A new amphitheater will be built at the new Institute of Art and Design in Pilsen

Plzeň - An amphitheater for hundreds of people will be built next to the new Institute of Art and Design of the West Bohemian University (ÚUD) in the campus at the Green Triangle in Plzeň on Borech. Work on it will begin this summer by the sculptors of the institute under the guidance of Professor Jiří Beránek, and it is scheduled to open next July simultaneously with the commencement of operations of the new ÚUD building. This was stated by the director of ÚUD, Josef Mištera.
      He added that for the amphitheater, which is meant to resemble a crater after a meteorite or UFO landing, they will use a lot of surplus soil from the foundations of several large constructions that are starting this year in the campus area. "On the south side of the ÚUD building (in the direction of Klatovy), there will be an opening wall with large moving gates about 7.5 by 15 meters, behind which there will be an entrance to the stage of a small theater. Opposite it will be a functional amphitheater and a large sculpture," he added.
      The ÚUD will utilize surplus soil from the construction of the institute and the scientific and research centers. "We have an agreement with the rector that there will be a large land art (an artistic direction in landscape architecture), specifically modified mounds. The concept is that a meteorite or a large UFO once fell here, and these are the remnants of that crater," Mištera added. According to Rector Ilona Mauritzová, seven to eight mounds with large sculptures should be created throughout the campus.
      The amphitheater near the theater will also function as a viewing area for the planned sports facility on the other side behind the emerging ÚUD, where a terrain wave will be needed to shield the busy feeder road.
      "We will open it together with the commencement of ÚUD at the beginning of summer 2012. I would like to start the operation of the new building with a large retrospective exhibition of our works over the years," Mištera explained.
      The construction of the ÚUD began this January after seven years of fundraising. According to Mištera, it is progressing very quickly, and the rough structure will be completed by summer. The "factory of art," as the teachers and students call the new facility, will cost about 200 million. The original budget of the institute was successfully reduced by 40 percent with the West Bohemian University.
      The building next to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering toward the Borská pole industrial zone will consist of large open studios, which can be flexibly modified, and a three-story department building. The ÚUD will have 6000 m2 and accommodate 550 students. Today, the institute has 450 students and 50 teachers in 16 fields, operating in seven locations in Plzeň. The institute started in 2002 as part of the Faculty of Education of the West Bohemian University with 80 students in illustration and design. It was established in response to the lack of higher art schools in northwestern, western, and southern Bohemia; it has attracted a number of prominent Czech artists. After its completion, the ÚUD will be transformed into the ninth faculty of the West Bohemian University.