Via Prague

It's been dubbed, both affectionately and derisively, as The Blob, or althernatively, The Octopus.
That's what both critics and advocates are calling the controversial design for the new National Library here in Prague. The design, by Czech architect Jan Kaplicky, was selected over other designs by the city a couple years ago. But since then, controversy has raged, both at the city and national level. The library, estimated to cost some $3 billion CZK, is needed because the main national library, called the Klementium, is old and rapidly running out of space to accomodate the some 100,000 new materials the library receives each year.
The basic controversy is over whether the design fits with the city's historic character. Also, the site where the library would be built, in Letna Park overlooking the city, has also been proposed for a new stadium for the Czech national football team.
Today in my lesson at an architectural firm in the center, my students vented their views.
'I like it,' said Eduard. 'It's something new.'
'But -- it just doesn't fit!' intervenes his admittedly more conservative (design-speaking) colleague.
Similar arguments have become commonplace in Prague in recent years, as the city copes with growth and economic prosperity. Surges in tourism have created demand for new hotels, a soaring economy has meant Czechs (particularly Praguers) are buying new cars, creating more pressure on the city's narrow, centuries-old streets. New shopping centers have also sprung up, filled with Starbucks and eateries and clothing shops for those tourists on shopping holidays.
'Is Prague selling its soul?' That was the question asked recently by an editorial in the Prague Post, where I freelance nowadays.
There's no telling, at this point, when or how the library issue will be resolved. It seems to be at a stalemate. My students speculated that it could drag on until 2010, the next elections.
Personally, I kind of like it. One of Prague's strengths is its diversity of architecture. Walking through the center, you encounter examples of Baroque, Classical, Neo-Classical, Cubist, Post-Modern. So why not an octopus, or blob, or however you want to describe it? I think it actually resembles a mushroom -- which would fit, since it's in a park, and the Czechs I know love their zampiones (mushrooms).
P.S. The photo is, for those not familiar with Photoshop, merely an illustration. The actual construction has obviously not gone forward.