Czech National Library Controversy Continues.
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 7.08
I liked the winner of the National Library of the Czech Republic by Jan Kaplicky of future systems. Our commenters mostly didn't. "I think you should be more unkind about it , did someone sneeze? I can't begin to imagine how this qualifies as "green"." Jim Kunstler, who I usually agree with, calls it his Eyesore of the month and notes: Depicted at ground level, the Czech National Library Organism is systematically grazing on smaller protozoans lulled by the music of Antonin Dvorak into ascending the purple pseudo-tongue at center."
The Mayor doesn't like it. The current President of the Republic doesn't like it. Vaclav Havel does.
Stephen Bayley of the Guardian likes it. He notes that it is a difficult moment for libraries and that their roles are changing rapidly.
"Obviously, the great libraries belong to the Gutenberg era. Now their practical role is under scrutiny. Colin St John Wilson spent his entire working life on the magnificent British Library only to find ink conceding to electrons before it was complete. They had a similar experience in Paris where Dominique Perrault built what became known as the TGB (for Tres Grande Bibliotheque) out in the Tolbiac suburbs of eastern Paris. Competely useless as a storage or research facility, its sole purpose was to be a monument for Mitterrand who died a few weeks after its opening in 1995."
The people of Prague evidently like it too: "12,000 people have signed a petition insisting it is built....Kaplicky says, has people hooting in the street and the passport guys at the airport saying 'good luck' to him in English, the politicos have nodded it through. Kafka wrote: 'It is not necessary to accept everything as true, one must only accept it as necessary.' Quite so. Eva Jiricna added: 'The baby has been born and it will need a lot of care to turn into an adult of some integrity.' This amazing design is really and truly a part of Czech national identity.::The Guardian
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they should at least choose a different colour scheme! Green and purple? they shape of the building is very strange, though not unlikeable, the colours, though! Hideous!!
Agreed. The building is incredible and inspiring. However, a different color scheme could potentially make it look less ostentatious and lessen the contrast with surrounding buildings, which is something that isn't really appealing.
replace the green with white and it will look great!
Do they watch a lot of Nickelodeon in the Czech Republic?
Barney meets teletubbies.
I guess people have forgotten how to be playful even with their buildings ;) The color scheme seems like it would be calming if kept in the pastel range. As a library, most people will have their eyes on text and images and not so much the surroundings, especially the exterior (being _inside_ the library.)
The surrounding architecture all looks pretty much the same (at least from that aerial image.) The only way to "fit in" with that is to be exactly the same. Where's the fun in that? lol
i like it! not eerything can be square and nuetral colors....-_- Its some differnt.....to bad most people dont enjoy change.
x^p
i completely agree with Pieter - change the green to white. that would be much better!
It does look a bit space-ish. Who knows, maybe it'll take off and inspire similar archetechure.
I love the "did someone sneeze" comment!
Hi, i have to say... i live in prague and i love it :-) th color isn't green, it's kind of anodized aluminium, and it's champagne, but it couldn't be reproduced by photografy, i have seen an sample of it on my very own eyes and is't astonishing :-) the major problem of national library is.... the technological complexity of construction.we mostly belive that eitjer major of prague wants the location for hotel, or "czech concrete lobby" wants to build the library, but they simply doesn't posses technology or experience, but their influece is very, very, very..... :-)
tomas
It might look great and "futuristic" now but will end up looking what "futuristic" buildings from the 60s, 70s, and 80s look like today: super outdated piles of trash. Hyper-modernity is great for short-term projects like retail. It's horrible for a building that should be around for hundreds of years. This is the best way to make a building "green" - to design it so it doesn't need to be replaced by a "newer", "more modern" building in a couple years. Such a unique building would also probably cause lots of waste in construction and high maintainance costs as it's one of the first of its kind... another anti-green factor. And, it's very possible to make pretty, pleasing green buildings that don't have to stand up on a pedestal and shout "look at me!" Instead, they can blend into the surrounding landscape without being a tool to boost the architect's ego.