Octopus? Jellyfish? Blob?

(Image from radio.cz 2009)

The image above looks to me, a little as though an alien has sneezed over Prague. This is what The National Library of the Czech Republic would have looked like today had everything gone according to plan.
I found this image by searching "czech national library design" in Google Images. I had been unable to find any relevant images in Creative Commons search.

In 2006 the library opened up an international competition to design a new building and in 2007 the award was given to the London-based architectural and design practice Future Systems. Future Systems was founded by Jan Kaplicky who was born in Czechoslovakia in 1937 but settled in London after the Soviet invasion.

Back at the beginning if this assignment I went to my local library to see what I could find on the National Library of the Czech Republic. I spoke to the librarian there and we found a few books that mentioned the library but didn't provide any information useful to my research. The librarian showed me 'Press Display' which is a fantastic tool that gives you access 1400 newspapers from 82 countries in 39 languages. But the papers are current so I was unable to find anything on this topic, Jan Kaplicky and his design for a new national library building.

Swinburne Library gave me access to many articles - newspaper and otherwise. I mentioned in my last post using Encyclopaedia Britannica online, which gave me information about the life of Jan Kaplicky.

I used Youtube to do a video search and found the trailer for the documentary on Jan Kaplicky.

Eye Above Prague, 2008

My Swinburne search led me to an article in Europe Intelligence Wire (Oct 17, 2010) on this documentary 'Eye Above Prague' that details its winning the documentary film section at the 26th International Film Festival in Warsaw in 2010. This article also provided a little bit of information on Kaplicky's personal life.Europe Intelligence Wire (Jan 5, 2011) outlined the fate of the project. That is, that it will never be realised.

Through the image search I mentioned earlier I also found an interesting article called Prague scraps library project admired abroad (CzechNews, 17 Dec, 2008). It mentions Prague politician's opposition to the project and how most of the domestic debate is around the appearance while internationally the design is regarded for its arrangement and functionality. What I did find through a regular Google search was that in Brno a bus shelter has been built as a tribute to Kaplicky who died on January 14th 2009 only hours after the birth of his second child. See the bus shelter here.

References
Rose, J 2007, 'Future Systems triumphs in Prague library competition', Building Design, 1761, p. 5, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 3 October 2011.

Kašpárek, M 2011, Octopus-shaped bus station: tribute to Jan Kaplický, Life in Brno, viewed 3 October 2011, <http://brnonow.com/2011/09/kaplicky-bus-stop/>.

Kaplicky, J 2008, Eye Above Prague, 15 September, viewed 25 September 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpLy-XQSWlY&noredirect=1.

‘Kaplicky, Jan’ 2011, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, viewed 8 September 2011.‘Kaplicky's Czech library project no longer counted with- director’ 2011, Europe Intelligence Wire, 5 January, General OneFile. viewed 3 October 2011.

‘Czech documentary on architect Kaplicky wins at Warsaw festival’ 2010, Europe Intelligence Wire, 17 October, General OneFile, viewed 3 October 2011.

Johnston, R 2009, What buildings could be like if they weren’t so horribly earthbound – UK exhibition commemorates architect Jan Kaplický, Cesky Rozhlas, viewed 3 October 2011, <http://www.radio.cz/en/section/arts/what-buildings-could-be-like-if-they-werent-so-horribly-earthbound-uk-exhibition-commemorates-architect-jan-kaplicky>.

CzechNews 2008, Prague scraps library project admired abroad, Centrum.cz, viewed 3 October 2011, <http://aktualne.centrum.cz/czechnews/clanek.phtml?id=625166>.