AFTER demanding reconstruction, the former power generating facility known as Elektrárňa in Piešťany opened to the general public in early September. It will serve as a museum, an interactive centre of science and technologies, as well as holding cultural and social events. Regional energy distributor Západoslovenská Energetika (ZSE), which is the owner of the facility, started its reconstruction in 2009.
“Via the reconstructed power plant we want to provide to schools, students, teachers as well as educational institutions a place where they can check in practice theoretical knowledge they have obtained in school,” Jochen Kley, CEO of ZSE said as cited by the TASR newswire. “I believe that that combination of a permanent exhibition with a changing content of seminars and events will inspire repeated visits to this interesting place.”
The centre is designed as an interactive educational centre and is based on the “touch, please” principle. Thus visitors themselves can discover and test how presented things operate.
The museum provides a look into inventory and technical facilities of the original power plant, as well as into the process by which electricity was generated almost 100 years ago.
The reconstruction took place based on a design prepared by students of the Faculty of Architecture of the Slovak University of Technology Michal Gabjok and Vladimír Hain, who won the architectural competition announced by ZSE, the company informed.
The original Elektrárňa Piešťany was put into operation in 1906, and since 1996 the building has been on the list of national cultural monuments.
The project of reconstruction and conversion of Elektrárňa competed for the architectural price CE.ZA.AR in the Reconstruction and Renewal of Buildings category.
