Zlín University opened a new building for design students

Zlín - Tomas Bata University in Zlín has opened a new building for design students. After renovation, students of the Faculty of Multimedia Communications can utilize the building on Tomáš Baťa Avenue, which the university purchased from the AAAD (Academy of Art, Architecture and Design) in Prague a year ago. The renovation of the building cost 33 million crowns, and the university bought it for 50 million, said Olga Jurášková, the deputy dean of the faculty, to ČTK today.
     In the new premises, the Institute of Spatial and Product Design, the Institute of Clothing and Footwear Design, and the Institute of Visual Creation will be located. Some students have moved from the main faculty building on Štefánikova Street, which will have more space for classrooms and studios for students of animation and audiovisual studies, graphic design, and advertising photography. Students who previously had their workplaces in Uherské Hradiště will also be in the new premises on Tomáš Baťa Avenue.
     Zlín students are thus returning to a place where design has been taught for many years. In particular, the Institute of Spatial and Product Design continues the Studio of Machine and Tool Shaping led by Zdeněk Kovář, a key educator at the then AAAD and a pioneer of industrial design.
     Many of his students still work in Zlín and are raising a new generation of young designers, such as Pavel Škarka. "Our goal is to build on the tradition, primarily in the focus of studios. We constantly strive to ensure that design is not just an artistic expression of the author, but also a functional element significantly connected with practice, just as Professor Kovář relentlessly promoted," Škarka stated.
     The Faculty of Multimedia Communications celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, currently hosting 1,200 students, of which about 700 study fine arts and design, while the rest focus on marketing.