zlatý anděl

this morning i took the metro to smíchov district in prague 5 to see the zlatý anděl ("golden angel") office building. the building was designed by the french architect jean nouvel and was completed in 2000. nouvel noticed that there are many houses in prague with painted façades, and wanted to find a modern way of "painting" the building.  the crossroads at which the building stands is called anděl, so the picture nouvel imagined was of an angel guarding over prague.  

in his search for a "modern angel," nouvel collected thousands of images, and finally settled on the one played by german actor bruno ganz in wim wenders' 1987 film "wings of desire."  using a photograph that was printed in dots and applied directly to the glass with the help of a grid, the figure of the angel was placed in front of a panoramic image of prague.  across the photograph, in red text, are printed quotes from authors and poets that are connected with the city.  

last week's modern architecture lecture was entirely about zlatý anděl, from the idea to the final execution, and i felt that i had to see it myself. the look of the building changes with the time of day. i looked at it from different directions, which was difficult because the intersection is very busy with people, cars, and trams, and i must have been the only person looking up at it. this is an important lesson i am learning about prague: you miss so much here if you don't look up.