Architektura’s proposal for the new Prague Fire and Rescue Service headquarters in the Holešovice district is designed as a volume with an abstract, restrained, and robust identity, centered on a rigorous internal layout that prioritizes natural lighting and efficient circulation.
The vertical façade features an envelope of red glass-fiber-reinforced concrete panels that interact with square openings framed in red aluminum. This same treatment extends to the connecting annex, fully enveloping it and introducing a more technical aesthetic to the complex. The building features a green roof and accessible terraces, lending a lighter material quality to its "fifth façade."
The interior design relies primarily on exposed concrete, unplastered masonry, and exposed building services, creating a distinctly functional character and an infrastructure-like aesthetic.
Fire and Rescue Service by Architektura. Photograph by Filip Šlapal.
Project description by Architektura
The Prague Fire Rescue Service headquarters complex in Holešovice is conceived as civic infrastructure anchored by a strong urban presence at a highly exposed intersection. The project develops a long-term strategy for the Fire Rescue Service to consolidate its operational and administrative functions within a coherent campus, combining clarity of organisation with a distinctly public architectural expression.
At the heart of the composition stands a slender corner tower housing the administrative functions of the service. It establishes a clear vertical marker in the urban fabric, reinforcing the identity of the institution and responding to the openness and scale of its surroundings. Rather than pursuing representational monumentality, the building expresses authority through restraint, precision, and a calm material presence.
The new administrative building completes a two-part campus. It is directly linked to the operational building completed in the first phase, which accommodates immediate response and service functions. Together, the two structures form a unified yet differentiated system, described by the architects as a “city within a city” — a compact institutional environment embedded within the predominantly residential and office district of Holešovice.
The architectural concept is defined by a tension between robustness and clarity. The building is conceived as a solid, introverted volume that prioritises internal efficiency and operational logic while maintaining a strong external identity. Its spatial organisation separates administrative areas from technical and support functions, allowing each to respond to its specific requirements in terms of daylight, acoustics, and circulation.
The composition is articulated into three interconnected parts: the nine-storey administrative tower, the associated technical and operational block, and a three-storey drive-through structure that forms a transitional gateway between the two phases of the campus. This lower volume mediates movement across the site and reinforces the continuity of the institutional layout.
Materially, the building expresses a deliberately restrained industrial character. The façades are defined by a disciplined grid of red glass-fibre-reinforced concrete panels, giving the tower a unified and recognisable presence in the urban landscape. The connecting volumes are clad in square aluminium elements, introducing a more technical, infrastructural reading at ground level. Together, these layers reinforce the clarity of the building’s hierarchical organisation.
The interior continues this architectural language with an emphasis on structural honesty and durability. Exposed reinforced concrete, unplastered masonry, and visible building services define a raw, functional atmosphere. The design approach extends to the integration of signage and institutional elements, including the Fire Rescue Service identity and emergency number, treated as part of the architectural composition rather than applied graphics.
The roofscape accommodates both operational infrastructure and usable outdoor space. A combination of green roof surfaces and accessible terraces introduces moments of openness within the otherwise compact volume, while technical equipment is integrated into the architectural grid to preserve the coherence of the overall form. Above the elevator core, an 18.2-metre steel lattice antenna mast completes the vertical composition, extending the technical lineage of the campus.
The result is an architecture operating between infrastructure and civic presence. It avoids formal expressionism in favour of clarity, durability, and long-term relevance, reflecting the role of the Fire Rescue Service as a stable and essential component of the city’s emergency and security system.
