DESIGNED to bring out the best - the Art School in Smižany, Eastern Slovakia.Photo: Courtesy of Atrium
As if to prove the point that architectural masterpieces do not have to be huge, the designers of the Art School in Smižany, Eastern Slovakia, have been awarded the country's top architectural award, the annual Dušan Jurkovič Prize.
The jury from the Slovak Architecture Society (SAS) selected the winner in October and the award was made in a ceremony in December of last year.
Architects Dušan Burák, Michal Burák and Ctibor Reiskup, of the Košice-based Atrium firm, wanted to create an environment in which children would be able to develop their full artistic potential.
"We wanted to make a colourful children's world, a kind of Lego," Michal Burák told The Slovak Spectator.
He added that the whole set of classrooms was designed to create an attractive school for the children, something different from the usual institutional grey.
The project was made possible by a $300,000 donation from Dezider Eugen Slavoj, an American of Slovak origin who was born in the village.
The new school is located in the centre of Smižany on the site of the former schoolhouse. It comprises a large multi-purpose hall and a set of three different-coloured "boxes".
Each box contains several rooms and is dedicated to a different area of art - the orange one to dance, the blue to multi-media and the green one to the visual arts.
A passage from which it is possible to watch what is happening in the individual rooms connects the boxes.
Musical pavilions are set on the neighbouring plot of land.
Cold colours are used in the basic design of the school. White, blue and green at the entrance are accented by orange.
Children's works have been used to decorate the building's façcade. They include four images symbolizing the arts (dance, visual, multi-media and music) to be taught in the school.
Children from the village designed and painted them on the facçade of the finished building. With this the school became theirs.
The Art School in Smižany won the prize against competition from Atrium - the House of Furniture, the Multifunctional House and the Mezzo Mezzo Restaurant, all of which are in Bratislava.
