Kaplitsky was 71 years old. The reason for his sudden death is a series of problems associated with the implementation of his project for the new building of the Czech National Library: despite the fact that the version of his Bureau Future Systems won an international competition, now its implementation is unlikely. On the one hand, many citizens, including dignitaries, opposed the project, considering the curvilinear shapes and bright colors of the future building to be an unacceptable addition to the existing urban landscape of Prague (although it was planned to build the library in a park area, outside the old town). On the other hand, Czech architects saw violations in the procedure of the completed competition that infringed on their rights, and demanded a revision of the results.
Kaplitsky, who left the Czech Republic in 1968, after the introduction of Soviet troops, saw in his first building in his homeland since that time a symbol of his return and took such a turn of events very painfully. The bold language of his architecture, ahead of its time and challenging the philistine thinking, has always evoked an ambiguous reaction from the public - including customers and those in power, but the architect avoided compromises - and this time he did not make concessions and vigorously defended his version of the project …
In general, despite the 1999 Sterling Prize for the press center of the Lords cricket stadium in London and the popularity of his Selfridges department store in Birmingham, Ian Kaplitsky's potential as an architect was not fully realized: Architecture - Peter Cook, former Architectural Review editor Paul Finch, critic Ken Powell. Norman Foster, with whom Kaplicki collaborated from 1979–83, stated that he was a great architect, a highly regarded colleague and a good friend.
