<p>Five years ago, architect Jan Kaplický passed away</p>

Prague - Czech architect Jan Kaplický, who lived in Great Britain for a long time, passed away suddenly at the age of 71 five years ago, on January 14, 2009, in Prague. After his emigration in 1968, he wanted to return to his hometown with an original building. His design for the National Library building in Prague, called the Octopus, sparked unprecedented passions and ultimately ended in failure. There are plans for the construction of the Antonín Dvořák Concert and Congress Center in České Budějovice, which was designed in the shape of a manta ray by Kaplický.
     Kaplický lived in Britain since his emigration in 1968. His most significant realizations are also located there. Kaplický’s buildings are certainly not mundane. They are unmistakable and controversial. He drew inspiration from organic shapes in nature - spider webs, butterfly wings, or fish scales, for which the English word "blob" (drop or lump) became popular. The same was true for the famous department store Selfridges in Birmingham, a shiny "armadillo" made up of 20,000 aluminum discs that literally revitalized the previously drab city. In addition to Selfridges, he also gained fame for the media stand at London's Lord's cricket stadium, for which he was awarded the prestigious Stirling Prize in 1999.
     Together with young collaborators at the Future Systems studio, which he founded in London, Kaplický sought to change the traditional approach to architecture, using unusual materials, focusing on ecology, and utilizing natural energy and light. Among the studio's last projects were the design of a new metro station in Naples and the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena, which opened after Kaplický's death in March 2012.
     Jan Kaplický was born on April 18, 1937, in an artistic family - his father was a painter, sculptor, and architect, and his mother was a drafter. He studied at the Applied Arts School in Prague and then worked briefly as a freelancer. Before his emigration in 1968, he participated in the construction of a family house in Braník and the ramp for the villa of screenwriter Jaroslav Dietl.
     Kaplický collaborated for years with his first wife, architect Amanda Levetová, with whom he has a son, Josef. His daughter Johanka was born to him on the day of his sudden death by his second wife, 41 years younger, Eliška Kaplicky Fuchsová.