Over 300 architects want to build the National Library

Prague - As of this morning, over 300 architects have registered for the competition to construct a new building for the National Library. Registration for interested parties wishing to submit their project ends on Friday evening. The jury will evaluate the first round this October, with eight of the best designs advancing to the second round. The National Library aims to announce the results of the competition in spring, start construction in 2008, and hopes to have the building functional by 2010 on the western edge of Letná Plain.
    It is still unclear which authors have registered. However, the number of applications corresponds to the expectations of the director of the National Library and the director of the international competition commission at the International Union of Architects (UIA), Wolfgang Tochtermann, who visited the site for the new building in Prague in April.
    An international jury led by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid will evaluate what kind of building Prague will receive in the form of the new library building. She is a significant figure in contemporary architecture and the recipient of the Pritzker Prize, which is considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the field of architecture.
    Jury members include French architect Dominique Perrault, the author of the new French national library, and British architect Eva Jiřičná of Czech origin. Because the construction will take place at the boundary of a protected heritage site, there will be a representative from UNESCO on the jury, as well as Mayor Pavel Bém, the director of the National Library, and Czech architect Petr Bílek.
    The competition is open, therefore the organizer will not reach out to anyone, but the National Library has notified several well-known architects by letter that the competition is taking place. Among them, according to previous statements from the director of the National Library, is the world-famous Czech-born architect Jan Kaplický. Although Kaplický is currently the most recognized Czech architect abroad alongside Jiřičná, he has yet to construct anything in the Czech Republic. Hadid does not hide the fact that she is one of his great admirers.
    The construction of the new building will address the spatial problems that the National Library has been facing since the late 19th century. The costs are estimated at approximately two billion crowns.