Little 'Blob' planned for bus stop

Brno has beaten Prague to become the home for a scaled-down version of an iconic and controversial design by late Czech architect Jan Kaplický. Affectionately known as "The Blob," the building, originally slated to be a home for the capital's National Library, will now house a bus stop in the Czech Republic's second-largest city.

"By having a bus stop in Brno, Kaplický's project idea of modern architecture will be preserved, no matter in what shape," said Brno City Hall spokesman Pavel Žára. "Kaplický visited the Brno mayor and offered his projects to the city. Brno was also interested in having the original project of the library here. We found a place for it - but not the money."

The move follows years of division over the futuristic yellow and purple design that was intended to be built on Letná Hill overlooking Prague's Old Town. The design gained prominent supporters like former President Václav Havel. However, City Hall and President Václav Klaus opposed the project, concerned that it would ruin Prague's skyline, and the project was postponed indefinitely. While the new structure will now hold bus timetables instead of books, friends and contemporaries of Kaplický support the idea.

"It's a symbolic reminder of what could be. At least a version is in the public eye,"  Kaplický's former colleague Eva Jiřičná told The Prague Post from London. "Of course, the scale is different. The Brno building will be much, much smaller. ... [But] there is not much chance of the library being built in Prague at present."

Zdeněk Lukeš, a leading architecture historian and theoretician, said he thought the Brno building was a nice gesture.

"If there is no problem with copyright issues, and ... if they use quality materials such as Kaplický himself intended, then it could be all right," he said. "But I'd say it would only be possible to build the bus stop once, because if it is repeated, it would lose its wit."

The stop will be located in a new housing estate in Brno by the end of the summer. The idea was proposed by student Martin Felgr, who entered a competition for new bus-stop  designs run by soft-drink giant Pepsi.

"The news that my idea had won the competition was a rather nice surprise - though it is actually not my victory but Kaplický's, and finally a victory of a common sense over the political lobby," Felgr said.

Kaplický's widow, Eliška Kaplický, meanwhile says she is "thrilled" that a young person wants to honor her late husband.

"I perceive it as a tribute to Jan Kaplický, which lies in his enormous power to inspire people and encourage them to be creative," she told reporters.

Meanwhile, Pepsi's archrival Coca-Cola said it was not planning any similar competitions at the moment.

"It is not part of our strategy to respond to our rivals. ... We have an independent strategy worked out a year in advance," said Coca-Cola spokeswoman Zuzana Svobodová. "For 2010, we are focusing all our activity on the World Cup."

- Filip Šenk and Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Gabriella Hold can be reached at
ghold@praguepost.com