The place that calls itself the first design hotel of Prague is getting another first. The Holiday Inn Congress Center in Prague 4's Vyšehrad is finishing construction on a 130-square-meter (1,400 square feet) classical orangery this month.

Although it will have neither orange cultivation nor live plants, the Esprit Orangerie multipurpose room will give a view of the Vyšehrad site and Prague's smallest golf course — the one-hole monster at the rear of the hotel. It also adds much-needed space to the Café Restaurant Esprit. The new addition was supposed to be completed earlier, but a late winter last year hampered construction.

The orangery is about the only space in the entire lobby defined by walls. The rest of it is given to a single open space, which notable interior designer Barbora Škorpilová optically divided with a few interesting techniques.

"There are no walls, but you don't feel like you are in a factory," says Marketing and Events Manager Adéla Beránková.

The space houses all of the standard lobby fare — a reception desk, several seating areas, and the Café Restaurant Esprit — but each section appears to be distinct from the rest. A shift from artificial stone flooring to African parquet delineates lobby from the restaurant, and in the restaurant disparate tables and chairs further divide the dining section from a place for tea.

The open arrangement also gives the hotel the ability to tailor its look to fit the needs of a specific event. More than 30 different lighting arrangements from designers Ingo Maurer, Philippe Starck and others allow for subtle changes in atmosphere, as well as helping cleave the whole into parts.

Several panels of 11-meter-tall smoky glass behind the reception desk create a translucent prism that separates the lobby from two stories of office space. The shadows of hotel administration can be seen sliding back and forth along the walls in the internally lit space.

"It looks nice on the outside, but sometimes in the office we feel like we are in an aquarium," Beránková jokes.

The rest of the interior is dominated by an array of elements ranging from mod to odd. Just inside the entryway sit several '60s-era coconut seats. Faux trees look like the mad scribbling of a troubled toddler, but are actually the work of flower designer Mario Wild. Bulbous roots twist outside the boundaries of a hanging picture frame that hangs without a wall. The flying formation of bats near the wall turns out to be merely wire coat hangers.

Sheets of paper hang to the tendrils of several "message chandeliers," where guests can clip their own pictures or words of wisdom. The idea was inspired by the Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park. The messages change as guests come and go, thus the pieces mirror the malleability of the lobby as a whole.

The Holiday Inn Prague Congress Center was originally planned to be a two-star hotel, but the general manager thought that the site was too strong for it and pushed for an upgrade to four stars. Renovation began after the World Bank–International Monetary Fund summit in 2000, and was completed seven months later.