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PRESS RELEASE |
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Paris, 7 March 2007
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 In May 2006, an international project competition in two stages was launched for the design of the new national Library of the Czech Republic in Prague. Located in the Letna quarter, this building of 50 000 m2 will house the collections of the modern period as well as the national library services. The competition was launched with the support of the UIA. From amongst the 355 projects submitted for the first stage, the jury selected 8, the authors of which pursued the development of their proposal for the second stage. The jury was presided by architect Eva Jiricná (United Kingdom) and included Zaha Hadid, architect (Iraq – United Kingdom), Irene Wiese-von Ofen (Germany), architect, representing Unesco, José Grinberg, architect (Mexico), Petr F. Bilek, architect (Czech Republic), John Eisler, architect (United Kingdom - USA), Tony McLaughlin, engineer, (United Kingdom), Jan Knezicek, Director of heritage for the city of Prague, Vlastimil Jezek, Director general of the National Library of the Czech Republic and Bohdana Stoklasová, Director of the Collections of the National Libraryof the Czech Republic. The jury met on 27 and 28 February 2007 to examine the 8 finalist projects and designated the winner, the project submitted by the “FutureSystems” team led by Jan Kaplicky. The latter will, for the first time construct, in his native city, a pyramidal «semi organic» building surmounted by a gigantic eye opening onto the city. The new Library that will house 10 million volumes will open to the public in 2010. The estimated cost is approximately 93 million dollars. All 355 projects will be exhibited at the Klementinum Gallery in Prague from 29 March to 31 May 2007. |
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Prize winners |
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Future systems: Jan Kaplicky,Volkan Alkanoglu, Maria Jose Castrillo, Misha Kitlerova Filippo Previtali et Georg Roetzi |
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Kevin Carmody, Andy Groarke (United Kingdom) |
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HSH architekti: Petr Burian, Petr Hajek, Tomas Hradecny, Jan Sepka (Czech Republic) |
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EMERGENT: Tom Wiscombe (USA, California) |
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John Reed Architecture (USA, New York) |
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MVMarchitekt + Starkearchitektur: Michael Viktor Miller, Sonja Starke, Inga Bolik, André Omar, Kordula Weisser (Germany) |
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The British office "Future Systems" will build the Czech National Library in Prague
