Exams of the AVU School of Architecture and assignments

A total of eight students from the School of Architecture worked on the projects. They rely on the assigned literature, a series of specialized lectures and excursions, and an analysis of the current state of the building in its historical context. The projects - sketches and models, including a large model of the complex and its surroundings - were presented and evaluated as part of the annual progression exams. According to the statement of a member of the interdisciplinary committee and head of the Department of the History and Theory of Art at AVU, doc. Jiří Kotalík, the committee evaluated the submitted works positively, additionally appreciating the fact that they were based on the analysis of the building itself. As Kotalík emphasizes, Ladislav Machoň fulfilled the then-assigned task in the 1920s and created maximum space for the storage of books in the Clementinum. Although his interventions from that time can be questioned from today's methodology of monument preservation, Kotalík continues, it does not seem very reasonable to utilize the Clementinum for purposes other than teaching and storing books, for which the building was effectively intended at the time of its construction and historically determined by subsequent extensive usage. The results of the closing exams should primarily be viewed as academic projects, whose purpose was to verify the Clementinum as a center for a modern library, Kotalík confirms. The solutions are supported by exact calculations of estimated capacities, operational-functional schematics, and clear visualizations. Thus, the academic work undoubtedly deserves consideration when deciding on the strategy of the National Library and especially when opposing the plans shaping the future form and use of its extraordinarily valuable historical building - the National Cultural Landmark of the Clementinum.

From the assignment of Prof. Emil Přikryl for the 1st and 2nd years in the extended winter semester of the 2007 - 2008 academic year

Goal: To explore the capacity and spatial possibilities of the Clementinum
Clementinum, or the University Library, or the University Library in the Clementinum, or the genius loci of the Clementinum and the possibilities of its preservation, or the instrumentation of the Clementinum for the needs of the University Library, or how large the library in the Clementinum can be and how significant the modifications - interventions, or new structures in the old Clementinum can be, or how to prevent commercialization / Palladization, Michalization / of the Clementinum and what price we are willing to pay, or how to transform architectural monuments for contemporary needs? By a university library, we mean the central library of the university's philosophical, or social science focus.

I have always considered Machoň's reconstruction of the Clementinum as a masterful work. Both in its execution and in confirming the genius loci: a place concentrated on the spiritual, an island of calm for learning, books, and encounters of the "third kind" in the most sensitive part of the Old Town. The Jesuits chose precisely. They staged the tension of the situation, which creates the quality of the city. I repeat: it is a critical place and a precise and irreplaceable function.

I am convinced that the Clementinum should remain the seat of the University Library. Perhaps it is even capable of accommodating / let's try to verify / the program of the National Library as prescribed for the recently announced competition.

Neither the Clementinum nor the Old Town caused the floods.

Let's correct the causes where they arose. And let us live in the Old Town.

Without life, it will be a backdrop. Let us break the backdrops.

Jerusalem does not relocate.

Materials: Plans of the Old Town of Prague x Plans of the Clementinum: block passportization and architectural-historical survey of the Clementinum, including Directives for reconstruction x plans of Machoň's reconstruction x Competition conditions for a new building of the National Library in Prague.

Literature: Jiří Hrůza: The City of Prague; Líbal-Muk: The Old Town of Prague; Vlček et al.: The Old Town of Prague; Camillo Sitte: The Construction of Beautiful Cities According to Artistic Principles; Collection: Rational Architecture. Reconstruction of the European City. 1978; Website of Palacký University in Olomouc: www.UPOL, Conference Proceedings on Libraries - "The Ideal Library".

Literature on libraries: Suzanne Bieri, Walther Fuchs: Building for Books /Swiss National Library/; Detail 3/2005 - Libraries, concept; Materia 49/2006 Reuse of Architecture; José Ignacio Linazasoro: Evoking Ruins; AD Briefing - 425 AD/7/74: Peter Carolin, M.J. Long: LIBRARIES; Nikolaus Pevsner: A History of Building Types.

Particularly study the libraries: 1/ Bibliothèque Ste Geneviève; 2/ Bibliothèque nationale, Paris /Henri Labrouste/; 3/ New Bibliothèque nationale, Paris/Dominique Perrault/; 4/ Phillips Exeter Library /Luis Kahn/; 5/ Central Library, Seattle /OMA/; 6/ Information-Communication and Media Center, Cottbus /Herzog & de Meuron/; 7/ University Library, Berlin /Foster and Partners/; 8/ Library, Ljubljana /Josip Plečnik/; 9/ Library Escuelas Pias, Madrid; 10/ University Library, Madrid /José Ignacio Linazasoro/; 11/ Centro Nacional de Arte- Reina Sofía, Madrid; 12/ competition proposal for the National Library /Kaplický/; 13/ University Library, Eichstätt /Karljosef Schattner/.

Extraordinary lectures: doc. Jiří T. Kotalík: 1/ Clementinum, introduction to the issues. 2/ Monument preservation in the 20th century. Architect Lad. Machoň and Clementinum. 3/ Radical interventions in historic buildings. Examples. Prof. Miroslav Masák: Libraries, principles of designing contemporary libraries. Arch. Martin Roubík: Alexandrian Library. PhDr. Petr Rezek: The library from a protoarchitectural perspective. HŠH /arch. Hájek, Šépka, Hradečný/: Competition proposal for the National Library in Letná; Luis Kahn: Exeter Library. Ing. Jan Žemlička: Technical equipment of libraries.