The Silesian University of Technology and Piast Gliwice will jointly create the Sports Academy
On August 5, 2021, at the stadium of the Gliwice Sports Club "Piast" a press conference was held with the participation of the President of the Management Board of GKS "Piast" S.A. Grzegorz Bednarski, coach of the Waldemar Fornalik club, Associate Professor Klaudiusz Fross PhD, DSc, Arch., the dean of the Faculty of Architecture of the Silesian University of Technology, and the director of the SUT Sports Centre Professor Krzysztof Czapla. One of the topics of the conference was the establishment of the Gliwice Sports Academy.
During the meeting between the Faculty of Architecture of the Silesian University of Technology and Piast Gliwice, a letter of intent was signed on cooperation in creating the Gliwice Sports Academy. The Faculty of Architecture of the Silesian University of Technology wants to be active in creating new public spaces, such as the Sports Academy and revitalization of the recreation centre of Czechowice Lake.
Students of architecture will be invited to preliminary research and design works in the form of workshops and competitions, under the guidance of specialists and architects from the Faculty. The whole assumption is to be distinguished not only by a well-constructed functional-spatial program tailored to the needs of users and development plans, economy of solutions, attractiveness, interesting design, but also innovativeness. The Sports Academy means sets of training fields with all the required facilities, designed for professional and amateur groups. A great contribution to the creation of the Academy idea belongs to the main shareholder of the club, Zbigniew Kałuża, the owner of the Kar-Tel company. Initial preparatory work will be conducted by Professor Klaudiusz Fross and Professor Krzysztof Czapla.
As Professor Klaudiusz Fross says, it is a great satisfaction for the University to start cooperation in the field of pre-design research, programming and design with such an outstanding Sports Club as Piast Gliwice.
- The Gliwice Sports Academy is a great idea and an initiative worthy of recognition. Gliwice - a city with ambitions and Piast Gliwice should have such an Academy. Initial program assumptions and a vision have already been prepared, which was to show the possibilities of completing the task in the area at Lake Czechowice. This is a perfect place for locating the Academy. Preliminary research has confirmed that the decision was right. Beautiful surroundings, good communication and mutual complementation of functions, which we call synergy. The vicinity of the lake is a great asset of the Academy - says Professor Klaudiusz Fross.
After the comprehensive revitalization of the area, both residents and players will be able to use the running and cycling routes, as well as the fairways, and between trainings they will be able to relax in the beautiful surroundings.
- As we know, both training and leisure time are important and create a whole. The location of the Academy in this place is also a pretext for comprehensive revitalization and improvement of the quality of the entire recreational complex Czechowice, to meet the expectations of residents and ambitions of the city of Gliwice. The investment of the Academy will also become an impulse for sustainable development of the whole area. As a result of the project activities the Gliwice Sports Academy and Lake Czechowice are to become: a modern, professional, sports, training and recreation centre; a comprehensively managed area of high standard; an area with preserved natural water, nature and landscape values; with modern infrastructure; many attractions; characterized by high quality architecture and design - concludes Professor Klaudiusz Fross.
