Wroclaw University of Technology Student Centre

The new building on the Wroclaw University of Technology campus became a controversial landmark largely owing to the hundreds of small round windows. According to the architects, the windows refer to the perforations on early computer tapes, which is why the façade became a flagship of the technical university, immediately gaining the attention of photographers and film-makers. The perforated tape wraps the entire building, in total disregard of function and sunlighting. None of these dramatic windows are openable (apart from the emergency ones). The building is a hermetic capsule prepared neither for global warming nor for the long winters in this part of the world. On the one hand the window design seems to defy the slogan of 'less aesthetics more ethics'. On the other hand the project pumped new blood into the sluggish university campus. Bright skies reflected in the aluminium framed windows contrast with the matte dark grey fibre cement façade panels.