ČVUT opened a new building for the faculty of architecture for 1.2 billion

Image of Tomáš Souček

Prague - The Czech Technical University (ČVUT) today opened a new building for the Faculty of Architecture in Prague's Dejvice. Young architects will now learn their craft in a building designed by the "first lady of Czech architecture," Alena Šrámková. From the simple building of reinforced concrete structure clad in bricks, three colorful cubes serving as classrooms emerge, dominated by three top-glazed internal atriums, with concrete and glass prevailing in the interior. The construction with eight above-ground floors cost 1.2 billion crowns. The inauguration was also attended by President Václav Klaus.
    "For ČVUT, it is (the building) the largest construction investment in the last 35 years, regarding buildings used for science, research, and educational purposes," said the university's rector Václav Havlíček. They received almost a billion from the state budget, the rest was paid from the university's own resources. The new building is located in the ČVUT campus in Dejvice, near the Faculty of Civil Engineering, the Student House, and the National Technical Library. In addition to future architects, students from the Faculty of Information Technology will also be educated here.
    According to architect Šrámková, known for, among other works, the ČKD building in Prague at Můstek and the check-in hall of the Main Train Station, the new building is meant to appear simple, almost a bit ordinary, to lead students towards humility. The strict shape of the minimalist main building is disrupted by the protruding cubes of classrooms, which are clad in sheets of purple, red, and orange. The building, with a total floor area of 34,500 square meters, has three underground levels, predominantly used for parking, alongside the eight above-ground floors.
    The inauguration was attended not only by rectors of other Prague universities or Prague Archbishop Dominik Duka but also by President Klaus. Before a packed hall, he praised architect Šrámková's work, stating that he would not pass judgment on the new building as he did in the case of the planned National Library, the so-called octopus designed by architect Jan Kaplický, which the president sharply criticized.
    "Simple, minimalist, with excellent ambiance," evaluated the new spaces as well by the chairman of the Czech Chamber of Architects, Jan Vrana. He told ČTK that students will finally be in a creative environment, as young architects have previously been educated in the opposing high-rise building or at the nearby Faculty of Civil Engineering. The students have been testing 79 new classrooms and lecture halls since last week when the summer semester began.
    The bright interior designed by architect Markéta Cajthamlová features atriums with balconies on the floors, and glass partitions allow visibility into classrooms, studios, and even the professors' offices. Load-bearing concrete walls are exposed, and the individual blocks of the building are differentiated by bold colors, such as bright pink and orange. From an architectural perspective, the interior may resemble the highly regarded National Technical Library building. In one of the atriums, a staircase is hidden in a giant concrete cylinder.
    "The entire layout is naturally ventilated through the atriums, and during summer nights it is intentionally cooled down. The intensity of artificial lighting is automatically regulated, and the entire building is designed to be highly energy-efficient in terms of operational costs," pointed out the author, who created the work in her studio Šrámková architects along with Tomáš Koumar and Lukáš Ehl.
    In addition to lecture halls for 80 to 300 students, each floor also has classrooms equipped with double projection, as well as computer laboratories, model-making rooms, and studios.
    Eighty-one-year-old Alena Šrámková is one of the most prominent figures in Czech architecture. Since the 1970s, she has realized a number of interesting projects characterized mainly by moderation, even minimalism.