The Faculty of Architecture is situated within the STU campus right in the center of Bratislava, the Capital city of Slovakia, next to the Presidential Palace and Governmental buildings. The building itself is a masterpiece of Modern architecture, a part of Slovakia’s cultural heritage. The ambition of the STU is to contribute to extending knowledge through its acquisition from science to foster its dissemination via education as well as its application in direct co-operation with industry. In this way the university adheres to the significant heritage created by its predecessors – academicians of the Mining Academy in Banská Štiavnica, which was the first technical university established in the heart of Europe in 1762. The current University was founded in 1937. The establishment of the Department of Architecture and Building Construction in 1946 was the birth of the architectural education in Slovakia. An independent Faculty of Architecture was established in 1976. Within the short history of our school, students and staff have achieved significant results in international competitions, research projects and design for practice.
The STU Faculty of Architecture in Bratislava offers to students a wide range of activities in the form of workshops, lectures of foreign and Slovak experts , architectural and design projects as well as entertainment in the form of student life, sports and summer plenaries in the detached workplace Banská Štiavnica, the town which is listed in the World Cultural and natural heritage of UNESCO.
Each academic year we welcome the youngest students at a public event Manifest, which is organized by FA STU together with students of higher grades of the organization Archtung. During one evening several activities such as lectures, film screening and exchange of textbooks are prepared. This event is completed by concerts in the courtyard of the STU Faculty of Architecture in Bratislava.
During the academic year, our students work on semester projects of different subjects, together with compulsory and optional subjects that strengthen their skills in a future career. The equipment of the faculty in the form of Audio - Lab, the professional literature stores, the CAD - Lab, computer support, exhibition hall, library, press center, model room and drawing room help them to finish the semester successfully. The faculty of architecture offers several architectural studios according to their interest and focus.
One of them is the Virtual Reality Studio, which is one of the most progressive segments in the fields of technology. The staff of the Faculty of Architecture has devoted itself to this issue on a long-term and systematic basis in the field of research and looks for scope for its development and practical application in several areas. The potential of virtual and expanded reality they verify in the areas of presentation of the abandoned cultural heritage (especially industrial heritage), the development of modern constructions, parametric architecture, as well as the exploration of emotionality in digital architecture.
We also deal with the projects that focus on the practical teaching of students of architecture and design students and the creation of sustainable value in the form of experimental construction (experimental wooden climate microarchitecture for nature observation) with the environmental character with a favorable impact on the development of ecotourism in the river Danube region. The aim of this type of project (Experimental Wooden Climatic Chamber) is to deepen the experience with similar form of teaching such as learning by doing or hands-on project by which students and pedagogues develop their creative, technical, social and communication skills as well as environmental awareness, thanks to the multidisciplinary and multicultural nature of the project. These skills will greatly help them to better apply to the labor market in their field and also in related fields.
From the field of design, we are one of the authors of the project Flowers for Slovakia, which gained worldwide success. Flowers for Slovakia is an extraordinary project for extraordinary talents. Unique exhibition collections developed within the frame of this platform are inspired by folk crafts and traditions, and promote cultural heritage of Slovakia abroad through the language of contemporary design. Thanks to Flowers for Slovakia we are devoting a chance to experience the professional environment to selected students of design (and related creative disciplines). To present Flowers to someone means to honor for something, to share beauty: the idea to tell the story about Slovak culture via the unconventional means of contemporary design, originates from project's authors – experienced designers Lars Kemper and Peter Olah. The name and the mission of the project, inspired by the act of giving, started as a pilot project in co-operation with the Institute of Design at the Faculty of Architecture in Bratislava.
With Manifest, which was just a warm-up, we celebrated the opening of the semester together with our pedagogues, students and friends. The end is ours as well. It is a tradition, that every February and Jun the Night of Architecture opens the doors for visitors and public to come to the Faculty of Architecture and see what has been created under our roof during the past semester. That means the students final projects, competitions and collaborations. Program consist of traditional 15 minutes screening of education movies and the main lecture the Architect Studio guest, Design battle that is a project at the event Night of Architecture at FA STU in Bratislava. The idea of the project is to use new technologies and you can see in live streaming what talented students are drawing.
For more information:
http://www.eaae.be/school/slovenska-technicka-univerzita/