A higher technical school for forestry and the wood-processing industry, the academy is situated close to the rail station, not far from the Zvolen chateau; the basic conception of the architect was to create a dignified modern compositional balance to the form of the chateau. At the centre of the complex is the great hall, partially surrounded by the twice-bent single block of the classrooms and faculty offices. The hall is of octagonal shape, with a capacity of 500 seats. The podium and the amphitheatre seating of the hall, including the toilets and foyers, is partially set underground, with two below-ground corridors linking the hall to the vertical communication cores of the faculty block. Above ground, the mass of the hall is formed by two flattened octagonal cones linked together by the foundations, in which the individual triangular sections of the roof cone are vertically shifted towards each other.
The mass of the main block of the academic departments, also containing the rector’s and dean’s offices, descends from the highest 7-storey mass on the southern side to the 4-storey part to the east. The layout is in three parts, but with five sections at the bending points: the bends contain the vertical communication shafts. The individual departments are all reached directly through the communication ribs. In the ground floor is the entrance hall, serving as a ‘respirium’ for the lecture halls. These spaces are shifted outward from the block and surrounded by a ground-floor complex of workshops and laboratories, designed by J. Lacko. Structurally, the block is formed by a industrial cast-concrete skeleton, with solid side walls and hanging curtain walls on the front, with a system of sun-shades using Jäkl castings to form a delicate lace-like structure. During construction, the high trees of the old cemeteries were retained.
Bibliography:
ŠIMKO, Ivan – DEDEČEK, Vladimír: Vysoká škola lesnícka a drevárska vo Zvolene. Projekt 27, 1985, 6, s. 28 – 33.
DULLA, Matúš – MORAVČÍKOVÁ, Henrieta: Architektúra Slovenska v 20. storočí. Bratislava, Slovart 2002, 512 s.
SZALAY, Peter: Architekt Vladimír Dedeček. Architektúra & Urbanizmus 39, 2005, 3 – 4, s. 135.
