The variant of Jan Kaplicki, a native of Czechoslovakia, and Amanda Leavit of Britain, the jury considered the best of 354 proposals that were sent from all over the world to participate in an anonymous competition.
The building will be built near Prague's Letná park, in the historic Stare Mesto district. Despite the fact that the entire surrounding area is considered a monument of world importance according to UNESCO, the jury found it possible to choose a very original and striking project "Future Systems" for implementation. According to Kaplitski, who was forced to leave his homeland after the events of 1968, the new library will become a symbol of democracy, a new, modern way of life, a sign of the Czech Republic's belonging to Europe and its progressiveness.
The idea of building a new library building has been in the air since the 1980s, when there was not enough room for new additions in the old, historical building. According to the Futche Systems project, the Letna Park facility will store 10 million volumes and provide space for another 4 million. The book storage system will be fully automated and any visitor request will be processed within a maximum of five minutes. The book depository will be located in the basement of the library, 15 m deep. But the main part of the building, nevertheless, will be above ground level. It will be a sprawling cone nine stories high, clad with aluminum panels in various shades of yellow and set on a podium of unpolished white marble. For rounded windows of different sizes, lilac glass will be used. The building, which resembles a jellyfish, did not raise objections from the city authorities and representatives of UNESCO, since the building will not be very high (30 m) and will not make a significant contribution to the urban landscape.
Architects see the library's contemporary role in actively attracting visitors, maintaining cultural tradition and intergenerational communication. Hence - the unusual appearance of the building, comfortable light rooms, large windows, functional perfection. The main element of the interior will be "street" - a kind of lobby. Here readers will enter from outside, and from there they will be able to enter any room in the library. Exhibitions will be held there, trees will grow, there will be cafe tables. Reading rooms will occupy the next three floors, and above there will be a closed parliamentary library, administrative premises, rooms for periodicals and children's books, auditoriums, a cafe and - at the very top - an observation deck from where you can admire the views of the city.
