Linguistics and modern languages studies under one roof

It has been only one year since the cornerstone was laid in 55 Dobra Street and today we can admire a new UW educational building. Students and associates of several units of the Faculties of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics moved into the new premises at the beginning of the month; the official opening ceremony, however, was held on October 25th.

The state-of-the-art lecture theatre of the building in 55 Dobra Street was filled up with guests. The ceremony was attended by honourable guests representing The Ministry of Science and Higher Education, The Ministry of Regional Development, the self-government authorities of Warsaw and Mazowieckie Voivodeship, with the Vice-President of Kuryłowicz & Associates Architectural Studio - Ewa Kuryłowicz, the Rectors of other higher education institutions and former Rectors of the University of Warsaw.

Rector Marcin Pałys expressed his gratitude to self-government authorities as well as all the institutions distributing European funds for their financial support. He also thanked all the individuals involved in the project, whose efforts and consistent activities contributed to the successful construction of the building in 55 Dobra Street.

Professor Pałys emphasized the crucial role of the newly constructed modern building, where young people will be educated. - Teaching and learning languages, culture and literature is highly prospective. In the future most of our students will work in a globalised world, in which cooperation with people representing various cultures and traditions, originating from different countries and language areas is absolutely fundamental - the Rector stated.

The view presented by Professor Marcin Pałys was in line with the contents of the speech made by Professor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, the Mayor of the Capital City of Warsaw. Both the speakers pointed out the change to occur in Warsaw owing to the role of the new building - they both agreed that it will make Powiśle District livelier, vibrant with life.

Professor Daria Nałęcz, the Undersecretary of State in The Ministry of Science and Higher Education, stressed modern technological solutions which were applied in the building, in particular, the solutions compliant with ecological needs, as well as the adjustments making the building accessible for the disabled.

The Chairman of The Regional Council of Mazowieckie Voivodeship, Ludwik Rakowski read the letter from the Marshal of Mazowieckie Voivodeship, Adam Struzik. - Today's ceremony reflects the dynamic development of the University of Warsaw as well as the UW authorities' concern to provide students with extensive expert knowledge on foreign languages, indispensable in the modern world, with the prevailing role of international relations - the Marshal stated in the opening part of his letter.

The Deans of the Faculties of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics, Professor Remigiusz Forycki and Professor Krzysztof Hejwowski expressed their gratitude to Professor Katarzyna Chałasińska-Macukow and Professor Marcin Pałys, the Rector in office, for supporting the idea of erecting the modern premises of the two faculties. At the same time they claimed that creating the "philological hub" will prove to be an excellent investment in the future.

The Vice-President of Kuryłowicz & Associates Architectural Studio, Professor Ewa Kuryłowicz stated that any architect gets the greatest satisfaction from seeing their design completed; she also expressed her hope to see the expeditious commencement of the second stage of works on the project.

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The newly-constructed building is 16.5m high, it consists of four floors above the ground and two underground levels. For the construction modern and ecological materials were applied. The façade along Lipowa Street is decorated by colourful glass, the northern wall consists of the elements made of green patinated copper. There is a roof garden on the upper level. Over 60 rooms and state-of-the-art laboratories are at the users’ disposal now. All the building has been tailored for the needs of disabled users. Lifts and special ramps enable free movement up or down, bright colours and descriptions in Braille alphabet next to each door help to find one’s way inside the building.

A multi-storey bright lobby serves as the main axis of the building. There are four huge chandeliers there. Along the lobby in linear order the libraries of the institutes are located. The educational rooms surround 5 internal yards; they let more light into the building. In the yards 5 thematic gardens will be arranged: in German (already completed), Slavic, French, Mediterranean and English styles.

The construction of the "linguistic investment" was initiated in 2005, when the University of Warsaw announced a competition for designing a new educational building in Powiśle District. The design was prepared by the Kuryłowicz&Associates Architectural Studio. The construction works were conducted by Warbud, with Prochem S.A. acting as fee developer, supervising the construction process on behalf of the University of Warsaw.

The project was divided into two main stages. So far the first part of the investment has been completed – with the area of approximately 11,000 out of the ultimately designed 36,000 m³. The cost of the first part amounted to PLN66 million; over half of the investment was financed from EU funds. After the completion of the investment, which will involve demolishing the existing university buildings in 8/10 Browarna Street, other units of the both faculties will be relocated to their new premises. The date of commencing the construction of the second part of the building is determined by acquiring subsidies from EU Structural Funds.