Aspects of Designing Education Buildings in a Conservation Area: A Case Study of a Building Designed for the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn

Abstract

Designing architectural objects in a conservation area usually involves many problems, whose solution most often means complying with a series of restrictions, which pertain to elements of urban and architectural design. Creating spatial connections between the new and the existing, listed architecture is not an easy task. Many historic locations experience architectural chaos, which ensues from inapt attempts at combining these two types of architecture and the historic part of the academic campus in Kortowo is a good example in this resepct. This paper presents the architectural, structural and services design problems encountered while working on a design of an education and laboratory building localized in a conservation area. The building in question is to replace the existing, one-storey and flat-roofed building, which will be demolished. The main obstacles to designing the building caused by the conservation requirements were how to adapt the new building’s functions to the specific character of the civil engineering course of study and how to create an architectural form that would fuse with the historic shape of this part of the academic campus. The oldest part of the campus, which has been designated as a conservation area, in practice excludes construction of larger buildings on undeveloped land. This, however, does not mean that the area is completely closed to possible and, in some cases, necessary investment projects. New constructions, in compliance with the local development plan, should eliminate the buildings whose form, plan and architecture introduce discord to the historically defined space.