UCU - Collegium Y. Slipoho

For more than 20 years, the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) has been gradually building its campus. Obviously, the university looks to the future and pays a lot of attention not only to modern student education programs, but also to architecture, learning, and living conditions. Fruitful cooperation with the architectural companies Behnisch Architekten and AVR Development has allowed to creation of cool architectural objects on the campus of the university. For two years I was lucky enough to be able to observe the life of this unique student space, which is located in the area of ​​historic buildings and close proximity to the Stryj Park in Lviv. I am grateful for the great trust of the University for the opportunity to work freely at any time of day and year. This allowed us to take a huge series of photographs that reflect the atmosphere of student life. Collegium-2 is not just a beautiful, modern building and dormitory in the usual sense. This is a completely different philosophy of living and teaching students. The new College combines many functions and offers a wide range of options for organizing student housing. Residents have not only restrooms, where there is comfortable furniture with bathrooms and places to study. The floors also have cooking units with comfortable furniture and panoramic windows. First of all, the College is a center of recreation, education, leisure, and development, with office blocks and guest rooms. It is a fully inclusive space that facilitates the comfortable movement of little mobile students. Wide sidewalks, corridors, stairwells, elevators. The huge area of ​​panoramic glazing of public spaces gives a lot of light, a feeling of space, lightness and visually expands the space, conditionally connecting the room and the street. An interesting architectural solution - rounded corners of the building. This streamlined plastic facade looks friendly and gives the impression that the building embraces a cozy courtyard and invites you to walk around the campus of the University. You should pay attention to the special rounded windows, which are located at the corners of the building. The view through such windows on the outside leaves extraordinary impressions and feelings of a special space. Much of the ground floor and lower level of the building is occupied by a unique student space. There are areas of student clubs, a cinema hall, a cafe, games rooms, a fitness center, classrooms, an office of the Dean's Office of Student Life and Student Government, a laundry, and a large bicycle parking lot. Separately, I want to clean the comfortable, cozy, and green space around. Wide unobstructed sidewalks, huge areas of green lawns, and an interesting courtyard that consists of lower and upper parts. The upper part is an open lawn with several trees and a terrace. The lower part is a small green hidden courtyard, which creates a more private atmosphere. It should be noted that the new Collegium is open to all UCU students and life here takes place literally around the clock. The latest look at the learning and leisure processes of students has allowed the creation of modern architecture with high-quality space and great attention to detail, natural materials, and modern approaches to energy conservation in construction. I have been here many times and I am constantly inspired by the unique space and interesting modern architecture, and I always find new perspectives and plots. This friendly space leaves only pleasant impressions that motivate you to return to it again and again.