Faculty of Science, UPOL
Collaboration:
Pavel Joba, Jakub Havlas, Pavel Brázda, Barbora Zachovalová (artwork)
Photograph:
Marian Beneš
2004-2009, Olomouc - Envelopa
We won the commission thanks to an urban architectural competition. The design was chosen for its economy. The extensive construction program with complex laboratory operations was successfully placed into such a small volume that part of the plot designated for construction could be preserved as a garden. This urban layout fulfills the intention of the famous Camillo Sitte, who, in the early 20th century, defined the pre-wall green belt with significant buildings in the urban plan of Olomouc.
The proposed building is approximately 200 meters long, consisting of three sections with a 200-meter-long corridor in the center. This intervention is a change to the city's urbanism and is also a sufficiently monumental act to represent an institution like the University of Olomouc. The building's mass is simple, with a rhythmic window module. The proposed material for the cladding – black granite with visible structure – and its gloss unify the window fillings and the inter-window pillars into a concentrated mass along 17th November Street. This horizontal skyscraper strongly stabilizes the urban block, which was disrupted during the totalitarian era by housing developments.