[2006.09.29] National Library of the Czech Republic

[digdoi]

Subject of the Competition
The subject of the architectural competition is the design of the urban, architectural, technical and operational solutions for the new building of the National Library of the Czech Republic in Prague.

Purpose of the Competition
The purpose of the architectural competition is to choose, on the basis of a comparison of designs submitted, the best entry by a participant capable of creating the most suitable design in fulfilment of the promoter’s requirements as laid down in these Terms, Conditions, and Relevant Documents.

Type of Competition
The competition is announced as an open international public anonymous 2 stage competition for architects / teams of architects who meet all requirements set forth herein (particularly in Article 5 hereof). The competition will be in two stages. At the end of the first stage, the jury will select a maximum of 8 projects, the authors of which will be invited to develop their proposals in the second stage.

Jury members

Ms. Zaha Hadid
Architect, Great Britain

Mr. Dominic Perrault
Architect, UIA representative, France

Ms. Irene Wiese-von Ofen
Architect, UNESCO representative, Germany

Ms. Eva Jiřičná
Architect, Great Britain

Mr. José Grinberg
Architect, Mexico

Mr. Petr Bílek
Architect, Czech Republic

Mr. Pavel Bém
Lord-Mayor of the Capital of Prague, Czech Republic

Mr. Vlastimil Ježek
Director-General of the National Library of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic

Prizes
The total amount for prizes: EURO 350,000
1st prize EURO 160,000
2nd prize EURO 120,000
3rd prize EURO 70,000
Based on recommendations of the jury, prizes may be distributed otherwise.

Honourable Mentions
The total sum for awards intended for non-winning designs which bring remarkable partial ideas and solutions and advance to the stage II, is EURO 90,000
1st honourable mention EURO 35,000
2nd honourable mention EURO 30,000
3rd honourable mention EURO 25,000
Based on recommendations of the jury, honourable mentions may be distributed otherwise.

Competition Timetable

The date of announcement of the competition is set to May 16, 2006

Documents available on web site June 2, 2006

Deadline for applications for registration June 30, 2006

Limit for submission of competitors‘ questions July 7, 2006

Deadline for answers to competitors questions
available on web site July 21, 2006

Deadline for submission of competition designs – stage I
The date of submission of competition designs in case of personal submission is set to September 29, 2006, from 08:00 to 14:00 hours

Deadline for reception of competition design - stage I
The date of reception in case of submission by post or courier service October 3,2006
All participants (while respecting also the first date) will ensure that their entry reaches the promoter by the second date.

Date of evaluation meeting of the jury – stage I
The date of the jury meeting for evaluation of competition designs is set to October 23 - 26, 2006

Competitors selected to participate in stage II will be informed by solicitor/notary by November 6, 2006

Deadline for submission of competitors‘ questions – stage II is set to November 24, 2006

Deadline for replies to questions on the web site: December 8, 2006

Deadline for submission of competition designs – stage II
The date of submission of competition designs (from 08:00 to 14:00 hours in case of personal submissions) February 2, 2007

Deadline for reception of competition designs – stage II
The date of reception in case of submission by post or courier service February 6, 2007
All participants will ensure that their entry reaches the promoter by the second date (while respecting also the first date).

Jury meeting– stage II February 28 – March 3, 2007

Announcement of the competition results March 3, 2007

Exhibition of competition designs March 24 – April 29, 2007

Deadline for payment of prizes and honourable mentions April 10, 2007

COMPETITION WEBSITE (http://www.nkp.cz/competition_library/index.htm)

[dhaa]

this is the first big international competition held in my country. I firmly hope it will bring great results and that the results won't be lost in some bureaucratic manipulations as it happens too often in the local competitions. I'm prepared to help anyone of you who would like to participate!

digdoi, thanks for posting!

[dhaa]

I made this GE folder just to inform a bit about the surroundings of the library site. a little bit personal view though.

[zafsuzer]

Does Anyone Know When The Documents Will Be Released?
It's Written As The 2nd Of June On The Web Site.....

[dhaa]

well it means they should be released already - probably you get the instructions how to download them once you've gone through the registration...

[sigue2000]

I made this GE folder just to inform a bit about the surroundings of the library site. a little bit personal view though.
Just saw that one of my favourite spots in Prague is also in the vicinity.
I don't remember it's name, maybe dhaa can help me here.;)

[zafsuzer]

I already did the registration but haven't received anything yet.
Did anyone receive their password further now?

[dhaa]

Just saw that one of my favourite spots in Prague is also in the vicinity.
I don't remember it's name, maybe dhaa can help me here.;)
hm, that's Kramářova vila (Kramar's villa), the official home of the Czech prime minister. have you ever visited him?

