A Zeppelin-Shaped Reading Room Just Opened Atop The Rooftops of Prague

For the cost of seven dollars, you’ll be able to read in a zeppelin suspended above the city of Prague—kind of. The DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague has opened “Gulliver,” a wooden and steel zeppelin-shaped reading room suspended across two rooftops. The airship, named after Jonathan Swift’s famous character, is meant for “reading and public discussions of literature,” and will be open to anyone who buys a ticket to the DOX Centre.

The zeppelin, which is about 138 feet long and 33 feet wide, has been in development for more than two years, designed by the DOX Centre’s director Leoš Válka and architect Martin Rajniš, along with wood and steelworkers. Válka said of the inspiration for the addition:

The idea to invade the DOX Centre’s starkly modern austere concrete-and-glass architecture with a ‘parasitic’ structure has been on my mind for several years. I first dreamed of an absurdly fascinating organic shape that would contrast with the centre’s existing architecture.

The shape of the zeppelin, a staple of early 20th-century technology, is meant to be representative of “the optimistic ideals of a new era of unprecedented technological advancements” and “a certain utopian ideal,” which the DOX Centre embodies.

You can see more of Gulliver below and read more about the airship here.