The Białystok University Campus at Ciołkowskiego Street
The Białystok Campus at Ciołkowskiego Street executed by Mostostal Warszawa S.A. is the largest investment in the history of this university, comprising several stages. As part of the project, five buildings with the total cubic volume of 231,131.96 m³ were built (after changes in the Mathematics Building) and a usable area of 30,030.30 m² along with parking and the necessary technical infrastructure.
The new buildings meet modern standards and didactic requirements on the highest level. The facility’s modern form makes references to the natural environment, i.e. the forest adjoining the university area. The campus was designed by Professor Marek Budzyński, a well-known Polish architect, author of projects of the University Library in Warsaw, the building of the Supreme Court in Warsaw and the Podlasie Opera in Białystok. Just as in other works of Professor Budzyński, the Białystok University buildings are dominated by characteristic motives, i.e. steel, grey architectural concrete and glass. Additionally, roofs and walls are covered with greenery. Over 8,000 bushes and 200 trees were planted around the facilities. Furthermore, numerous brooks and ponds were designed around the investment area which, apart from decorative functions, also serve as a rainwater drainage system in accordance with applicable provisions. The water system is adjusted to retention, infiltration, percolation and evaporation of precipitation water. It is fed by rainwater treated on a mechanical and biological basis (gravel, plants and catch basin).
The newly built campus facilities house the seats of the Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science along with the University Computation Centre, the Institute of Chemistry and Biology (including the University Nature Centre) and the Faculty of Physics. The University Centre of Culture was also established, including a concert hall and a café.
The central point of the Campus is Synthesis Square with a huge, artistically cracked and highlighted ball that symbolises the Big Bang. Buildings of individual faculties are positioned around the square. Each of them has an element characteristic for a given area of science, e.g. in the courtyard of the Institute of Chemistry, there is a metal model of the DNA structure of mammals, whereas at the Faculty of Physics – the Foucault’s Pendulum which, set in motion, changes its position along with the turning of the Earth. Each of the buildings has direct access to internal courtyards covered with greenery.
The part of the campus occupied by the Professor Myrcha University Nature Centre will be open for city inhabitants, where anyone can come here and look at the museum collections, including animals living in the forests of the Białystok areas.
Campus of the University of Białystok in numbers:
Building parameters:
• usable area: 30,030.30 m²
• cubic volume: 231,131.96 m³
• amount of built-in concrete: 24,477 m³
• reinforced steel: 2,309 t
• structural steel: 300 t
• stainless steel: 160 t
• glazed surfaces of facades and skylights: 5,200 m²
List of surfaces:
• investment surface area: 70,000 m²
• development area: 22,245.66 m²
• road surface: 10,900 m²
• parking surface: 6,300 m²
• pavement surface: 1,500 m²
• green areas: 44,000 m² including:
- on the ground: 34,500 m²
- on roofs: 9,400 m²
• Surface of green roofs: 9,400 m²
- Investor: University in Białystok / Grontmij Polska Sp. z o.o. (substitute investor)
- Contractor: Mostostal Warszawa S.A.
- Contract value: PLN 168.7 million
- Period of implementation: 2011 - 2014
