http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=28487
*He was 71, yet he had a daughter just before his unexpected death.
Pretty futuristic of the gentleman.
PRAGUE.- CTK news reported that Czech-born architect Jan Kaplicky died in Prague this past Wednesday. His wife gave birth to a daughter just hours before Jan Kaplicky passed away. Jan Kaplicky was the author of the controversial National Library project for Prague. The octopus shape of the building divided Czech residents and politicians. (((Here at BEYOND THE BEYOND, chalk us up as firmly in the "futuristic octopus camp." ... Ok... especially if it's in Prague where we can just marvel at it instead of living in it.)))
Jan Kaplicky was born on April 18, 1937. In 1968 he went to live to Britain and cooperated with architects such as Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. He later founded the Future Systems studio in London.
He is perhaps best known for the futuristic Selfridges Building in Birmingham, England, and the remarkable Media Centre at Lord's Cricket Ground in London. In February 2007 he won the international architectural competition for the new building of the National Library of the Czech Republic in Prague.
Kaplický was the subject of a Czech documentary entitled Profil (Profile) (2004).
In 1979, Kaplický set up his own architectural practice called Future Systems with David Nixon. Amanda Levete joined as a partner in 1989. Although Kaplický was a finalist for the Prince Philip Prize for designer of the year in 1991, for the first 15 years of its existence Future Systems received few commissions, and it was not until 1994 that the company was commissioned to build the new media centre at Lord's Cricket Ground which eventually won the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize – considered the most prestigious architecture award in the UK – in 1999 and the World Architecture Awards in 2001....
