Sky is creating a platform in Prague on which a number of streaming services belonging to the sub-national Comcast group operate. In addition to Sky Showtime, also known to Czech viewers, it also includes the American Peacock and the African Showmax. It is Showmax that is the key reason why Sky's main development center will be located in the domestic metropolis. After a series of ownership changes at the beginning of this year, the Czech branch of Showmax disappeared, and technologically its product came under Sky. A team of Czech developers now faces the challenge of how to ensure that the platform can handle record numbers of followers and is able to process and distribute huge volumes of data to various devices around the world. Live broadcasts of the approaching Olympics in Paris are supposed to be a stress test.
"The brand new premises of AFI Karlín will be one of the attractions for the upcoming recruitment of developers. Construction work on the 1350 m2 fit-out has already started. In cooperation with the architectural studio Perspektiv, truly modern offices are created, in which it will be a pleasure to work. The estimated date of their opening is the beginning of next year," comments Kateřina Holická, asset manager of the development company AFI Europe.
The second tenant is Wolf Theiss, which is one of the leading law firms in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. It has built its reputation based on almost 70 years of tradition on the basis of detailed knowledge of the local market, which it supports with strong international experience. With more than 390 lawyers in 13 countries, including the Czech Republic and Slovakia, it represents local and international industrial enterprises, trading companies, banks and insurance companies.
"Wolf Theiss will be located in AFI Karlín from October this year, on two different floors with a total area of 1,350 m2. I am convinced that not only the Wolf Theiss team, but also their clients will especially appreciate the unique spaces on the top floor with a spacious terrace and a unique view of the surroundings," describes Kateřina Holická.
The AFI Karlín administrative complex, also nicknamed Butterfly, was completed at the beginning of 2018. It is located near the Křižíkova metro station and has a total of 23,000 m2 of rentable space. Current tenants include ALEF, mBank, Slevomat.cz, Edenred, IQVIA and Maersk Czech Republic.
AFI Karlín received the international BREEAM Excellent certificate and as such has a number of sustainable solutions. The project comes from the workshop of the architectural studio CMC Architects. The appearance of the two five-story buildings with a receding sixth floor is inspired by the natural scenery of the nearby Vítkov Hill and resembles the wings of a butterfly taking flight with an open atrium in the middle. The all-glass facade is covered by an intelligent external shading system with more than 40,000 living plants. Inside the building, there is a bicycle storage room with complete facilities for cyclists, an underground parking lot for more than 300 cars and a charging station for electric cars. The project also includes a public park with an original baroque chapel and water features, in which there are also various types of shelters for birds, bumblebees and antelopes.
