Tucked above Prague’s Roxy nightclub, NoD Experimental Space is a new venue for the city’s creative community, offering a variety of spaces for performances, exhibitions, networking and socializing. Teatro NoD is a theatre where patrons can catch original dramatic works, while the Gallery presents the best of the Czech contemporary art scene, including painting, photography, monumental art forms, installation and video art. The third space is Cafe NoD. Newly renovated by local architects CollColl, the cafe draws a hipster crowd into a venue that may have previously been perceived as a night time destination rather than a lunch spot.
Overlooking Dlouha Street, a strip famous for its nightlife just steps from the city’s bustling Old Town Square, the mostly white space is filled with charming early 20th century details, such as the ornate crown moulding. Though modern and minimal, the cafe is packed with features that nod to the building’s historic status, evoking a subtle deco vibe.
The flooring is a smoked oak parquet, and the bar is wrapped in white, diamond-shaped Rombini mosaic tiles from Mutina. Three variations of classic wooden cafe chairs – all from Ton – are used and similarly curvaceous brass shelving behind the bar adds to the traditional elegance of the 121-square-metre room, which is divided by elevating part of the floor area, in front of the street-facing windows.
Though the space is awash in natural light during the day, the space is well-lit on grey days and at night with Tom Dixon‘s Pressed Glass and Copper Bronze pendant lights. The metallic orbs are a perfect complement to the indisputable highlight of the space, a massive suspended sculpture by contemporary Czech artist Jiří David. The Golden Bone is shaped like a giant’s femur, stretching the length of the bar.
The art piece defines the room, without dominating the space, and links the calm, comfortable cafe to the avant garde programming NoD is known for.