Project
| Location: | Łódź, University of Technology Campus on Politechniki Avenue |
| Client: | Łódź University of Technology |
| Area: | 24 000 m2 |
| Design: | 2009 contest project |
Architect’s own concept of the University Sports and Teaching Centre comprising: a sports hall, a main playing field (1500 m2 with stand seating for 1100 people), a swimming pool (50 metres-long, featuring 10 lanes 50 metres each, stand seating for 2000 people), a 50 m high diving pool, a recreational pool (slides, artificial river), a rehabilitation and renewal centre with saunas, training rooms for martial arts, aerobic exercises and table tennis, squash courts, a gym, a climbing wall, in addition to cafes and cafeterias, conference halls, rooms for the press, TV studios, cloakrooms and technical rooms.
The aim was to create a design which will become symbolic and typical of Łódź thanks to its unique, distinctive nature. Our proposal for the post-industrial space of the Łódź University of Technology Campus, which features unique and distinct post-factory complexes, was a simple, distinct form featuring modern references to industrial architecture (the sawtooth roofs of the sprawling production halls which stood there previously). The building is unique due to its use of overscaled, monumental supports, with them appearing multiplied as a result of taking advantage of the only possible perspective from which the new building can be viewed (only when walking along Politechniki Avenue, where the building appears shorter).
The sports centre is cuboid in shape, featuring a very distinct and unique wall configuration – the walls stretch between a very strong rhythm of tall supports in an asymmetric V-shape, which is a reference to the old sawtooth roofs typical of local production halls. The roof of the entire building rests on these supports. The “transparency” of the entrance hall between the two main entrances and the distinct, intriguing, large, rounded and intensely red forms housing the conference rooms which hang in the entrance hall or protrude out of the building through its facade, are what highlights the main entrances. The red seats, tables and sofas featuring soft shapes “scattered” in front of the building make the space appear diverse, and create very individual spatial identification forms which are closely integrated with the building’s architecture. The gigantic Modulor – the canon of proportions of a (fit) body – fulfils the same purpose.
The aim was to create a design which will become symbolic and typical of Łódź thanks to its unique, distinctive nature. Our proposal for the post-industrial space of the Łódź University of Technology Campus, which features unique and distinct post-factory complexes, was a simple, distinct form featuring modern references to industrial architecture (the sawtooth roofs of the sprawling production halls which stood there previously). The building is unique due to its use of overscaled, monumental supports, with them appearing multiplied as a result of taking advantage of the only possible perspective from which the new building can be viewed (only when walking along Politechniki Avenue, where the building appears shorter).
The sports centre is cuboid in shape, featuring a very distinct and unique wall configuration – the walls stretch between a very strong rhythm of tall supports in an asymmetric V-shape, which is a reference to the old sawtooth roofs typical of local production halls. The roof of the entire building rests on these supports. The “transparency” of the entrance hall between the two main entrances and the distinct, intriguing, large, rounded and intensely red forms housing the conference rooms which hang in the entrance hall or protrude out of the building through its facade, are what highlights the main entrances. The red seats, tables and sofas featuring soft shapes “scattered” in front of the building make the space appear diverse, and create very individual spatial identification forms which are closely integrated with the building’s architecture. The gigantic Modulor – the canon of proportions of a (fit) body – fulfils the same purpose.
