MfD: The team that worked with Kaplický on the octopus was terminated

Prague - The only two architects who worked on the project for the new National Library in Letná with the recently deceased architect Jan Kaplický were reportedly dismissed in recent days by his ex-wife Amanda Levete. This was reported by Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD). Until Kaplický's death, Levete owned half of Future Systems; however, she now holds a decisive majority - she also manages the share that thirteen-year-old Josef Kaplicky will inherit from his father, MfD reports.
    Levete does not wish to continue with Kaplický's projects, which were created after the former partners separated professionally, MfD states. "Therefore, she contacted the clients to whom the projects belonged and offered them. However, there is no one to take over the documentation for the National Library. Neither the state nor the Prague city hall is interested in the construction," the newspaper wrote. According to the paper, this dampens the hopes of supporters of the new National Library that a building similar to an octopus could still be built in Prague.
    Architects Georg Roetzl and Janis Teer were reportedly given notice by MfD on the grounds that there was no work for them anymore. No one from the team preparing the octopus has remained, the paper writes. "Amanda fired everyone who worked for Jan," Roetzl told MfD.
    Kaplický had agreed with Levete last year on dividing the company - the architect took the name Future Systems, while Levete retained the offices. Each of them will apparently keep the projects they independently worked on. Although the Future Systems brand belongs to the architect's widow Eliška, the architects who created it are reportedly now freelance. "I will do anything for Jan's legacy," Roetzl told MfD.
   "One possibility for Roetzl to fulfill this could be that a continuation of Future Systems is created, but without Kaplický," the newspaper writes. According to Kaplický's widow, it is even already known who would lead the office, but it cannot be disclosed yet.
    Kaplický and his Future Systems team won an international architectural competition for the design of the new National Library building in March 2007. The design was criticized by President Václav Klaus, and subsequently, Prague politicians led by Mayor Pavel Bém and later also Minister of Culture Václav Jehlička turned away from it.
    At the beginning of February, a demonstration was held in Prague in support of the new National Library according to Kaplický's design. It was called by the civic initiative Democracy Builds.
    Kaplický, who was widely known to the public in the Czech Republic primarily for his design of the new National Library building, died on Wednesday, January 14.