The Geological Pavilion forms part of the Faculty of Mining and Geology of the VSB – Technical University of Ostrava. The pavilion was opened in September 1989 and named after Professor František Pošepný, who is regarded as one of the pioneers of global economic geology. The building houses and displays mineralogical, petrological, palaeontological, regional geological, and ore deposit collections.

In the campus documentation for VSB from 1967 (the technical project for the first stage of construction), the development plan for the remaining parts of the university campus, extending towards the end of Hlavní (Leninova) Avenue, envisaged a high-rise rectorate building and a freestanding ceremonial hall located in the open space in front of the faculty buildings and lecture halls. These planned structures were intended to create a square at the end of the main urban axis of Poruba, directly connected to the city avenue. In the end, the space developed differently: since 1989, the four-storey building of the central university library has stood on the axis, while the site originally reserved for the ceremonial hall was occupied by a pavilion for the geological collections.

A university ceremonial hall was later added to the same area (Ateliér Idea, completed in 2006). However, the buildings never formed a shared public space. Instead, the shape of the hall separated the campus from Hlavní Avenue and created an enclosed courtyard rising in an amphitheatre-like stepped arrangement towards the entrance to the library. The space is further complemented by a water feature designed as a cascading waterfall.

The Geological Pavilion is set apart both in height and spatially from all surrounding buildings and appears as a solitary structure standing in greenery. The building was designed by the architect Vladimír Svoboda from Atelier 6 of Stavoprojekt Ostrava.

The three-storey building has a square ground plan, with its main entrance facing the library and the ceremonial hall. Structurally, the pavilion is designed as a steel frame with a suspended façade system enclosing the second and third floors. The entrance level, clad in natural stone, is recessed, while the two floors of exhibition spaces are emphasised by being projected forward. The original façade had a vertically articulated design with extensive glazing and an ochre colour scheme. The façades were reconstructed in 2013–2014 according to a design by the OSA Projekt Architectural Office (Ing. arch. Tomáš Janča, Ing. arch. Martin Chválek). During the renovation, the building was insulated and the original façade cladding was replaced with a new envelope combining grey sheet-metal panels. The vertical articulation of the window surfaces was replaced by a continuous anthracite façade cladding with a smaller proportion of transparent sections. On the windowless façades, a horizontal composition of lighter and darker grey panels was introduced. The original architectural design of the building’s exterior was thus fundamentally altered in structural, compositional, and colour terms. The unity of façade scale and colour in relation to the campus as a whole was lost.

The interior was only minimally affected by the renovation. The main entrance opens into a hall from which a central open staircase leads up to the exhibition spaces of the collections on the second and third floors. The interior is complemented by works of art. Near the entrance to the building is a memorial plaque to Jaroslav Kokta (2004) by Jiří Harcuba. On the second floor there is a memorial wall with a bronze inscription on a circular element projecting from the wall. The longer text explains the origins of the geological collections of the Mining University, whose foundations were laid by Professor František Pošepný. It also mentions other cooperating institutions (Ostrava–Karviná Mines and Rudné doly Jeseník) and concludes with the statement that all wealth contributing to the development of society comes from the earth. At the bottom of the composition, a small circle emerges from a large white circle and serves as an emblem with a relief representation of a crystal druse. The entire installation was created by the Krnov artist Vladivoj Jindřich (1950–2001).

The most significant work of art in the building is the monumental mosaic Geology – Tree of Life, made of cut smelter glass and created by the painter Josef Treuchel (1925–1990) from Kopřivnice. The tree at the centre of the composition is likened to a volcano through which lava flows from the depths of the earth, shaping its surface. The image is dominated by a vivid red colour, contrasted with equally striking yellow (most notably the large sun on the left) and dark blue (representing cooled lava). The vibrant colours, the motif, and the high-quality execution are enhanced by the use of cut smelter glass. This is the most demanding and visually impressive mosaic technique, allowing for the use of an almost limitless range of colour shades. Thanks to this material and the way it is used, the mosaic remains visually striking to this day.

The exhibition inside the geological pavilion is complemented by a collection of rocks from the Western Carpathians and the Bohemian Massif, displayed in the form of a geopark in front of the museum entrance. This outdoor display, consisting of thirty-eight representative samples of local rocks, was gradually created and expanded between 2011 and 2016. It was opened to the public in 2016. The architectural concept of the outdoor exhibition is based on the free arrangement of the samples across the open area in front of the building, with each specimen labelled.

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