The severance for the unrealized NK will be received by Amanda Levete

Prague - The National Library (NK) is preparing documents for the Ministry of Culture, based on which the Czech state will be able to pay money to the British studio Future Systems. The studio is also entitled to another reward for winning the architectural competition for the construction of the new library building, as the construction has not even begun to be designed within two years of the announcement of the competition results.
    Notarized documents, which are necessary for the disbursement of funds, will be sent to the Ministry of Culture in about two weeks, said NK director Pavel Hazuka to ČTK. The library is arranging the necessary documents with the late architect Jan Kaplický's ex-wife, Amanda Levete. According to Hazuka, she holds the rights to Kaplický's project and is therefore NK's partner in this matter.
    Czech media reported that the Future Systems studio split after Kaplický's death. The division of the office was being prepared but was to be completed on January 20; however, Kaplický suddenly passed away on January 14. His work and the studio he founded will also be subject to inheritance proceedings.
    Kaplický and Future Systems won the international architectural competition for the design of the new National Library building. The results were announced on March 2, 2007, by the then director of the library, Vlastimil Ježek. The competition received criticism from some experts due to alleged rule violations, which Ježek repeatedly denied, and although the preparation of the building stalled primarily due to political pressure, the competition cost him his position at the library. Minister Václav Jehlička, who dismissed him, in agreement with the Prague City Hall, labeled the competition as poorly prepared.
    Because the deadline during which the project for the construction was to be commissioned according to the competition regulations expired on April 2 of this year, the winner of the competition is entitled to a severance payment amounting to the reward for first place, which is 160,000 euros (currently about 4.6 million crowns).