The planned development will introduce a new timber-structured building standing on the main square, acting as a gateway to the UCT campus. Its distinctive geometry and structural logic set it apart from surrounding developments; its equal bay lengths and unified architectural expression make it a prominent element of the main square. As a sustainable, progressive campus extension, the new building houses contemporary educational and cultural spaces, serving both university and public use. Its soft, dynamic facade with multiple entrances enhances accessibility and its transparency emphasizes openness. The concept, built on light and visibility, forges a strong connection with the urban environment while seeking to retain a human scale.
The building’s functional arrangement aims for efficiency and spatial variety. Underground levels accommodate parking and service functions. The ground floor, with a higher ceiling height, is dedicated to community and commercial uses. A generous atrium-organized spatial structure brings daylight to all floors and reduces the need for mechanical ventilation. The first floor includes shared facilities and a small brewery; at this level a bridge structure provides connection to the rest of the campus. Floors 2–7 contain units with flexible, reconfigurable plans and offices of various sizes; the increased ceiling heights of the larger lecture halls allow for adaptable future use. The top (8th) floor features a generous roof garden and a roof bar.
Tamás Fialovszky, Hunor Szántó, Ing. Jiri Dvorak
Educational building
Multifunctional event space
Brewery
international open competition
Prague, Czech Republic
Educational building
Multifunctional event space
Brewery
international open competition
Prague, Czech Republic
The building is a multi-storey, framed structure on a regular 8.1 × 8.1 m grid, compact with right-angled geometry. In addition to reinforced concrete shear cores, the load-bearing system of the floors is formed by glued laminated timber frame elements (GL24h, GL28h); floor-to-floor height is 3.7 m and the columns have a 40 × 40 cm cross-section. The building’s defining character element is its double-skin facade: a semi-transparent outer skin—carefully articulated and incorporating photovoltaic panels—ensures continuous airflow between the layers. The primary facade behind it, with operable openings that can be opened in summer, enables intensive natural ventilation, thereby reducing heat load and the reliance on mechanical systems. In winter the air cavity heated by solar gain functions as a passive thermal insulation layer.