[sigue2000]

hm, that's Kramářova vila (Kramar's villa), the official home of the Czech prime minister. have you ever visited him?

No, it's the Hanavsky Pavilion. Found it!
Website (http://www.hanavskypavilon.cz/index.php?lang=ISO-8859-1)
View from there at flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kh1234567890/30690088/)
They've made a restaurant out of it. I remeber it was a club for a while.

[zafsuzer]

what do you mean?

[dhaa]

No, it's the Hanavsky Pavilion. Found it!
Website (http://www.hanavskypavilon.cz/index.php?lang=ISO-8859-1)
View from there at flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kh1234567890/30690088/)
They've made a restaurant out of it. I remeber it was a club for a while.

Well your kmz leads to the villa I meant. Hanavsky pavilon is some 150 m to the east - partially hidden under the trees in GE. see the map (http://supermapy.centrum.cz/map.php?ql=&qlc=805813761&mapsize=1);)

[dhaa]

zasufer: I just called the secretary and she told me that there's been a slight delay and the documents should be available tomorrow.

[sigue2000]

Well your kmz leads to the villa I meant. Hanavsky pavilon is some 150 m to the east - partially hidden under the trees in GE. see the map (http://supermapy.centrum.cz/map.php?ql=&qlc=805813761&mapsize=1);)
Ooops! :o
Original kmz corrected.

[zafsuzer]

Thanks dhaa.
Did she mention anything about forwarding the passwords as well.....
TA.....

[zafsuzer]

Has anyone received his password to access the documents?
Or are the documents still not availabe?
Is it usual in Czech Rep. that sort of delays even it was mentioned to be delivered by the 2nd of June?

[dhaa]

as I mentioned. competition of this size and importance are absolutely uncommon here, this being the first of this kind. I suppose noone from the bureaucrats involved knows how to deal with so many participants from all parts of the world. I firmly hope this is just the slow start and things will be working fine in the end. patience is the only thing I can advise. 4 months are left till the submission deadline...

[Mephisto]

What are the best sources on the Klementinum, Czech Architecture up to the 1920's, Czech Architecture of the 20's and 30's (other than Karel Teige's Modern Architecture in Czechelslovakia) and Czech Architecture sinse 1945? In English that is.

[dhaa]

Klementinum is a baroque building gradually built by the Jesuits in the 16th, 17th and 18th century - therefore I'd rather concentrate on some books about the architecture of the baroque period in prg. there were some famous studies about baroque architecture in Prague by the Norwegian Christian Norberg-Schulz but I'm not sure if there's anything concrete about Klementinum in his books.

some basic info on Klementinum and some photos here (http://www.nkp.cz/_en/pages/page.php3?nazev=Klementinum's_History&%20submenu2=37)

you could probably specify what sort of resource you are looking for. plans? photos? some historical background?

[rmcgillis]

For those who have successfully registered with the Competition Registrar, you should have received an e-mail informing you how to get accesss to the password protected information.

We got ours today.

RM

[jparchitectus]

I predict Swank_e enters and wins!

[Mephisto]

I entered the competition with another fellow. We got two passwords. One to enter the website. The other to download from info archive. But we did not receive a user name. We emailed the competition organizers a week ago and have not gotten a response. Has anyone else had similar problems or are we just doing something wrong?

[zafsuzer]

Mephisto, nothing has been indicated as a user name.
We just received 2 passwords as well which are enough to access and extract the files.
Why do you need a user name?

[fastforward]

Do you have some better photos of Petřín Hill with its sightseeing tower?
And does Letenské sady park has some exact border... ?

[zafsuzer]

Hi all,
For the ones who read the latest questions and answers,
there is a new excel area and volume table and it's written "3.ugfl , 2.ugfl '
1 agfl." etc. on some cells.
Did anyone understand what they stand for?
Cheers....

[dhaa]

Do you have some better photos of Petřín Hill with its sightseeing tower?

there are some e.g. at flickr:
one from the prague castle (http://static.flickr.com/22/34314088_512a43f53d_o.jpg)
one from the Charles' Bridge (http://static.flickr.com/22/34313881_28ef2f8a3d_o.jpg)
one detail of the tower (http://static.flickr.com/55/170727856_3e89340256_o.jpg)
and finally one panoramic view with the prague castle and a piece of letna on the right (http://static.flickr.com/29/44391540_3d5977877b_b.jpg)

And does Letenské sady park has some exact border... ?
I don't know what you mean by the "exact border" - there's no fence or wall surrounding it. but it has certain limits on the four sides.
the slope that goes down to the river on the south
letenska plan or milady horakove street on the north
badeniho and chotkova streets on the west (though there are a few blocks or houses on the park side of those streets as well)
and the ministry of interior and national technical museum buildings on the east
plus there's the apendix that goes further to the east along the river up to the Expo 58 pavillon

Hi all,
For the ones who read the latest questions and answers,
there is a new excel area and volume table and it's written "3.ugfl , 2.ugfl '
1 agfl." etc. on some cells.
Did anyone understand what they stand for?
Cheers....
I don't know the context but I'd suppose these ugfl's stand for underground floors:wondering

[fastforward]

Thaanks man, a lot!
I understood.

