Archizoom: A8000 Studio Is Not a Machine, but an Ecosystem
A former Prefa panel factory on the banks of the Vltava is now home to one of the largest architecture studios in the Czech Republic. The A8000 studio is led by Martin Krupauer and Pavel Kvintus, who invited us to Panelárna. We talked about why it is crucial to maintain a balance between order and freedom in such an ‘ecosystem’, and why they do not want to be the biggest, but the best.
Architecture that invites
We are currently sitting in your new Panelárna space. How did this project come about?
Martin Krupauer: That was pure chance. From the early 1990s, the studio was based in an apartment building on Pavlák. But we soon outgrew the space, so we started looking around for something new. At the same time, we were taking part in a competition for a hotel, which we presented in Partyzánská Street. I still remember wandering around here and admiring the atmosphere of the cargo port. And then we came across this Brussels-style building and said to ourselves straight from the car: ‘That’s a great building.’ A year later, an estate agent offered us premises right here. The negotiations were rather complicated, but we didn’t want to give up. Suddenly we were facing the decision to move into a large industrial space that we couldn’t really even imagine.
