Staying true to industrial roots

The Zlíchovský lihovar distillery was founded in 1880, during the Second World War, the operation was closed down due to the Jewish origin of the owners. Eventually, the complex was acquired and in collaboration with David Černý’s Black n’ Arch studio, the site was quickly transformed.
 
With building start in 2022, when construction of the Lihovar Smíchov project began, a total of 550 apartments, over 7,000 m² of commercial space for various uses, shops and catering facilities are to be built here in three phases. The first completed object of the project was the conversion of the historic distillery into a cultural centre, with a permanent exhibition of David Černý and guest artists.
 
A further reminder of the distillery’s former glory is the original brick chimney, which in the second phase of the project, will house a view of Prague.

“We are renovating the distillery with a vision of a new residential area that offers the opportunity to live in a unique atmosphere combined with cultural and gastronomic experiences. We started the realisation with the renovation of the listed former distillery building.
 
The first phase, now completed, offers apartments whilst, the second phase, which we have already started, will offer the same mix of housing, including the iconic residential chimney, as well as an indoor courtyard with a food market and cultural spaces,” says Erik Březina, Director of Development Projects at Trigema Real Estate.

As the area is historically perceived as one big factory, that style has been followed: with brick façades, a chimney and windows with industrial articulation.
 
After several stages of patterning, two shades of Terca brick slips from wienerberger were selected in an atypical format with a thickness of 18 mm to reduce the load on the ETICS system: Terca Opus and Pastorale. The façade was completed with Terca Agora Grafietzwart, which underlines authenticity and uniqueness to this project.
 
The brick façade optimises the thermal insulation properties of the building and has a virtually unlimited service life since it does not require maintenance. It is colour stable throughout its lifetime and creates a pleasing aesthetic appearance with the hallmark of originality.
A total of 7,500 m² of brick strips were used, roughly equivalent to half a million bricks that were hand glued to the façade.