The new NTK has become a place for study as well as a social center

Prague - The opening of the new building of the National Technical Library (NTK) in Prague-Dejvice five years ago, on September 9, 2009, was a relatively exceptional event in the Czech metropolis. Thanks to the new construction, Prague acquired an interesting architectural object that stood out among the flood of dull Prague new buildings. The building, which received mostly positive reviews from experts and the public, has a capacity for over 1.7 million books and also hides several original technical solutions.
    In the five years of operation, the Dejvice NTK has become an integral part of life for many Prague students, who have an ideal environment for studying. The library offers individual and team study rooms, a night study room, a total of about 1300 study places, and several hundred relaxation spots. Visitors have access to self-service printing and copying services, WiFi signal, public computers, self-service borrowing and returning of books, a café, and parking for cars and bicycles.
    The State Technical Library and nearby technical faculties (CTU) moved their books to the new NTK. Visitors can choose from approximately 1.2 million volumes of professional literature and about 1,200 magazines. The library also offers e-books and magazines.
    The building also houses a branch of the city library, a computer store, and a joint university bookstore for CTU and VŠCHT. In addition, the library serves as a social and cultural center with lecture and exhibition activities. About 1,400 visitors come to the library daily, spending an average of two hours there.
    The library, designed by the AK Architekti studio (now Projektil Architekti), which grew almost discreetly “in the shadow” of the debates about the new National Library designed by architect Jan Kaplický, was not born without difficulties. Although considerations for the construction of a new headquarters for the central technical library had been underway since the 1960s, when the capacity of the library in Klementinum was slowly becoming insufficient, the competition was announced only at the turn of the century, and the winning project was announced by the jury in January 2001.
    Construction of the twenty-one-meter-high library began in the former parking lot in front of the Faculty of Architecture CTU in the autumn of 2006 and was completed in December 2008. Due to construction delays, costs rose from the anticipated 1.5 billion to 2.25 billion crowns. Furthermore, the necessary sum was not found in the Ministry of Education's budget, so financing was taken care of by the contracting company (Sekyra Group), which the state committed to repay by 2014.
    The twenty-one meter high building of architects Roman Brychta, Adam Halíř, Václav Králíček, and Petr Lešek is characterized by an elegant shape of a rounded square and, thanks to the design of a double-skin façade, also has low energy consumption. The NTK features a unique heating and cooling system that utilizes the building's structural accumulation capabilities.
    The home of the NTK is conceived by the authors as a playful technical textbook, including details. For example, visitors can find out how many calories they burn by taking the stairs, and the floor colors correspond to the tension in a given area. The raw interior with exposed wiring is enlivened by "childish" drawings by Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi.
    These drawings connect the six above-ground floors of the building, which accommodate both the administrative background of the institution and spaces for readers. The dominant feature of the interior of the building, which can be entered from four sides, is a spacious atrium that reaches from the ground floor to the roof. In the basement, there is a repository and parking.
    The NTK building has received numerous awards, including the Mayor of Prague award (Building of the Year 2009), an award from the State Environmental Fund of the Czech Republic for infrastructure, and the Klubu Za starou Prahu award for new construction in a historic environment. In 2010, it received the Grand Prix from the Union of Architects.