Dancing House

Zagreb-born Czech architect Vlado Milunic first launched the idea for this modern building in the mid 1980s. At that time he lived in a building adjacent to a vacant plot along the Vltava river; the original renaissance style building had been destroyed during WWII. By coincidence Vaclav Havel, at the time a dissident but later the first Czech President lived in the same building as the architect. Milunic pitched his idea of building a modern structure on the neighboring vacant plot to Havel who supported it, hoping it would become a cultural center.

After the Velvet Revolution, Milunic found financial support from the Nationale Nederlanden (now ING) to build his modern structure, but Nationale Nederlanden asked Milunic to partner with a renowned architect.
The first choice was French architect Jean Nouvel, but he declined since he thought the surface of the plot was too small for two architects. Canadian born architect Frank O. Gehry however was willing to cooperate after, in 1992, he saw some of Milunic's sketches of the building.

The building portrays two people dancing hence the original name of the edifice: Fred and Ginger after the famous dance couple Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The building became soon known as the 'dancing house'. Milunic describes the building as a dance performed after the Velvet Revolution.

The construction of the building in what is described as a deconstructionist style - the architects themselves consider the style 'new baroque' - created quite a stir since the modern building starkly contrasts with its surroundings, both in its architecture and in its use of materials. Opposition against the building continued even after it was completed in 1996 but eventually Prague citizens have come to accept and even appreciate the building.