Building the Kaplický house after his death would be a miracle, believes Jiřičná

Prague - Building a structure according to the design of an architect who is no longer alive is not impossible but very complicated. In an interview with ČTK, Eva Jiřičná mentioned that after the death of Jan Kaplický, she continued to work on his project for a concert hall in České Budějovice and the building even obtained a building permit. However, the client withdrew from the implementation, and transferring it to Prague's Štvanice, as the capital is considering, is unrealistic according to Jiřičná.

"I would really wish for one of his buildings to be built, but it is very complicated to deal with a building after the death of the person who designed it," she said. Jan Kaplický suddenly passed away eight years ago, and he would have turned 80 on April 18.

"I think that his importance and his position in architecture will not disappear from the history of architecture. Perhaps there will be a few years of a breathing space and then it will again be revealed. That's how it goes in architecture. He was an amazing talent, a person like few are born," says his former collaborator.

If a construction project is pursued and its architect is no longer alive, "it will never be exactly what he had in mind; it will always be interpreted by someone in their own way." "I don’t know, miracles happen, but not very often," she remarked regarding the possibility of a new building based on Kaplický's design being erected in his homeland.

She is completely skeptical about the realization of the so-called octopus, which was derailed by political opposition nine years ago. "The library was designed for Letná; it cannot be placed elsewhere, and if it is no longer going to be a library, then its entire function will have to be reinvented. Whereas a concert hall can remain a concert hall...," she says. However, she points out that it cannot fit on Štvanice, as city councilor for culture Jan Wolf stated in December. Nobody realizes how large the building is; it is as tall as a ten-story building, Jiřičná emphasizes. Nevertheless, the so-called ray is a project that might be closest to realization.

Three years after Kaplický's death, the Enzo Ferrari Museum opened in Modena, designed by the Czech native. "It was completed by his collaborator. It was already in an advanced stage of development, yet he had problems interpreting what the author meant," she stated.

However, similar cases are not exceptions. The building of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh was opened four years after its author, Spanish architect Enric Miralles, passed away. "He died a year after the construction began, and his wife, who collaborated with him, completed the building with a Scottish architect. But there were not many unresolved issues left," Jiřičná describes a similar case. The controversial building, which ended up costing ten times more than planned, received many awards, including the Stirling Prize, a pinnacle of architectural recognition.

Jiřičná recalls that Kaplický himself participated in debates on this topic. "In the 1970s, a developer and art collector Peter Palumbo tried to build a structure by Mies van der Rohe in London. The famous pioneer of functionalism died in 1969, Palumbo wanted to build a structure designed in 1962, but ultimately he was unsuccessful. There was a long debate about it; many architects participated, Jan Kaplický attended and it was discussed whether it was possible to realize a building after the architect's death. Some believed it was possible, others did not...," she recalls. "As we were working on the project for the building permit (for the ray) - at every moment, one wonders what Jan would probably have done... it is an incredibly complicated process, one has the horror of doing something differently than he would have wanted," she explains.