Weather Tonight: 5°c Partly Cloudy Night Morning: 9°c Cloudy

News

Jan Kaplicky
Inventive: Jan Kaplicky

Lord's 'UFO' architect Jan Kaplicky dies

Rowan Moore, Architecture Critic
16 Jan 2009


JAN KAPLICKY, one of the most original and inventive London architects, has died aged 71.

Kaplicky emigrated from his native Prague in 1968 and worked for both Norman Foster and Richard Rogers before setting up his own practice, Future Systems, in 1979. He was fascinated by the technology of cars, planes and of the US space programme, and wanted to apply it to buildings.

In partnership with his first wife Amanda Levete, he designed the Media Centre at Lord's Cricket Ground, a curvaceous white structure often compared to a UFO. It won the 1999 Stirling Prize. Future Systems' design for a new Selfridges in Birmingham also won plaudits.

Kaplicky had been battling to build his design for a national library in Prague, derided by critics as "an octopus". He died there from a suspected heart failure hours after the birth of his daughter by second wife Eliska Kaplicky Fuchsova.

Reader views (2)

 Add your view

With sadness in my heart I see Jan Kaplicky gone. In the sixties he was part of the antibolshevik "avant-garde" in Prague, with singer Pavel Bobek and others, way before president Havel! When I visited him in 1976 in London, he already complained about communistic ideas in Britain. I still remember his supermodern apartment and the aluminum dining table full of holes through which my dining silver fell to the floor, to my embarrassment. As we are all growing old, the obituaries of friends are sad. Condolences to his family and may he rest in peace.

- Milan Alexander, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA., 19/01/2009 04:13
Report abuse

What an understated man, so talented yet receiving such little appreciation in his home country. My condolences to his family and his young children R.I.P.
I silently waited your table on numerous occasions at Kensington Place in London and didn’t dare to share the language we both spoke, and frankly didn’t have an idea about who you were and what gracious work you delivered to the world architecture. If I only had the courage ...

- lucie, london, UK, 17/01/2009 01:13
Report abuse


Add your comment

 

Terms and conditions Make text area bigger You have  characters left.

We welcome your opinions. This is a public forum. Libellous and abusive comments are not allowed. Please read our House Rules.

For information about privacy and cookies please read our Privacy Policy.


 

 

  • MPs spend £400,000 of taxpayers' cash on 12 fig trees for their offices Fig Trees EXCLUSIVE: Taxpayers are footing a bill of almost £400,000 to rent 12 fig trees to shade MPs in the glass-roofed atrium of their...
  • 10 million Tube passengers fail to claim money back for delays Tube train More than 10 million Tube users are missing out on refunds worth more than £20 million when their trains are delayed
  • The final reckoning: how Boris and Ken measure up in election battle Ken Boris split London goes to the polls on May 3 with the election battle between Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone set to be the capital's closest mayoral...
  • Commuters' favourite swaps busking for the big time with recording deal Tristan Mackay Busker Tristan Mackay has hit the jackpot after landing a record deal with an award-winning producer
  • What a smoothie! Eight-year-old Valentine gives Kate roses and a heart-shaped cupcake Kate Smoothie The Duchess of Cambridge's first Valentine's Day as a married woman was marked with roses, a card and a cupcake - but not from Prince...
  • Kercher family launch appeal over decision to clear Knox of murder Meredith Kercher Meredith Kercher's family today launched an appeal to overturn the decision to clear Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito of her murder
  • PM urged to deport Qatada as he hides in north London safe house Abu Qatada David Cameron was under pressure today to defy European judges by ordering the deportation of extremist cleric Abu Qatada as he holed up in...
  • Now jailed Dizaei could be forced to repay his £1million legal aid bill Ali Dizaei Met commander Ali Dizaei is facing the prospect of paying back tens of thousand of pounds of legal aid as Scotland Yard prepared to sack him...
  • Osborne defends his cuts strategy as inflation falls George Osborne Chancellor George Osborne defended his economic strategy as a fall in inflation finally brought mild relief to some from the tight squeeze...
  • Royal College students to receive scholarships courtesy of Burberry Rosie Huntington-Whitely At the luxury brand Burberry, Christopher Bailey has transformed a designer classic into must-have cool, as epitomised by the models Rosie...
  •  

    Don't Miss