Zlín University will have new laboratories and studios

Zlín - Students and employees of two faculties of Tomas Bata University (UTB) in Zlín will gain new facilities in the coming months. The university will build a new laboratory center for the Faculty of Technology and purchase a facility for the Faculty of Multimedia Communications that has been used by the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM) until now. This was announced to journalists today by the university's rector Petr Sáha and the bursar Alexander Černý.
The laboratory center, costing 615 million koruna, will rise on the site of the dilapidated market hall, specifically the former Baťa swimming pool near the Zlín bus station. The university has secured a European grant of 448 million koruna for the project, which it has been working on for several years.
The Faculty of Technology is the oldest faculty at Tomas Bata University. Bursar Černý reminded today that all other faculties have "gradually separated" from it. "All faculties have new facilities, only the Faculty of Technology is still in the old building from 1931," he said. Work at the site of the former Baťa swimming pool is expected to begin in the fall of this year. The school anticipates that the center will serve education from September 2013.
"Some students are currently located in a building in the Jižní Svahy area, some students are cramped in various rented spaces, and many instruments were not here because there was no facility to place them," described the current situation the bursar.
Rector Sáha added that the center would be home to primarily educational and specialized laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment valued at over 25.5 million koruna. In addition to laboratories in the facility, there will be six lecture halls and nine seminar rooms.
The Faculty of Multimedia Communications will also have new spaces. UTB will purchase it for 46 million koruna from the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague, which has been using the building until now. The school had two studios belonging to the design department there. Both have concluded their teachings.
"This building is fundamental for us," said Jana Janíková, dean of the Faculty of Multimedia Communications, to ČTK today. The faculty has two studios in the building - spatial creation and glass design. "We want to add studios for industrial design, footwear and clothing, which are located in the center of Zlín, a studio for 3D design, and visual creation from Uherské Hradiště," Janíková added. Janíková also told ČTK that the school would significantly save costs in the future with the purchase of the building, as all studios are currently housed in rented spaces.