The Augustine - Prague

"The starting points for the design philosophy of The Augustine were the monastery and Prague,” states Olga Polizzi, Design Director for the Rocco Forte Collection of her collaboration with London-based interior designers, RDD. The hotel is the twelfth in the collection and the first of two openings in 2009 with the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort in Sicily to follow. The Augustine comprises a collection of seven haphazardly arranged courtyards adjacent to the 13th Century Augustinian St Thomas monastery from which the hotel gets its name. The location on the apron beneath the walls of Prague Castle in Malá Strana couldn’t be better for many of the city’s tourist sites. Like the castle, the Gothic majesty of the Charles Bridge is a just few minutes walk away.

“I would have made it more monastic, simplified it even more, if I had been allowed,” laments Polizzi of the nevertheless clean and clear interiors. Together with the signage they make the hotel, a maze of passageways and different levels, relatively easy to navigate. For the most part corridors are broad, staircases wide and the white plasterwork allows the ornate stucco detailing full impact. The plain lime-based paint finishes in guestrooms, grey painted strips in place of skirting boards, and the wide oak board flooring were imposed by the strict heritage authorities in Prague. Other monastic interpretations are deliberate. The hairshirt-effect of the heavy beige linen used in the bed headboards typifies the ascetic approach. And although the hotel is luxuriously appointed, the lack of clutter and fuss add a beguiling charm to the property.

Religious overtones range from the obvious to the more subtle. Items of the monks’ statuary were restored and loaned to the hotel, a move indicative of the “open and neighbourly” relationship General Manager Henning Matthiesen has developed with the monks, some of whom still live in a separate part of the monastery. The plaster angel wings used as a decorative element above the bathtubs are based on one of two wings Polizzi found in Alfie’s Market in London. Polizzi had moulds made to produce what is becoming something of a signature piece for her. Ecclesiastical colours are used, with deep purple, green and orange bringing warmth to guestrooms. Underfloor heating does the same to the pale brown Napoleon or grey Grigio Antico marble bathrooms with their patinated brassware from Perrin & Rowe.

Alluding to the hotel’s location Polizzi focused on Prague’s artisanal heritage in metalworking and glass. These materials, together with some stunning reproduction furniture, follow a largely Cubist direction, Prague being one of the few places in the world that really took to this design genre. Table lamp stands made from stacked cubes of orange glass or layered fins of fine metal catch the eye, as do the fabulously eccentric zigzag chrome coat hooks in the Tower suite. Built-in cupboards are fronted with geometric patterned steel gates in a warm gold colour that were inspired by those found on site. A backing of linen curtains hides the cupboard interiors. Much casework is enclosed in similarly sturdy metal frames. Angular furniture supplied by local gallery, Modernista, includes reproduction chairs by Paval Janak, Jindrich Halabala and Vlastilav Hofman, with chaise longues by Adolf Loos. Cubist influences are also seen in large tripartite wall mirrors, the gold-coated sandblasted patterns on glass screens in the Monastery Restaurant and the wall sculpture in the entrance courtyard by Art Consult International.

The entrance to the hotel is modest and belies this “hideaway in the middle of the city,” explains Matthiesen. The manicured lawns of the Sundial garden and large trees in the courtyard adjacent to the Monastery Restaurant beggar belief in this cramped medieval quarter and are well exploited for receptions and the weekly summer barbeque. This architectural layout of the property was something in which Polizzi and RDD were closely involved. “Whilst RDD were instrumental in the overall project,” explains Polizzi, “they are also brilliant space planners and just understand our needs as operators.” Looking for a minimum of one hundred rooms, RDD had two successes. Firstly they got S.C. Master, the joint venture between owners Waldeck and Raiffeisen Evolution, to purchase another building, formerly a run-down hotel, to create a few more rooms and to increase the contiguous element of the hotel’s structure. And secondly, by raising the ceiling heights in the eaves they created some magical guestroom spaces with original exposed wooden beams.

The cellar of the former monastery brewery has been converted into a bar. To protect the existing stalactites and stalagmites that are similar to those found in the adjacent grotesquery wall of the Wallenstein gardens, the floor of the bar “floats” over a former watercourse, the spring providing water for the beer, and sits away from the grotto’s walls. The floor is edged with a low glass balustrade. This high water table is one of the reasons that, unlike other hotels in the collection, The Augustine does not have a swimming pool. To keep triathlete Sir Rocco Forte in shape on his visits to Prague the hotel does have a decent sized, Technogym-equipped exercise area alongside The Augustine Spa.
The hotel has two new interventions designed so as not to compete with the historic architectural envelope. The single storey reception lobby occupies part of a restored courtyard and is dominated by a stunning elliptical ceiling decoration. Made from glass spheres the piece is lit from the skylight above and is reminiscent of ray or sharkskin. The glass keeps up the Czech angle even if the creator Anthony Critchlow is British. Cubist-inspired artwork in the lobby comes by way of the 3-D rectangular and square wall sculptures of Petr Hampl.

The other new extension is the Monastery Restaurant, a glazed, double-height space carefully arranged around two large trees with a third in the adjacent courtyard that doubles as a dining terrace. This closeness to nature is also seen in the delicate leaf-pattern of cast brass wall lamps and the patterning used in both the embossed leather upholstery of the Halabala chairs and the edging to the crockery. Half-moon banquettes are separated by low glass screens of gold leaf gilt.

Within the investment of €65 million there are an awful lot more design stories to be told. About the Tower suite over three floors, its 360 degree views needing clever storage solutions from RDD; the barrel-vaulted space of the former refectory with its Baroque ceiling frescoes that is now Tom’s Bar; the arched ceiling of the ballroom and its beautiful geometric patterned velvet wall hangings in each alcove. Within the simple two-pronged approach of a monastic and local interpretation, Polizzi and RDD have created a very special hotel.

Rooms    101 guestrooms and suites
Dining    The Monastery
Drinking    Toms, The Brewery
Leisure    4 treatment rooms, Manicure room, wellness area, sauna, steam room and hammam, gym
Facilities    196m2 ballroom, 4 meeting rooms, business centre