UMPRUM could have a new building with workshops by the end of 2018

Prague - In autumn 2018, students of the AAAD (Academy of Art, Architecture and Design) could begin studying in a new building with practical workspaces in the city center. By renovating and extending the former primary school on Mikulandská Street, one of the oldest domestic art schools will gain new workshops, which have been lacking for 25 years. The project by architect Ivan Kroupa, who is also the creator of the DOX Center, is being exhibited from today in the school's historical building at Palach Square.

The Neo-Renaissance building of the school will undergo minimal changes from the perspective of passersby; the fact that a contemporary architect has worked on it will only be evidenced by a new passage and a small intervention in the facade.

Through the exhibition, which will run until April 13, the school aims to contribute not only to the awareness of students, the academic community, and the wider public about the building's design, but also about the city's heritage protection. The school, like everyone who wants to minimally intervene with contemporary architecture in the historical city center, has gone through lengthy negotiations with heritage authorities. "We expect to receive a building permit in the near future; within weeks, we will announce a public contract for the construction work supplier," said the school's rector, Jindřich Smetana, to ČTK. The value of the contract for the construction and technological parts will exceed a quarter of a billion crowns.

Nonetheless, according to original plans, the building with the school's technological facilities was supposed to open this summer. The AAAD has had access to the facility since 2014, and we have been preparing the project since the moment the archaeologists confirmed that we could use the basement, says the rector.

The AAAD lost its workshops in the 1990s during restitutions and has since temporarily operated from the historical building. After discarding the ideas of building a campus in Ďáblice, which would force students to commute between the city center and the periphery and separate the various disciplines in the school, the school's leadership opted for the renovation and extension of the building on Mikulandská. "It does not claim a change to the city’s skyline; during the material reorganization, it is functional yet an integrated part of the local development. It maintains the original building line and, through its morphology, serves as a transition between historical buildings and the expressive architecture of the National Theatre Palace, which is rising at the corner," said architect Kroupa.

Smetana emphasizes the maintenance of the public character of the building in an area where the number of residents is steadily decreasing. A part of the building will also be accessible to the public. It will open with the largest architectural intervention in the facade, vertically excluding one of its parts, thereby creating a new entrance to the entire complex. Through the new corner building, the school will provide passage all the way to Národní Street and will also utilize the garden.

The reconstruction respects two historical wings, which will undergo minimal changes; a new extension with a multifunctional courtyard for creativity and communal life of the school will be created in the courtyard, along with a terrace on the roof. The workshop spaces will, according to the rector, be equipped with top-notch facilities necessary for education in the respective fields, such as glassmaking, ceramics, and graphic techniques.