Buildings
The first building of the university that is notable for its architecture is the one constructed at the end of the 15th century, after the move of the institution from the Colegiata. It consists of a four sided cloister, which opens up the hallways, and a late Gothic chapel. At the cloister one enters through a portal, also late Gothic, that opens to the Bookshop Street. At the beginning of the 18th century, this became insufficient, prompting an enlargement consisting of a quadrangular cloister with four galleries that open to hallways built at the same time.
From the Plaza de Santa María (today the University Square), one can see the Baroque facade designed by the Carmelite Fray Pedro de la Visitación and constructed in 1715. There are sculptural groups that represent allegories of the subjects that are taught in the building. The central section, organized into four columns of giants, is finished off by a giant ornamental comb.
In 1909, and with great controversy, it was decided to destroy the old building, including the entrance hall from the 15th century that opened to Bookshop Street, in order to construct a new building following a design by the architect Teodosio Torres. The Baroque facade was kept.
Torres's design featured two cloisters. A staircase was situated between both cloisters and a great vestibule opened to Bookshop Street. The facade of the university building to this street was based on a reinterpretation of the Baroque facade of Fray Pedro, with a mixture of Plateresque, Baroque and Neoclassical decorative elements. At one side of the facade was an observation tower and on the other was a new clock tower that filled the corner between the University Sq. and Bookshop St.
The project experienced problems as the Baroque facade was incorporated slowly. In 1939, the building suffered a fire. To alleviate the problem of the facade's integration into Torres's building, Constantino Candeira designed a great staircase and vestibule, in the historicist style, that was accessed through the Baroque facade. The staircase is an example of the triumphalist and historicist architecture of Postwar Spain.
In 1968 the building was finished with the destruction of the second cloister and the construction of a five-floor building to house students, and the destruction of Torres's building which had been built for far fewer students. The facade that faces Librería was remodeled, losing the vestigial historicism of Torres. The new auditorium flanks the facade of Fray Pedro on one of its sides.
The computer science department has hosted programming contests for the Association for Computing Machinery using online judging of the submitted programs.
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Famous quotes containing the word buildings:
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—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
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—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)