As house prices continue to rise in the city, many artists face the challenge of moving out or changing profession. Specialist arts and crafts are at risk of being lost if practitioners are detached from wider communities or encouraged to work in alternative fields.

On a busy residential street in Prague, the 'Artist Collective' proposes an integrated scheme of community spaces and subsidised housing for creatives. The aim of the scheme is to create a sustainable community centre that engages the public with craft, skill and creativity whilst providing artists with affordable housing for longer term residencies.

The lower levels of the building are open to the public. Visitors are encouraged to learn about arts and crafts from artists in residence who hold workshops and educational events. Higher up, artists are offered six affordable, high quality residential units and studios for long term residencies. Each studio is designed to have specific light conditions internally. These are realised through the use of bespoke ceramic panels of differing sheens and translucency that manipulate light entering the studios, creating etherial moments within the complex form of a light well.