The court will discuss the dispute between the architects and the National Library

Prague - The District Court for Prague 1 will today deal with the dispute between the National Library and the HŠH architects studio, which finished third in the competition for the design of a new building for the National Library (NL). The studio is suing the institution for damages - had Jan Kaplický not won, HŠH would theoretically have moved from third to second place, and their reward could therefore have been higher. According to the studio, the competition was irregular.
    The studio filed a lawsuit in the autumn of 2007. Before that, the architects several times turned to the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), which repeatedly stated that it could not assess the design competition; it can only do so in the case of a competition announced under the Public Procurement Act.
    Kaplický's design won in March 2007 in the architectural competition, yet it was never realized. President Václav Klaus and Prague politicians, including Mayor Pavel Bém (ODS), opposed the library in Letná. Now, according to the newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes, the Civic Democrats have changed their stance and are negotiating with the architect's widow about building according to his design.