the structural design.
“It comprises a notional vertical public space,” he said. “It is publicly accessible both via the viewing elevator and staircase which link individual height levels – terraces which in future are designed to be used as outdoor galleries, lapidaria and gardens.
“The boat is structurally connected to the building. One cannot stand, nor even exist, without the other. Thus the boat is not a mere addition, but rather a fundamental element both intellectually and technically.”
The developer estimates that construction will begin in 2021 and take less than three years to complete.
A promotional video for the scheme links the design to global warming and envisions the tower in a post-apocalyptic landscape, surrounded only by water.
Then, in the clip, the flood waters recede and reveal the surrounding city. It’s a design that’s elicited a mixed reaction.
Czech architect Michal Postránecký told Prague’s Lidové noviny newspaper that a “more realistic” design should be picked.
He said: “From an urban perspective, I think a high-rise building could be there, but the chosen concept is not a happy one – it adds no value.”
Urban planner Ivan Kaplan of the Czech Technical University expressed reservations about the height of the building.
“Concerns about the climate catastrophe can be expressed differently, more subtly and more cheaply,” he said.
Architect Vít Máslo, however, wished the developers success.
“Hopefully the building will succeed because there is a great deal of resistance,” he said. “As for David Černý's design, the shipwreck is such a transfer of sculpture to architecture, it can be interesting, yet difficult to implement.
“Sculpture and architecture are different concepts, but in an exceptional case – why not?”
The building is planned for Prague’s 13th district, close to the Nové Butovice metro station. Its developers say it will not be visible from the historic city centre and would not disturb the skyline there.
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