The National Technical Library will open in September 2009

Prague - The National Technical Library (NTK), which is rising at Fleming Square in Prague 6, will start lending books in September 2009. This was stated today by the director of the State Technical Library, Martin Svoboda. Currently, the rough construction and the internal perimeter facade of the building are completed. It is energy-efficient and will cost approximately 2.25 billion crowns. According to the authors of the design, the library is intended to be welcoming and natural.
    "The building is interesting in that it has a simple shape, which is not trivial. It is neither a box nor a sphere, but something in between," said architect Petr Lešek to ČTK. The building will have six above-ground floors designated for public spaces of the library and its administrative support, and three underground floors with a parking lot and storage for books. Currently, internal installations and the outer facade are being mounted.
    In the ground floor there should be a lecture hall, a café, a night study room, a visitor center, or a branch of the City Library of Prague 6. The upper floors will have shelves with books, computer classrooms, and individual and group study rooms. "The study areas are located around the perimeter or next to the atrium, thus near the light," explained library architect Roman Brychta. Upon entering the atrium, people will be able to orient themselves well, as they will see the entire space and the stairs that lead up.
    "The main requirement was flexibility, preferably open spaces that can be easily partitioned; when it no longer suits in ten years, partitions can be changed," said Svoboda. According to Lešek, the large distances between columns also contributed to the openness of the space, allowing for fewer load-bearing structures. "The space will be filled with books and people, nothing else," he stated.
    Even though the library will earn money from the rental of some spaces, it will not be nearly enough for its operation. "No library in the world earns enough for its own operation, absolutely, totally, and hopelessly," stated Svoboda.
    The building will house the State Technical Library, the Central Library of the Czech Technical University, and the Central Library of the University of Chemistry and Technology. However, the institutions still have not resolved their relationships and are unclear on how they will jointly operate the services. It is also unknown how many employees will work at the library. "Contracts are being settled, we have entered an advanced stage of negotiations, and I hope that by the time we open, we will have everything contractually secured," stated Svoboda. According to him, either contracts will be made between three independent partners or an association will be formed according to the Civil Code.
    Energy consumption should be dozens of percent lower compared to similar buildings. This will be aided by the library's floor plan, which will resemble a rounded square. The closer the shape of the floor plan approaches a circle, the less its surface cools or heats up. Ventilation and cooling of the building will be automatic. "We rely on natural ventilation; we can control parts of the windows, for example, at night they can cool down in the summer, which is a cheap solution," explained Lešek. There will be greenery on the roof of the building, which will function as an accumulator and regulator of rainwater runoff. Technology for tempering the concrete core will be used for cooling and heating the air, which entails that the entire mass of the ceilings is used to accumulate heat or cold. "We enjoy discovering new technologies that are not here and bringing them here," Brychta added.
    The building will hold 1.7 million volumes. During the move, the disruption in lending books from the State Technical Library should be minimal, according to Svoboda. The library will start preparing for the move during this year's holidays, when it will be open one day a week. Books will also receive new labels, and a scanner will allow, for example, checking if the publications are properly aligned on the shelves.
    The financing of the construction is secured through a long-term loan due by 2014. The architectural design of the library is by the Projektil Architekti studio, and the tender for the construction and financing of the building was won by the Sekyra Group.
   
    Library details:
    Usable area of the building: 38,661 square meters
    Estimated number of visitors: 900,000 annually
    Freely accessible books: 700,000 volumes
    Information terminals: 30
    Lecture hall: 232 seats
    Café: 150 seats
    Parking spaces: 299
    Bicycle parking: 200
    Study places: 1,286
    Individual study rooms: 29
    Group study rooms: 18
    Computer classrooms: 4