Printer Friendly
The Free Library
14,529,145 articles and books
Member login
User name  
Password 
 
Join us Forgot password?

Eva Jiricna: library and congress centre, Zlin, Czech Republic.


Founded in 2001, the University of Tomas Bata in Zlin is the Czech Republic's newest university. Zlin itself lies in the east of the country, and was Eva Jiricna's birthplace, so it is somehow appropriate that she should return there to design a major new complex of buildings that includes a library for the university and a congress centre for the city. Each building sits on a tight plot owned by the respective institutions. Their orientation and organically-inspired ovoid o·void or o·voi·dal
n.
Something that is shaped like an egg.

adj.
Shaped like an egg; oviform.



ovoid

having the oval shape of an egg.


ovoid body
colloid body.
 forms allow each to peel away from one another and establish their own clear identity, yet they are also unified by the surrounding campus landscape.

The library is composed of two volumes with a large communal atrium in between. One part houses reading rooms on five levels for around 440 students, the other contains the university's administration centre. Internal and external facades are clad in glass, allowing the occupants to work and study in a light, invigorating in·vig·or·ate  
tr.v. in·vig·or·at·ed, in·vig·or·at·ing, in·vig·or·ates
To impart vigor, strength, or vitality to; animate: "A few whiffs of the raw, strong scent of phlox invigorated her" 
 setting. Both parts exploit passive means of environmental control, using thermal mass Thermal mass, in the most general sense, is any mass that absorbs and holds heat. In the architectural sense, it is any mass that absorbs and stores heat during sunny periods when the heat is not desirable in the living space of a building, and then releases the heat during  of a hollow concrete core that absorbs heat from IT systems and general usage. The congress centre consists of a main 850 seat auditorium and a smaller 80 seat hall, together with three levels of ancillary facilities and a restaurant. Its glazed glaze  
n.
1. A thin smooth shiny coating.

2. A thin glassy coating of ice.

3.
a. A coating of colored, opaque, or transparent material applied to ceramics before firing.

b.
 facade, which has both acoustic screening acoustic screen nTrennwand f zur Schalldämpfung  and sun shading, is a response to local environmental conditions. The roof has an exoskeleton exoskeleton /exo·skel·e·ton/ (-skel´e-ton) a hard structure formed on the outside of the body, as a crustacean's shell; in vertebrates, applied to structures produced by the epidermis, as hair, nails, hoofs, teeth, etc.  containing the building's plant which is veiled in a fine stainless-steel mesh as it can be seen from above. C. S.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
COPYRIGHT 2005 EMAP Architecture
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2005, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

 Reader Opinion

Title:

Comment:



 

Article Details
Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback
Title Annotation:Learning
Publication:The Architectural Review
Article Type:Brief Article
Geographic Code:4EXCZ
Date:Apr 1, 2005
Words:260
Previous Article:Studio Granda: secondary school extension, Reykjavik, Iceland.(Learning)(Brief Article)
Next Article:Bolles-Wilson: national library of Luxembourg, Luxembourg.(Learning)(Brief Article)
Topics:



Related Articles
Highgate highlight. (Ove Arup's house in London, England)
FRAGILE STATE.
Modern times.(Brief Article)
View.(Brief Article)
Villa Muller.(architect Adolf Loos remodels dwelling in Prague, Czech Republic)(Brief Article)
Functional biology: providing an open forum for a closed scientific community, this new research institute in Dresden civilizes its large scale by...
Hotel Bohemia: a hotel in the Old Town of Prague adds to urban richness, as well as providing a civilized place to stay in the city centre.
On the radar: antennae twitching, the AR surveys the future of architecture and finds cause for optimism.(comment)(Editorial)
Eva the diva or little girl lost?(browser)(www.ejal.com)(Brief Article)
AR's transparency conference.(architectural services)(Brief Article)

Terms of use | Copyright © 2009 Farlex, Inc. | Feedback | For webmasters | Submit articles