Students of AVU presented proposals for the expansion of the Klementinum facilities

Prague - The task of expanding the capacities of the Klementinum building as a center for a modern library and preserving its genius loci was assigned to the annual projects of architecture students at the Prague Academy of Art (AVU). The results of the projects were presented today at a professional meeting. The National Library considers the works to be an interesting source of inspiration, but their interpretation is, in its opinion, misleading.
    "We must look at the eight processed proposals as academic projects. They bring fresh and young solutions, unburdened by conventions and perhaps controversial in many aspects,” says AVU professor and lead educator Emil Přikryl. He believes the works were created independently of current discussions about the new library building project in Letná based on the design by architect Jan Kaplický, and neither the ministry nor the library itself intervened in the project assignments.
    The Klementinum, whose capacities are already insufficient, has been undergoing reconstruction for two years. However, according to the NK, its overall renewal depends on the construction of a new building. The future of the project, however, is very uncertain. Culture Minister Václav Jehlička even stated last week that it would not be realized. Therefore, librarians are considering revising the planned renewal.
    "The students' works are a remarkable source of inspiration, but it is quite misleading for someone to try to interpret their purely academic studies as a real alternative to the current state," responds Zdeněk A. Tichý from the National Library’s communications section in a statement available to ČTK. According to him, heritage protectors would not approve the construction of a new building directly on Mariánské náměstí or the addition of new structures in the courtyards of Klementinum, and according to librarians, it is impossible to place storage capacities underground.
    "It must be 'de-tabooed' that books cannot be placed underground. The Klementinum building itself can be redesigned. Modern elements can also be incorporated into it,” asserts Přikryl. According to him, the students' analyses showed that the generous layout of the baroque complex in the Old Town does not exclude the possibility of meeting modern trends in providing library services. Přikryl pointed out that the capacities of Klementinum should have been checked much earlier and that other possible solutions should have been sought within its building.
    "The former leadership of the National Library was intensively dealing with variations for the future location of the National Library already in the 1980s and 1990s," counters Tichý.
    Students found that the number of stored volumes with the proposed modifications could increase to ten million. This is roughly a reserve for fifty years. Such capacity should also be accommodated by the new library building according to the design by architect Jan Kaplický. The NK would prefer to build a new library for modern collections, which it has been striving for for four years. One of the reasons is also that it wants to build the new library outside the flood zone.
    According to Přikryl, architect and urban planner Ladislav Machoň created the maximum space for book storage from Klementinum. In the 1920s, he fulfilled the then assignment and created maximum storage space within Klementinum. However, he is still criticized by some heritage protectors for his insensitive intervention in the baroque complex.
    If it were possible to build a new library building, according to the plans of the NK management, Klementinum should open more to the public and for education. Přikryl disagrees with this, fearing that the historical building could become a tourist attraction.