Zlín University Tomas Bata opened the University Center

Zlín - Tomas Bata University in Zlín today ceremoniously opened the University Center. The building, which rose in the center of Zlín over 18 months, cost 379 million crowns, with a significant portion of the funds provided by the Ministry of Education. Most of the space is occupied by the university library, while another part will house the rectorate.
    "I just hope that this building won't scream and say 'I'm new,' but that it will shake hands with the old Zlín architecture,” said the project's author, architect and Zlín native Eva Jiřičná, to journalists today.
    The university library will gain primarily much larger, modern, and more dignified spaces in the new building; the existing rooms no longer met the needs. It will be located in five above-ground floors and one basement.
    The reason for its construction was primarily the dramatic increase in the number of students. In 2000, there were 2,600 students attending the university, and this year there are already 11,500. The development of higher education also required a better library infrastructure and a higher level, including facilitating access to multimedia databases through high-speed internet. However, the existing spaces also faced a lack of area in relation to the capacity of storage and deposit facilities, which was already completely exhausted.
    In the future, the University Center will create a common complex along with the Congress Center, which the Zlín city hall is constructing nearby. Jiřičná was inspired by the schools that stood on the site during the era of T. G. Masaryk. "They had a completely extraordinary concept of the so-called ypsilon, which did not appear in any other city between the two world wars. These buildings were simply corridors with classrooms on both sides. Both the Congress and University Centers are somewhat thicker buildings, but they certainly maintain the ypsilon concept,” said the architect.
    The construction of the Congress Center was initiated by the city two years ago. Last autumn, builders completed the technologically demanding underground part of the building. The costs for project preparation, relocation of engineering networks, and construction of the underground part, which includes, among other things, parking spaces, amounted to about 180 million crowns. The city hall received approximately 40 million from the government. For the next phase, the city plans to obtain some funds from European Union grants. The Zlín Philharmonic Bohuslav Martinů will also find new spaces in the building.