The Brno Faculty of Fine Arts will move to a new headquarters

Brno - The Faculty of Fine Arts of the Brno University of Technology (VUT) will start the academic year in a new location. Until now, it operated in two buildings, requiring students to travel between them. The new facilities will be located at Údolní 53. This is the result of a long search and consideration. According to the faculty's management, the location is ultimately ideal, also because the campus is in the broader center of Brno.

"One of the important aspects in this case is the so-called urban-forming effect - a university campus situated near the city center represents a place for meetings, exchange of experiences, and support for social activities, both for the academic community and the public. It is also essential that the historical buildings, which served as one of the first residences of VUT, will be revitalized," said Dean Milan Houser.

Until last year, the site housed the Department of Forensic Engineering. In order for studio teaching to begin in the new premises, partial construction adjustments are necessary. These include changing the layouts of selected rooms, painting, introducing new electrical installations, and laying carpets. The costs of the renovation will amount to 20 million crowns, with an additional 600,000 for the moving, which has resulted in the faculty’s students having longer holidays this year. The teaching portion of the semester will start on October 3rd.

The Faculty of Fine Arts has over 270 students and is the smallest faculty of the Brno University of Technology. For instance, the studio of intermedia and the studio of body design are the only ones of their kind in the Czech Republic. Since its founding in 1993, the faculty had been located on Rybářská Street, and later managed to obtain part of the former academic cafeteria at Údolní 19. After the move, both premises will remain empty for now; their further use or potential sale must be approved by the academic senate and the university's board of trustees.

"A specific solution, however, will not occur until late 2017, and more likely in 2018," said the bursar Ladislav Janíček. Within two years, it will also be clear whether the Brno University of Technology will succeed in obtaining funds for a more extensive reconstruction of the newly inhabited site at Údolní 53. The university is considering an employee childcare center, as well as a cultural and information center with conference spaces or a gallery where students from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Architecture, or Art and Design disciplines could exhibit their work.