89 studios are competing for the construction of the regional library of Vysočina

Jihlava - Nearly ninety studios have expressed interest in the public architectural competition for the design of the new building of the Vysočina regional library. It is set to be constructed in the area of the Havlíčkův Brod hospital at the turn of 2008 and 2009. "The estimated costs are approximately 175 million crowns," said the regional spokesperson Jitka Svatošová today to ČTK. According to the library director Tomáš Gece's vision, the interior equipment will amount to an additional approximately 25 million crowns.
Urban, architectural, technical, and operational solutions for the building must be submitted by the applicants by the end of the month according to the conditions of the public competition. They may include the use or demolition of one of the abandoned pavilions. The competition is in two rounds; in the first round, the jury will select four or possibly five advancing proposals. The three best will receive rewards totaling 1.6 million crowns. The jury will select them by July 12.
The announcement of the results of the second round will be on November 24. According to Gece, this will be followed by signing a contract with the winner and a zoning procedure necessary for the application for EU funds. The region could obtain up to 85 percent of the costs. "The new regional library, with a planned usable area of about 4,000 square meters, will serve throughout the week. On weekdays for 11 hours a day and on weekends for six," outlined the regional vision of the library councilor Miroslav Houška. The new spaces should accommodate up to 1,300 visitors daily.
The regional statute for the former district library in Havlíčkův Brod was acquired in 2002. This was due both to political consensus and the fact that it was the only one of the five libraries in district towns established by the then district office. In no other region does the regional library reside outside the regional city.
Meanwhile, the Jihlava city hall opened the new headquarters of the city library in a historic building of the Jesuit gymnasium in 2003. It invested 45 million crowns in the modernization, while the Ministry of Culture contributed ten million for the restoration of the monument.
Other newly formed regions have also faced the same problem of insufficient space in regional libraries. For instance, the Pardubice Region received 71 million crowns from the Ministry of Culture for the reconstruction and extension of the library in a historic building, while it allocated 4.2 million itself. Last year, a multipurpose building of the regional library and educational center was opened in Karlovy Vary. It was created through the reconstruction of a military facility. The region obtained 68.5 million crowns from the EU for it, the state provided 6.8 million, and the region contributed 10.3 million crowns.