Ateliér HŠH is writing to the president, government, and parliament regarding the library

Prague - The architectural studio HŠH Architects, which finished third in the competition for the construction of the new building of the National Library (NK), has complained to the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies. The subject of the complaint is the alleged irregularity of the competition, which other architects have also pointed out, but primarily the stance of the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS). HŠH has approached them twice already - and received two contradictory statements. Tomáš Hradečný from HŠH told ČTK today.
    Critics of the competition are particularly bothered by the alleged violation of its conditions, according to which the national conservation fund of the library was supposed to be located above ground. The winning proposal by Jan Kaplický has it underground. NK states that the jury did not exclude his proposal because the organizer could not envision a safe location for the fund underground. According to them, Kaplický's proposal provided a new and safe solution for the placement of the precious fund. Therefore, according to NK, the conditions changed during the competition. The International Union of Architects has already admitted that the commission violated some competition conditions. However, the competition was not canceled.
    In its first statement, ÚOHS stated that public competitions for designs are not included among the types of procurement procedures, and therefore the office does not have the authority to intervene in the course of the design competition. According to Hradečný, however, the office mentioned at that time that it could deal with the case once a public procurement process begins, that is, the preparation of the library construction and, later, the actual construction.
    In such a case, ÚOHS, according to Hradečný, can also review the competition that preceded the public procurement assignment. However, in response to the second submitted suggestion, the office stated that the rules for architectural competitions were authorized by the International Union of Architects from UNESCO, and thus the case falls under their competence.
    The competition was held according to the rules of the international institution, and it should therefore verify the legitimacy of the competition. "This legal exception can only be applied by ÚOHS if the mentioned international institution is also the investor of the building, which is not the case here," says Hradečný. "Since we perceive these two statements from the office as different, we are turning to four legislative institutions and waiting for their comments on how ÚOHS interprets the law," said Hradečný.
    The progress of the international competition for the design of the new library building, which is also criticized by the Czech Chamber of Architects and two dozen architects, was discussed today by the parliamentary subcommittee for control systems. "We have today requested the Office for the Protection of Competition to provide us with information by December 14," said the chairman of the subcommittee, Václav Šlajs (ČSSD), to ČTK.
    At the same time, he recommends that the control committee submit a proposal to the Supreme Audit Office next week. The NKÚ should include the inspection of the use of state funds for this project in its plan of control actions for the next year. Both institutions, according to him, claim that investigating the library's competition is not within their competence. "We are not claiming that it is their competence. But the fact is that a lot has been written about it, and certain bodies that are legally required to act should take action," he added.