Location: Praha
Client: The State Technical Library, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports

1st place in the architectural competition
Award of The Club for Old Prague 2009
Excellent concrete building 2009
Best of Realty 2009
Award of The State Environmental Fund 2009
The Great Indoors Frame Award 2009, Holland
The Czech Grand Prix of Architects 2010
Library of the Year 2010 (Award of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic)
Nomination for The Mies van der Rohe Award 2011

The NLT building respects the original urban plan of Dejvice quarters. Interacts also with buildings positioned outside the main axis of the university campus. It brings new living options by creating different types of forecourts. It forms the heart of the campus of technical universities. The closed form on a spherical square plan evokes protection and concentration. The layout is free and maintains good orientation in comparison to a pure square or a circle. This is supported by a central hall with overhead lighting. The library is a centre of information for the surrounding colleges and a service for various technical sciences. Therefore the building is not oriented. It doesn´t have a main facade or entrance, but it has four equal entrances. The façade of the library is sealed off by a glass envelope - the outer boundary - in an impermeable though transparent to translucent manner. Within it is a blurred dense space with depth shown by the embedded elements - the inner world of the library. This creates a sense of friendliness and openness at the same time as a visible boundary that emphasises the feeling of security and clarity of the whole. The inner hall breaks through the library space creating a palpable feeling of importance that belongs to institutions.

The library has the outline of an oval square with dimensions of about 75x75m. The building has six floors above ground and three underground floors. 1st floor and 2nd floor are public with additional functions (café, lecture hall, exhibition space, branch of the municipal library, night reading room) and provide spaces for free communication and meeting of visitors. The library service is elevated on the 2nd floor level. The upper floors house free access bookshelves, study rooms, classrooms and administration premises. The exceptional concept of a "building as a technology textbook" has been incorporated not only in to the architectural design, but also in to the interior and graphic design and artistic interventions. It is the sophisticated comprehensive multidisciplinary team design process that makes NTL exceptional. The pre-stressed large-span (15x15m) bearing structure allows for significant variation in the internal environment, scaling to the large spaces and supporting the expression of the façade. Study and work areas are concentrated in spaces with natural light, while books on shelves are in contrast to the depth of the layout. The design of the technology was guided by a desire to limit its extent, use simple durable systems and make maximum use of natural principles (activation of the concrete core, heat recovery, natural ventilation at night). The roof with extensive greenery serves to retain rainfall and mitigates the heat island effect.

Competition: 2000
Project: 2004-2006
Implementation: 2006-2009
Opening: 9. 9. 2009
Total land area: 13 404 m2
Built-up area of the ground floor:  5 000 m2
Total enclosed volume: 172 258 m3

Author: Roman Brychta, Adam Halíř, Ondřej Hofmeister, Petr Lešek
Co-author of the competition design: Václav Králíček
Co-author of the interior design: Radim Babák, Ondřej Tobola
Co-operating architect: Helena Hejdová, Kateřina Horáková, Anna Jenčková, Rudolf Wiszcor

Visual design, infosystem: Petr Babák
Conception of artworks: Vít Havránek, Tomáš Vaněk, Jiří Skála
Central artwork: Dan Perjovschi
Energy concept of the building: Jan Žemlička
General designer: Helika
Photography: Andrea Thiel Lhotáková