Dancing House, Prague

The Dancing House is a Prague riverfront building, completed in 1996 and designed by Vlado Milunić with Frank Gehry. The Ginger and Fred nickname reflects towers conceived as Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in dance. The glass tower narrows partway up, carried by curved pillars.

Its deconstructivist manner breaks the expected order of a façade, and ninety-nine concrete panels were made in distinct shapes and sizes. An apartment building on this plot was destroyed during the American bombing of Prague in 1945. Milunić developed the project after discussions with his neighbour Václav Havel, who hoped the site could become a cultural centre. That ambition changed before construction, yet this restless silhouette became a defining architectural statement of Prague after communism.