The Charles University will publish what the Albertov Campus should look like

Prague - Charles University will announce at today's press conference how the new Albertov Campus should look. They will present the winning design from an architectural competition for two new research centers costing 2.5 billion crowns, which are expected to open in 2022. The first plans and visualizations for the Albertov Campus began to take shape ten years ago, but discussions about new buildings in this area have been ongoing for much longer; according to Rector Tomáš Zima, such debates have been held for 90 years.

Architectural offices and studios submitted 33 designs to the competition, of which six advanced to the second round. In this round, they also had to submit physical models of the proposed buildings for the future Biocentrum and Globcentrum. The jury selected the winner by the end of July.

The campus is the largest construction project of Charles University in the center of Prague in the last hundred years. The Biocentrum and Globcentrum will serve as scientific workplaces for the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, the Faculty of Science, and the 1st Faculty of Medicine. The Biocentrum will focus on understanding living systems for human health needs, new biotechnologies, and biodiversity protection. Research at the Globcentrum will be targeted at individual aspects of global changes. This includes, for example, the dynamics of the planet's climate change, changes in the distribution of organisms, natural threats and risks, or the dynamics of the spread of animal species and vegetation.

Rector Zima considers the Albertov Campus to be a future center for top-tier scientific and medical research. "Students at all levels of study will fully participate in the research. We look forward to great science attracting scientists and students from abroad, making the campus a lively international place for science and education," he stated.

The project will be financed from the state budget. A total of more than 1200 people should be working in both buildings. Currently, on the land designated for the construction of the new centers, there is a canteen and a neighboring wooden building of a student dormitory.