Prague Castle Orangery (Prague) - Greenhouses and Nurseries on Waymarking.com

The British-Czech architect Eva Jiricná, a graduate of Jaroslav Fragner's school at the Prague Academy of Visual Arts, designed the new greenhouse for the Castle Orangery. Originally commissioned by Rudolf II, the Orangery lies on the northern rim of the lower Stag Moat.

As the 1940s greenhouse for subtropical fruits was in a ruinous state, it was replaced by a vaulted construction of transverse beams without internal support. Jiricná's unique high-tech architecture contrasts with its historical surroundings, yet without causing disharmony. Integrated into the Orangery are the original Renaissance wall, along with Plecnik's basin and Rothmayer's fountain. Heat, ventilation, and the blinds are automatically regulated by computer, according to internal climactic needs.

The greenhouse has three main compartments - the first for decorative plants and trees, the second for plants recovering after a period in the castle itself, and the third for the cultivation of new plants. Each area has its own climate control and special facilities for the handling of different plants.

In section the Orangery appears to be part of a circle framed by a diagonal mesh of 48mm-diameter tubes which meet at right angles. The structure is formed by welded crosses, connected by a mechanical fixed node formed from four solid ends. The tubes are clamped together, with top and bottom clamp plates held together by a single screw. The bottom part of the node holds a bracket from which the four corners of the toughened laminated glass panels are suspended; the individual sheets of glass are then connected with clear silicone. Glass and metal cross- walls stabilise the mesh, which is supported at the back (parallel to the retaining wall of the Royal Garden) by a triangular space- frame accommodating both the horizontal and vertical forces of the enclosure. On the inside of the glass shell, roller blinds provide shading in summer and insulation in winter. Heating pipes are situated under the blinds (to prevent condensation in winter), in the floor slab and along the back of the brick retaining wall. Other pipes suspended from the structure are for introducing vapour spray. Maintenance is carried out from an arch-like gantry that moves along the length of the building on two rails.