State takes control of rights to Kaplický “Blob” design

The National Library and the Ministry of Culture have signed a memorandum under which the state has taken control of the rights to “the Blob”, a futuristic design for a new library building by the late Jan Kaplický. Under the agreement inked on Tuesday, the architect’s widow has given up the copyright on the design. However this does not mean that the project will necessarily now be realised.

The Prague-born, internationally renowned architect Kaplický won an international competition to design a new National Library building in 2007. However, the project ran into objections and the then arts minister said it was too expensive.

Author: Ian Willoughby