Art school Smižany

The Art School is situated in the centre of Smižany, in the place where the former “teacher’s house” stood. The floor plan copies the shape of the terrain. The building is accessible both from the main square and the street by the river. The Art School is designed as a “kit” for developing children’s talents. It is a set of “big blocks” or “containers” assembled as children’s toy. The largest white container is situated in the main square and it houses a multipurpose hall. In the side street there are smaller blocks housing particular branches of study: the orange box – dancing, the blue – multimedia and the green – painting. Classrooms for music lessons are situated along the adjoining land. The whole complex is connected by a corridor or “passage” from which all school activities can be seen. The facade fulfills the same function from the outside. A slightly declining terrain is levelled with ramps in the corridor. The technical construction of the building demonstrates a generally presented idea of simplicity – brick walls and wooden roof joists at a minimal – 6% slope for trapezoidal roofing.

The dynamics of the composition are achieved through convergence, divergence and mutual overlapping and is tuned by oblique gable walls and the volume of the building. The basic colour scheme is cold – white, blue, green. The main entrance is accented in orange, but color can vary. The front facade is decorated by the pupils´ paintings. The whole project was initiated by an American sponsor of Slovak origin who decided to give this school as a gift to young people in his native region. As the money donated could hardly cover all costs, it was necessary to achieve the maximum with minimal expense.

A project for the enlargement of the school was created in 2009.