Are we sorry that Prague does not have a Kaplický library? “It’s a terrible disgrace,” says architect Ivan Margolius
In this Demolition, we teamed up with the English village of Silsoe in Bedfordshire, where the architect Ivan Margolius lives – he designs the architecture, but also he writes about her. He has forty years of architectural work and fourteen books, the most recent (and thickest) is the book For the future and for the beauty of his friend Jan Kaplický. They were united by friendship and a similar fate, who emigrated to England in the 1960s and began a new life in London.
We talked about what Jan Kaplický was like with his “depressing nature” and how his buildings look like in reality – they are said to be optimistic and encouraging. For example, Ivan Margolius visited one of his family houses in Islington or Kaplický’s own apartments, where he lived with his partners and wives. “It was like a spaceship,” he says.
We also talked about the building of the National Library for Prague, which was designed by Jan Kaplický shortly before his death. Would it have been possible to build it even if the author was no longer alive? How and who could have done it? And is it a pity that there is no “octopus” on Letná? “It is a terrible disgrace for the Czechia,” says Ivan Margolius.
How did he get into writing? His father was Rudolf Margolius, executed in a monster trial with Rudolf Slánský. His mother was an English translator, Heda Kovaly. “My life has always been connected with books, since I was a child,” he says.
We also talked about childhood, about memories of his father, about how he found himself in London at the age of nineteen. About the studio and its work – designed, for example, the northern terminal of Gatwick Airport. About Czech tiles on London facades. About how architecture has changed in forty years, what has already been done. About how he bought a Tatra car and how the architect Norman Foster bought it after reading his book. And also about books.
“If you design a house, you can demolish it over time. But if you write a book, even if they burn it, there will always be some, “says Ivan Margolius.
With Ivan Margolio about writing books, about the Kaplický Library and pessimism and about four decades.