First stage of construction begins. New campus in Barranco

At a meeting attended by students, faculty, and staff, officials of our university announced the beginning of the first stage of construction of the new campus in Barranco."Today we establish a milestone in the growth and development of this important home building," stated Mario Rivera, Executive Director of UTEC, during the presentation ceremony.Our new campus will be built on an area of 15,000 square meters and will follow the architectural model design of Grafton Architects, run by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, who won the UTEC International Architecture Competition, and the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale 2012 with this project. The new campus is set to be the most avant-garde educational building in Latin America, and will be equipped with the highest technology available."This will be the training ground for the best engineers from Peru to the world. The first step is complete. We will gradually keep you up to date on the details of the construction," addressed Juan Incháustegui, Member of the Board of Directors.During the presentation ceremony, a live video was streamed from the campus site, where machinery began digging, as to symbolically mark the beginning of construction. Finally, a 3D rendered video of the future campus facilities was played for students.Good news was received with joy.Students present at the ceremony did not hesitate to express their satisfaction of soon having a modern university campus to match their academic needs. "It's exciting to get a glimpse of how the new infrastructure will be," said Angel Palomino, sophomore student of the Electronic Engineering undergraduate program. Lily Vega, another sophomore student of the Industrial Chemical Engineering undergraduate program, stated that she feels very happy to know that UTEC will soon have a new, upgraded home.A different campus for a different universityThe design of the new campus sets a new architectural milestone in Barranco because it encompasses the concepts of sustainability, integration with its surroundings, innovation, and respect for the environment. These are important issues today in order to properly make construction and urban life more efficient.The first phase of the university building, which will be ready to accommodate 2100 undergraduate students, consists of 30,000 square meters built on 10 levels in the western side of the land, and will provide an auditorium/theater for 300 people, a cinema, a large dining area with seating for 200 people, a library, more than 30 labs and workshops, computer rooms, cafés, as well as academic, administrative and recreational areas.The construction of this first stage will culminate in late 2014, ready to have students enjoy the new campus at the start of the first academic year of 2015.