New Building of the Faculty

In the process of making the new building of the Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, the main task of the author was to establish new values in the area of the University City, as well as to establish order in its morphological structure, in accordance with the spatial context and needs of the future building. The inherited complex of the former Vrbas barracks in Banja Luka, which has been the University City since 2004, is a specific area rich in park structures, grassy areas and protected dendro funds. In the urbanistic sense, this is considered a heterogeneous grouping of buildings of completely different purpose, time of construction, architectural design and materialization.

The existing "Tereza" building, which was the subject of adaptation, upgrading and extension, and is intended for the new needs of the faculty, is located in the central part of the University City. The building was built in 1889 and was used to store equipment. It has a regular shape, with a base that develops longitudinally in the north-south direction, and rooms oriented only to the east and west. For the authors, it was important to establish the spatial-organizational coordination of the existing, and of the upgraded part, as well as all the visual-shape elements. In the design approach, the authors clearly emphasize that the upgrade and the extension, unambiguously setting the boundary between the old and the new. The existing building with traditional style elements is added to the modern and simply designed new part of the building, with its glazed central hall which extends through all floors in height. The basic design element of the faculty building is thus the central street, illuminated from above. A high density of spatial overlaps, a dynamic foyer full of galleries, bridges, visors and niches was achieved here. The hall, the glass cube that connects the new and the old building, is the element that makes the building special in a certain way. The interior space of the building is revealed to the users along the entire height of its airy central hall, giving a view from outside of everything that happens inside the building.

The new faculty building has three floors in the existing part, and three floors with basement in the added part of the building. Due to its dimensions, structure and constructive system, the existing building "Tereza" with an extension, was designed as an administrative unit of the faculty. The dean's office, teachers' offices and a library with a reading room are located here. The extended part of the building is primarily planned as an educational building, with lecture halls, classrooms and laboratories. The proposed architectural solution logically sets the central position of the large amphitheater oriented towards the hall and defines the basic communications within and between the buildings. The specific energy efficiency measures is determined above all by the projected energy performance of the future building, which determines the maximum energy consumption for heating and cooling  of the building in the amount of up to 30 kWh/m2 per year, primary energy consumption 120 kWh/m2 per year, and air tightness of the outer shell n50 ≤ 0.6 h-1. As the main source of heat energy in the facility, heat pumps of the water-water system are provided. The proposed measures for energy optimization in the newly designed Faculty building are part of an integral architectural project.

The works of the first phase of the construction of the faculty began in 2012 and ended in 2014 due to the lack of financial resources. At the beginning of 2018, work continued on the faculty building, which included the closing of the building's roof surfaces, and in the period from 2021 to 2023, after a new and final influx of financial resources, work was carried out on the complete closing of the building's outer shell, as well as the completion of all planned construction works. The interior furnishing of the building is planned for this summer, which would make it possible for a new generation of students to begin their education in this building starting October.