The library will introduce the winning design for the new building

Prague, March 1 (ČTK) - The National Library will present the winner of the competition for the construction of its new building on Friday. An international jury assessed anonymously the eight best designs in Prague this week. Jan Kaplický, a famous architect of Czech origin living in Britain, is speculated to be the favorite among experts.
According to ČTK information, the jury selected the winner unanimously, with all members voting for him. Given that at least two jury members had previously commented in favor of Kaplický, it can be assumed that he emerged as the winner. The library director Vlastimil Ježek alerted him to the competition with a personal letter. Jury member, the famous architect Zaha Hadid, does not hide the fact that she is a great admirer of Kaplický.
The finalists of the competition, according to information from the National Library, are in alphabetical order: the British studio Carmody Groarke, Dagmar Richter (studio DR_D) from Germany, the studio Emergent led by Tom Wiscombe from the USA, the British studio Future Systems with Jan Kaplický, the Swiss team Holzer Kobler Architekturen, Czech HŠH architects, John Reed Architecture from the USA, and the German studio MVMarchitekt + starkearchitektur.
The library aims to start construction of the new building, which is intended to address the institution's long-term spatial issues, in 2008; according to current estimates, the new building should be completed on Letná in 2010. According to the library's management and city representatives, the building should be a significant contribution to contemporary architecture in the Czech Republic. Prague has not had a major work from a significant world architect in a long time - after Frank Gehry's Dancing House and Vlad Milunič's work, the only notable project was the Golden Angel by Jean Nouvel.
Last year, over 760 architects and studios from various countries applied for the international design competition for the library. Finally, four hundred interested parties submitted models of their proposed buildings.
The planned costs for the library's construction are approximately 1.8 billion crowns according to estimates from 2004. The planned costs for the competition amount to 26.5 million crowns, of which 600,000 euros (approximately 17 million crowns) is designated as prizes for the competitors.
However, winning the competition does not mean that such a building will be realized in Letná. The city and conservationists will have a say, and construction is set to occur on the border of a heritage reservation.
Kaplický could have at least one supporter among the jury members. The famous architect Zaha Hadid does not hide the fact that she is a great admirer of his work. The radical and progressive architectural, typically rounded and organically looking forms of Kaplický's buildings are mainly known to the British - the Future Systems studio, which he founded in 1978, is behind the well-known and esteemed journalism center Lord's at London's cricket stadium, and his Selfridges department store in Birmingham is also famous.
It is impossible to estimate how his design would be received in the Czech environment. Although Kaplický is currently the most famous Czech architect abroad, along with Eva Jiřičná, he has not built anything in the Czech Republic yet. Jiřičná did not compete for the library's construction; she was the jury chairperson. He competed for a memorial in Újezd but his studio was eliminated in the first round. He also submitted a project for stairs to the park on Letná, but officials rejected it.
A library building designed by Kaplický would elevate Prague to the top league of contemporary architecture; however, his buildings are sometimes criticized for practical reasons by their users.
According to the director of the National Library, all eight designs in the second round represent top architecture, and in some of them, a large library could be housed immediately, and in others with minor adjustments.
Kaplický does not yet have a library among the buildings his studio has constructed. He was second in the competition for a new Paris library. "But it is a wonderful idea, I hope it works out, it could be world-class," he stated just before the competition began. According to him, Prague needs several truly modern buildings.