The former InterContinental Hotel is reborn as the Fairmont Golden Prague

The former InterContinental Hotel, built between 1968 and 1974, was the first international five-star hotel in what was then Czechoslovakia and the first American investment in the Eastern Bloc. The brutalist landmark designed by Karel Filsakwas was conceived as a showcase of Czech craftsmanship, and a cultural symbol of modernism behind the Iron Curtain.

Completed in 2026, following a five-year reconstruction led by TaK Architects under Marek Tichý, the building reopens as the Fairmont Golden Prague.

Preservation as Architectural Argument

Decades of neglect and an insensitive renovation in the late 1990s had left the building of the former InterContinental Hotel diminished. Rather than demolish it, three Czech entrepreneurs – Pavel Baudiš, Eduard Kučera, and Oldřich Šlemr – commissioned an architectural competition that resulted in a restoration guided by both historical rigour and contemporary ambition.

Working with the original material triad of concrete, glass, and wood, Tichý's team rebuilt technically obsolete elements while preserving those of artistic significance. The ceramic façade by sculptor Zbyněk Sekal was meticulously recreated, meanwhile the conference hall ceiling, originally lit by René Roubíček's chandeliers, was rebuilt to reflect the 1960s dialogue between concrete and light.

Architecture Open to the City

A central concern of the intervention was the building's relationship with its urban surroundings. A transparent architectural extension integrates with newly planted greenery and extends toward Dvořák Embankment, drawing visitors down a landscaped slope to the river.

At the junction of city and water, a new contemporary art pavilion anchors the revitalisation of the public edge. A gallery space accessible from both street and riverfront has been embedded into the hotel's lower level, ensuring free public access and reinforcing the building's longstanding commitment to artistic integration.

A Living Exhibition

Over twenty studios contributed to the project's contemporary artistic programme, curated under Tichý's direction. Jan Kukla's Heavens, a 600-rod glass light installation, greets visitors on arrival. Zdeněk Lhotský's kinetic glass Tapestries extend from interiors to façades.

Martin Janecký's monumental House Signs of Prague dominates the lobby, while an 8-m site-specific sculpture evoking flowing water, created by Lasvit, Wanda Valihrachová and TaK Architects, frames the wellness reception. Historic and contemporary works coexist as a single living exhibition.

Sustainability Woven Throughout 

Environmental performance is addressed with equal rigour. The hotel draws heating and cooling energy from the Vltava through a geothermal system, recovers waste heat from kitchens, laundry, and wellness operations, and manages water through greywater, rainwater, and retention systems. Green roofs and vertical gardens complete the picture, tempering the urban microclimate around the building.

One chapter, however, remains unfinished. The redesign of the piazzetta in front of the hotel is the last piece of the broader urban revitalisation and is currently the subject of RaumScape, an international competition that drew 197 studios from 42 countries. 

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