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.

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.

Kaplickż was the subject of a Czech documentary entitled Profil (Profile) (2004).

In 1979, Kaplickż set up his own architectural practice called Future Systems with David Nixon. Amanda Levete joined as a partner in 1989. Although Kaplickż 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.

Future Systems' next major project, the iconic Selfridges Building in the Bull Ring in Birmingham, won seven awards, including the RIBA Award for Architecture 2004.

In 2007, Kaplickż won the design competition for the new Czech National Library building. This will be his first major building in his home country, and he has said the project is the most important event in his life.[5] However, the design for the building, resembling a green and purple blob and already nicknamed by locals "the Octopus", has been heavily criticized. President of the Czech Republic Vįclav Klaus was overheard saying he would be willing to prevent the building going ahead with his own body; his spokesman later clarified it was an off-hand remark that had not been meant to be taken seriously. Pavel Bém, the Civic Democrat Lord Mayor of Prague, supported the design when it was selected but has since become hostile to it. He has said that the City Council of Prague, which is dominated by the Civil Democratic Party, will not allow the Octopus to be built as it would ruin the Prague's panorama.

Apart from his design work, Kaplickż has been active in the education of architects. He taught from 1982 to 1988 at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, the oldest independent architectural school in the UK, and in 1992 at the School of Architecture in Bordeaux and at the Design Workshop of the Technische Universität Berlin. He was also an external examiner for the Architectural Association between 1995 and 1998, and in 2000 was an assessor for the Domus Awards of the B.B.J. Competition in Milan. He was made an Honourable Fellow of RIBA in 2000.