top of page

National Library of the Czech Republic​

Czech Republic

2006

One of the defining stances of 20th Century modernism was its insistence on the material and functional legibility of geometry. The relaxation of this ambition has led to a renewed interest in the classical tendency to confuse, through the use of cornices, bases, and architraves, the transitions between floors, walls and ceilings.  However, instead of relying on these classical devices, this proposal for the New National Library of the Czech Republic actively researches the 21st century equivalent of such geometric relaxations.  Through geometric contortions, elongations and fluid attachments, floors do not only become walls, but become circulation paths, corridors, structural members, apertures, and facades.  The effect is one that combines the open plan legibility of modernism with the fluid transitory articulations of classicism

view3stacktwinb copy
view2stack
view3stack
Czech National Library 004
072110_cs_czech_interior_renderin_2
Czech National Library 002
Czech National Library 007
Czech National Library 013
Czech National Library 005c
Czech National Library 005b
Czech National Library 001_MIRRORED

© 2025

created with Wix.com

  • Black Instagram Icon
  • Black Facebook Icon
  • Black LinkedIn Icon
  • Black Google Places Icon

Copyright © Mark Foster Gage Architects / MFGA llc. All Rights Reserved. All files and information contained in this website are copyrighted by Mark Foster Gage Architects / MFGA llc and may not be duplicated, copied, modified or adapted, in any way without permission, except for reasonable academic use. Our website may contain our service marks or trademarks as well as those of our affiliates or other companies, in the form of words, images, graphics, and logos. Your use of our website or services does not constitute any right or license for you to use our service marks, images or trademarks, without the prior written permission of Mark Foster Gage Architects. For permissions please email info@mfga.com.

bottom of page