The city of Prague is layered with historic architecture, some of which is over a thousand years old. As humanity embraces technology at home and within newly-open office spaces, these ancient European cities have begun to modernize their buildings with elements that stand apart from their more classical and ornamental neighbors.
Architectural and interior photographer Jiri Lizler had the opportunity to capture Prague’s latest addition The Flow — a unique co-working space — for workspace design company Scott Weber.
The building is located in the famed Wenceslas Square, a long, tree-lined street populated with many businesses and shops. While it’s not the oldest area of the city, the square acts as its cultural and business center. The exterior of the new addition is all glass and cross-hatched with metal beams that light up at night. But the view for those inside the workspace still offers the classic red-roofed skyline of old Prague.
Anyone who has been to Prague is familiar with Wenceslas Square. The National Museum looks over the statue of King Wenceslas at the top of the street and The Flow building is located just a few blocks down at this highly sought-after address.
Jiri had previously photographed for Scott Weber, and this new assignment was their fourth collaboration together. He’s learned to always work with a client representative on the shoot, and in this instance, it proved essential as the client needed to submit the images for a workspace design competition.
I knew from the start these images were mainly for the competition so there was a lot of pressure. Not only that but I had one day to get this done as the deadline for the submission was the day after!
By keeping cool under a hard deadline, Jiri’s efforts paid off and he helped Scott Weber win an award for “Best Hub & Coworking Space.”
To highlight the abundance of light coming from the all-glass exterior, Jiri needed to work at the same time as many of the employees. This led to constant interruptions and distractions during the shoot.
It was a challenging shoot and we did not stop for a good eight hours. We had to work around employees, block people from moving through the space, and schedule the meeting rooms ahead of time.
But with his small crew — an assistant, agent, and two architects — Jiri managed to work around these parameters. His team acted as the talent, and he staged most of them in motion, to parallel the name and atmosphere of the building.
The unique interior of the building is very dark and modern, with sleek black lines that follow hallways and metal finishes on furniture and lights. Yet with features like all glass meeting rooms and walls, Jiri was able to brighten the futuristic tone with light streaming in from all angles.
Postproduction involved exposure blending and picking the right model pose. The dynamic range was insane in some of the shots. I had to use artificial lighting to bring it all together.
As we adapt to new styles of working our workspaces parallel these changes. Jiri’s images help clients like Scott Weber illustrate a stylish modern way of working in tandem with our colleagues, with undivided spaces that aid in collaboration. As Jiri paints it, the future of working is modern, open, and bright.
Photographer: Jiri Lizler
Client Representative: Eva Berankova
Architectural Studio: Klik Arch
Architect: Ivo Kratochvil
Architect: Zofia Baltazar
Assistant: Nick Donchenko