Alma Prague is the new space for Kro Kitchen – a brand of bistrot, café and bar – designed by Czech architecture studio Neuhäusl Hunal, committed to creating architecture and interiors that reflect the values of society and at the same time communicate rationality, naturalness and beauty.
Exploring the complex space of Alma Prague
Alma Prague is situated on the grounds of a former cinema, sharing its name, within Prague’s historic quarter. This historic multi-level space presents a wide array of styles and historical elements: a building with vaulted ceilings, a modern concrete structure, and a First Republic printing house.
Here, on a total area of 800 m², Neuhäusl Hunal was called in to develop a project comprising a café, a restaurant, a wine shop, a conference room, a bar, a tasting room and a fermentation laboratory. The studio aimed to unify these spaces and give them continuity, ‘uniting in diversity’.
Crafting the right atmosphere
Thanks to its diverse activities, Alma functions all day long: it welcomes early morning visitors in the cafeteria, continues with informal lunches at the bistrot, and transforms into a wine bar and restaurant at dinnertime. Not only that, the basement bar can also become a nightclub. Thus, the studio sought to create the right atmosphere in each space.
On the one hand, it was necessary to connect and differentiate the areas of Alma, each with a different function, with a design that would unite the various parts and reflect their use. On the other hand, the theme was to find the right balance between luxury haute cuisine and an informal, relaxed atmosphere, which is part of Kro‘s identity. To meet these standards, Neuhäusl Hunal chose simple materials with a muted colour palette and carefully designed lighting with quality products.
The role of lighting in diversifying spaces at Alma Prague
Historical and modern buildings and transit areas: these 3 space typologies of Alma Prague, each characterised by a different – but always choral – approach. The main unifying element is the ceramic laid in height, whose colour gradually darkens from the lightest shade in the café to the darkest in the basement bar.
The other key element is light: for the spaces, the studio selected Infinito by Davide Groppi – which enhances the vaulted ceiling – and Camouflage, designed by Piero Lissoni for Flos, as a wall light, a minimal and contemporary solution that dialogues perfectly with the “aged” finishes of the walls.
Transit areas are also characterised by a more technical and breaking solution: metal grid panels capable of dialoguing with the different spaces. In the newly built ones, the studio opted for Whistle, designed by Lucie Koldova for Brokis, and Extruded, Minute Suspended and Pista Track lights produced by Modular Lighting Instruments, MLI NA corporation – solutions best suited to illuminate technical areas such as the kitchen and bar counter. Also worth mentioning is the signage created with lightboxes on which graphics with a retro style.
