New Building of CTU, Faculty of Architecture

The new building of the Czech Technical University in Prague (CVUT) filled the last empty plot of the university campus designed in the regulatory plan by prof. Engel in 1924. Our goal was to construct in this place a building that would be reasonable, a bit modest in a way that would lead the students toward humility; a simple, almost ordinary structure. The new building is oriented towards the entrance axes of the CVUT campus. It is turned in the direction of the entrance by an open courtyard, delimited only by two facades and a pillar. The building content is concentrated around this entry space in a V-shape. Two copies of sculptures by John Hejduk - the House of the Suicide and the House of the Mother of the Suicide - should have been installed in the entrance plaza. The original wooden sculptures were supposed to be cast in metal in order to withstand their placement in the outdoors. The sculptures have not been installed yet.

The new building is conceived as an 8floor building with a firm shape and a relatively heavy facade. The entire structure is comprised of bricks and only the entrance part exposes the concrete construction of the structure. The house is cut by three covered atria. Large auditoriums rise from the volume in the NorthEast direction as addon, covered with sheet metal masses. Color accents of different sections of the layout comprise a part of the decoration of the structure.

The block of elevators and the block of sanitary units in the entire above ground structure are treated in intensive colors. The large auditoriums blocks, including their parts penetrating from the exterior into the interior are also emphasized by an intensive color coat. The framework of the building consists of a steel reinforced mass with a basic module of 8000 mm. The ceiling blocks are designed as die-free slabs with a constant thickness. The inside walls are made of concrete and brick with a sound insulation. The whole layout is aired through the atria and in the summer period at night automatically air-cooled. The intensity of the artificial lighting is automatically regulated and the whole building is designed from the operational perspective as highly energy efficient. Number of students: 1800