[zafsuzer]

Has anyone known how many projects have been submitted?

[dhaa]

394 + a few more that have had some problems at the customs and therefore haven't been delivered yet. /according to yesterday's official news from Czech News Agency

[zafsuzer]

Thanks dhaa.
Can you update the number once it's precised.

[zafsuzer]

anyone knows about the results?

[dhaa]

We congratulate eight architects or architectural teams whose designs were chosen by a jury for Stage II.
There are designs with these identification marks:

XQ 3374, 598726PR, 291501YO, 130655DR, 110505SG, 111789SC, 180495XY, 192837AZ.

from http://www.nkp.cz/competition_library/ENinfo.htm (check the photos - sort of... fun?)

zafsuzer, are you one of them? I knew people from several teams that have participated but none of them is among these eight...

[zafsuzer]

Unfortunately dhaa!...
We're not one of these ones....
After spending the last summer for this competition, It's really a big sadness.....

[rmcgillis]

Has anybody seen images of the winning schemes?
We are very curious if the Judging Committee held true to the incredibly restrictive rule about allowing only Four perspective views of the designs using the supplied photos.

Per the Competition Q&A:

Q 5.1: Is it allowed to add further perspective views on the plans?

A: Other perspective views except those requested from the standpoints F1-F4 are inadmissible in the Stage I.

[ddelcast]

I also entered and ... nothing :( !!! I really think our scheme was pretty good. Maybe it will be a good idea to start a thread of the unlucky proyects (maybe just one image per post to have a general view) . I am really curious as to what other people did.

[digdoi]

I also entered and ... nothing !!! I really think our scheme was pretty good. Maybe it will be a good idea to start a thread of the unlucky proyects (maybe just one image per post to have a general view) . I am really curious as to what other people did.

Diego, I am pretty sure everyone here would love to see the full presentation and concepts of the unlucky people.
See the good side of things guys, now you all have wonderful projects to post in Pushpullbar, a great way to discuss your ideas about this competition and everything that moved your proposals concepts! Remember architecture competitions are many times about fun and learning. :D ;)

[dhaa]

some of the unsuccessful teams are starting to reveal their secrets at archit.cz:

click (http://verona.kky.vslib.cz/archit2/?action=text&id=478&reactions=true) to see the proposal by Bjarke Ingels Group from Denmark (http://www.big.dk). Their model of the library is currently on display at their exhibition in Prague (until December 17 2006)

click (http://verona.kky.vslib.cz/archit2/?action=text&id=451) to see the proposal by 4A architekti from the Czech Republic (http://www.architekti4a.cz/)

and here (http://verona.kky.vslib.cz/archit2/?action=text&id=457) the proposal by Peter Bednar and Zack Cooley from USA

unfortunately the descriptions of the second and the third projects are in Czech as well as the discussions below. understandable for a czech blog. I'm very curious about the projects that have proceeded to the second round, cos some of the works listed above (especially the first one) and others I've seen so far are very intelligent and daring however questionable. and I encourage those of you who have participated in the competition to share your work with us!

the rumours passing by myself have been mentioning 2 names from the 8 lucky ones, but as this info isn't verified in any way, I'll keep it for myself:)

[gorgon]

The first one is HUGE :rock on:
The second looks pretty interesting to me :cool:
and the third one is functional but a bit dull :rolleyes:

Am I right that none of these actually got to the second round?
Thanks for the update

[dhaa]

Am I right that none of these actually got to the second round?
Thanks for the update

yes, you're absolutly right. the second round is still under way so none of the teams that's got there can afford to publish their project because they'd be disqualified. the competition is still anonymous.

[digdoi]

the second round is still under way so none of the teams that's got there can afford to publish their project because they'd be disqualified. the competition is still anonymous.

So that's why some Pushpullers didn't posted their projects yet...good luck in the second phase guys!:D :wondering

[SWANK-E]

Winning schemes discussion HERE (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5654)

This thread closed