Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1937 Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)

Died: 2009 Prague, Czech Republic (Czechia)

Year of Migration to the UK: 1968

Biography

Architect Jan Kaplický was born to a sculptor and botanical illustrator in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) on 18 April 1937 and grew up in the suburb of Ořechovka. Studying at the College of Applied Arts and Architecture and Design in Prague, 1956–62, he received a Diploma in Architecture, after which he worked in a private practice from 1964–68. After the events of the Prague Spring, when the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia, he escaped to London in September 1968 with fellow architect Jaroslav Vokoun, ‘carrying only $100 and a couple of pairs of socks’ (Woodman, 2007). The following year he began a relationship with Czechoslovak architect Eva Jiřičná, who he had known previously in Prague and was in London at the same time.

In England, Kaplický worked for the noted firms, Denys Lasdun and Partners between 1969 and 1971, then with the office of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers until 1973, where he worked on the Design Research Unit extension at Aybrook Street, London. Due to not yet having British citizenship, he was unable to join the company when it relocated to Paris. He worked with Jiřičná for a period, then for Foster Associates (now Foster and Partners) between 1979 and 1983 (Sudjic, 2009). Simultaneously, Kaplický set up an architectural think-tank with David Nixon in 1979, called Future Systems. From then on, he began to develop an architectural style of high-tech futurism, incorporating space-like technology and designs. In 1989, British architect Amanda Levete joined Future Systems, and Kaplický and Levete married in 1991 and were a couple for 15 years, having a son named Josef (Bayley, 2009). Between 1982 and 1988 Kaplický taught at the Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA), London where he was later an external examiner between 1995 and 1998.

Kaplický was a finalist for the Prince Philip Prize for designer of the year in 1991. Nevertheless, Future Systems received few commissions at this point, although Kaplický’s designs were shown in the Lost Opportunities for London show at the Architecture Foundation, London from 1991–92. It was not until 1994, when Future Systems completed the construction of Hauer-King House in Canonbury, London, that Kaplický had a turning point in his career. The project won First Prize in the Aluminium Imagination Award (1995), the Geoffrey Gribble Memorial Conservation Award (1995), and the Civic Trust Award (1996). The company then completed the West India Quay Bridge in London's Docklands in 1996, and was commissioned to build the new Media Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground in St John’s Wood, London, completed in 1999. The Media Centre won the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize (1999), one of the most prestigious architecture awards in the UK, and in the World Architecture Award (2001). Kaplický later commented that the Media Centre was ‘perhaps my favourite creation’, as it was ‘revolutionary in so many areas – a real technical achievement – but above all, the people operating inside it have said: ‘We love it,’ and that’s great’ (Mikhail, 2002). He was made an Honorary Fellow of RIBA in 2000 and, for Future Systems’ iconic Selfridges Building in the Bull Ring in Birmingham, received the RIBA Award for Architecture in 2004, among many other awards.

Towards the end of his life, Kaplický spent more time in the Czech Republic, where he was concurrently working on projects for the Czech National Library and the Congress and Concert Hall Centre in České Budějovice. In 2007, Kaplický married the film producer Eliška Fuchsova. Two years later, hours after the birth of his daughter Johanna Kaplická, Jan Kaplický died of heart failure on a street in Prague, Czech Republic on 14 January 2009 (Sudjic, 2009; Rose, 2009). Posthumously, Kaplický’s designs were shown in solo shows in London, including Remembering Jan Kaplický: Architect of the Future at the Design Museum in 2009, and Jan Kaplický Drawings at Stephen Lawrence Gallery, University of Greenwich Galleries in 2016. His work was also included in the Home Futures exhibition at the Design Museum between 2018 and 2019. In the UK public domain, a portrait photograph of Kaplicky and Levete is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Related books

Ivan Margolius and Richard Rogers, Jan Kaplický Drawings (London: Circa Press, 2015)
'Jan Kaplicky', The Times, 19 January 2009, p. 52
Deyan Sudjic, Future Systems (London: Phaidon, 2006)
Jan Kaplický, Confessions (Chichester: Wiley Academy, 2002)
Jan Kaplický, Looking Back in Envy: 20th Century Art and Design Revisited (Chichester: Wiley Academy, 2001)
Vinny Lee, 'Josef and his Amazing Technicolour Dream House', The Times, 1 January 2000, pp. 40-41
Marcus Binney, 'Inventive Contestants Herald the End of Slab Architecture', The Times, 5 November 1999, p. 15
Jan Kaplický, More for Inspiration Only (Chichester: Academy Editions, 1999)
Jan Kaplický, For Inspiration Only (Chichester: Academy Editions, 1996)

Related organisations

Aluminium Imagination Award (Award recipient)
Architectural Association School of Architecture (Teacher and External Examiner)
British Construction Industry Award (Award recipient)
Civic Trust Award (Award recipient)
Denys Lasdun and Partners (employee)
Design Research Unit extension (employee)
Foster and Associates (employee)
Future Systems (co-founder)
Geoffrey Gribble Memorial Conservation Award (Award recipient)
Royal Institute of British Architects (Honorary Fellow and award recipient)

Selected exhibitions

Home Futures, Design Museum, London (2018-19)
Jan Kaplický Drawings, Stephen Lawrence Gallery, University of Greenwich Galleries, London (2016)
Jan Kaplicky Drawings, Architecture Association, School of Architecture, London (2015)
Remembering Jan Kaplický: Architect of the Future, Design Museum, London (2009)
Lost Opportunities for London, Architecture Foundation, London (1991-92)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Jan Kaplický]

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

Jan Kaplický architect