Levete regrets that they did not reconcile with Kaplický during his lifetime

London - Amanda Levete, former wife of Czech architect Jan Kaplický, regrets not reconciling with him during his lifetime. The architect mentioned this to the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
    According to the paper, fifty-three-year-old Levete feels a sense of incompleteness after Jan Kaplický's death in mid-January. They worked under the same roof for years but barely communicated. The fruitful partnership, which brought forth projects such as the stand at the cricket stadium or the Selfridges department store in Birmingham, ended bitterly, writes The Daily Telegraph.
    "We broke up very publicly," says Levete. "We worked together and lived together, and that kind of pressure was too much. The collapse of our relationship was reflected in the office. We made no secrets about it."
    Kaplický and Levete married in 1991, lived apart by 2003, and divorced in 2006. Only recently did they agree on the division of the office, with Kaplický retaining the name Future Systems and a team of four architects, while she would remain in the original studio under the firm Amanda Levete Architects.
    "I believe that once we divided the office, we would rediscover the respect that brought us together. And that is what I regret the most: that we did not reconcile during his life," the architect said.
    According to her, Kaplický's disappointment over having built relatively few of his projects is also exaggerated. "He understood that his place in the history of architecture was secure. He knew that in the end, you are judged not by how many cubic meters of concrete you poured but by original ideas," she said.
    For this reason, Levete disagrees that the opposition to the National Library project in Prague contributed to his death. "He might have seemed disappointed, but controversy benefited Jan. He provoked it. The library should be his greatest unrealized work," she said.
    Last week, Levete showed Kaplický's widow, Eliška, the studio where he worked. For the first time, Kaplický's children - Josef and Johanka, who was born on the day of Kaplický's death - also met. "I will support Eliška as much as I can," Levete told the paper. "I want Josef to form a relationship with his half-sister."