The Transport Faculty in Pardubice has a renovated building with a façade made of corrugated metal

Pardubice – The Jan Perner Faculty of Transport at the University of Pardubice has renovated its building. The reconstruction, which lasted about a year and a half, cost nearly 156 million crowns including equipment. The building, constructed in 1970 and originally used as a dormitory, received a façade made of corrugated sheet metal and interior lounges lined with wood. Representatives from the school and the architectural office shared this information with journalists today.

The faculty has been located in the building since its establishment in 1993, but according to Dean Ladislav Řoutila, its limitations have become increasingly apparent over time. "The problems were related to, for example, sanitary facilities and insulation. During extreme winter and summer periods, the thermal comfort in individual offices no longer met the demands of the 21st century," he said.

During the renovation, 81 offices, four laboratories, and seven rooms that can serve as interactive classrooms were created in the building. All departments of the faculty, which employs about one hundred staff, additional external workers, and around 1,400 students, will move into the building.

"From an operational and economic standpoint, it would be more advantageous to have more offices, classrooms, or meeting rooms in the building. However, we decided that people also need space where they can meet and share ideas, and not be confined solely to offices. That’s why we created a respireum (rest area) on each floor," said architect Ondřej Teplý.

Architects designed the corrugated sheet metal façade, according to Teplý, because the building had a metal cladding previously. "We sought a principle for how to approach a very rational skeletal building defined by columns. Ultimately, we worked with different ways of laying the corrugated sheet metal, which creates a graphic effect. The façade is also complemented by metallic blinds," the architect said.

Construction work began at the end of 2024, and the school also received subsidies for it. The now renovated building thus also marks the end of the renovation of buildings in the southern part of the university campus. "This has been planned since the beginning when we started preparing a general layout of the area around 13 to 15 years ago. At that time, it was clear that all these buildings would be gradually renovated, and I am glad that it has succeeded. It is the last piece of the mosaic in the southern part of the campus," said bursar Petr Gabriel.