All posts by Piotr

PSM

Rybnik Music School
location: Rybnik, 27 Powstancow Slaskich St.
concept project: 2015, competition, 1st Prize
project: 2017-2018

 

The location of the new wing of the music school in Rybnik, including a concert hall, emphasises the public, open character of the entire facility. The building, being set back from the street allowed for the creation of two diverse public spaces. The first is a public square opening onto the street and city; the second is an internal, enclosed schoolyard. The main entrance is located in an arcade which forms the space between the two zones. 

The most important feature of the new building is the concert hall. A three-storey foyer separates the room from the square. Part of the foyer on the ground floor, a space visually communicated with the square, accessible from the arcade. It includes the reception area with a cloakroom and access to the lower seats of the concert hall.

The upper rows of the hall and the balconies are accessible from the first floor, which is also an exhibition gallery, also reachable from the existing school building. This part of the lobby, very much open to the lower foyer, is lit by a large window facing west. Through the window, the foyer space connects with the most characteristic building of Rybnik – the Basilica church of St. Anthony – the highest church in Upper Silesia, clearly connecting the building and its interior with Rybnik. 

The location of the stage on the ground floor makes it easy to transport instruments and cases directly to the stage. The proposed trapdoor will enable the transporting of the piano and other instruments, and arrangement components to the appropriate storage areas. All routes are designed for transporting pianos, so that these instruments may also be located in the dressing rooms of soloists.

The concert hall was designed in the shape of a traditional “shoe box”. The corresponding volume of the room (14m3 per person), together with its considerable height (13m) create the ideal conditions for symphonic music concerts. Variable acoustics are provided by mobile curtains advancing on the side walls. They provide diverse acoustic conditions and a very good hall performance for reinforced concerts, for example jazz.

The façades were designed as ventilated, where the outer façade layer is made of reinforced concrete prefabricated elements made of stained concrete. Their concave shape inversely repeats the theme of precast elements used in the interior of the concert hall.

 

architect: 
ANALOG, Koszalin
partner: 
Piotr Smierzewski (Partner in Charge)

competition: 
konrad garbowski, oliwia stachowska, adam kulesza,  wojciech slupczynski, jacek moczala, HS99
project team: 
konrad garbowski (project architect), jacek moczala, leszek kassijan-wicherek 
model: 
tomasz kudelski, marta furmanska, magdalena domiczuk,
room acustic: 
Muller-BBM, Berlin
status: 
before construction

 

Building Footprint: 1508,4 m2 
Net Floor Area: 3450,7 m2
Gross Floor Area: 4654,1 m2
Volume: 34114,9 m3 

 

Gallery: 

 

National Museum “Przełomy” (Breakthroughs) Centre for Dialogue in Szczecin

The Centre for Dialogue is situated right next to the soaring structure of the Szczecin Philharmonic. It is a multimedia centre devoted to the postwar history of the region, designed by one of Poland’s most famous architects, Robert Konieczny from KWK Promes studio. The entire building has been pushed underground, with its wavy roof hovering at street level. Young Polish visual artists are to design some of the exhibition space, among them Robert Kuśmirowski and Kobas Laksa.

Agnieszka Sural, What’s Building in 2014 (www.culture.pl) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review: Forming 02 

 

 

 

MNK

National Museum Krakow
location: Krakow
project: competition entry, 3rd Prize, 2015 

 

 

Cultural facilities should unite, not divide. This concept attempts to unite around a common history and collective memory, of which the National Museum in Krakow is one of the most important depositories, without whose activity “poor memory perpetuates the legends”.

The uniqueness of the museum depends not only on the uniqueness of the exhibitions but also the uniqueness of the space in which the exhibitions are presented. The balance between neutrality of environment for exhibits and its characteristic features is one of the basic problems of not only modern museums. The indissoluble connection of exhibitions, the building of the museum and the city is essential if the memory of the visit is to survive.

The site has been divided into two main bodies: north and south. The historic (southern) one hosts all of the features associated with the Museum, such as a bar, bookstore, library, cinema room, or cloakrooms and toilets located below the entrance level. The northern part contains all groups of premises connected with the exhibitions.

Between these two bodies, a central space was located which forms a huge museum lobby illuminated from the top. This is a very important part of the site, which is responsible not only for the impressions it gives the visitors but first and foremost is the traffic hub, the starting point of the journey around the exhibition area. This lobby grants access to all exhibition halls, both permanent and temporary. 

The main hall of regular shape, great height, soft and diffused lighting is not only the starting point of all exhibition exploration routes but also a space, which is to introduce the public to an atmosphere of uniqueness. In formal terms, the hall interprets the theme of the panels repeated several times in the historical part of the building. This theme unites the old and the new part of the museum.

A single-space main hall for temporary exhibitions is completely devoid of supports, providing virtually unlimited possibilities for display. 

Permanent exhibition rooms have been designed on two top floors, dividing the exhibition space into smaller modules, which due to the interrelations are arranged in a logical and uninterrupted string of exhibitions, forming a loop. The rooms located on the top floor have been illuminated with natural light through skylights, thus upholding the historical continuity of exhibition spaces of the National Museum in Krakow. 

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin 
project team: 
katarzyna bartel, oliwia stachowska, adam kulesza, konrad garbowski, wojciech slupczynski, arkadiusz laskowski, ewelina przeworska, tomasz czolowski, 
status: 
competition entry 

Building Footprint: 6123,8 m2
Net Floor Area: 27856,6 m2
Gross Floor Area: 34163,2 m2
Volume:  182503,3 m3  

 

Publications:
Konkurs, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, Arch 2/2016  

 

 

Review – Forming 01B 

 

 

 

 

Review: Forming 01 

 

 

A House 

 

Program: Living 

Positions-PL 

 

Arch for Kids 

 

E1.1-00 Forming 01

 

The National Forum of Music in Wroclaw

 

 

Before 1945, the centrally located city square, now called Wolnosci, was surrounded by museums and galleries, which created an Art Forum. Heavily destroyed, it remainded a vast open space; only a theater building (now occupied by the Wroclaw Opera) survived along with fragments of of the royal castle,where the City Museum was located, and another wing is now beeing adapted for a Theater Museum. The city authorities decided to recreate the Art Forum idea and announced an international competition for a new concert hall in 2005. In their design, participants had to make use of an earlier-commissioned acoustic design, but also propose an outline of a future expansion of the Wroclaw Opera, the reconstruction of the castle west wing, and a parking garage under the square.

The winners, Kurylowicz & Associates, designed a building, which – as they say – wholy refers to music: it echoes forms and materials of musical instruments (wood on the facades, black-and-white main foyer interior like piano keys, golden metal protrusion of the main hall referring to brass instruments). Four concert halls are built according to the “box in the box” formula. The main hall has a vary advanced acoustic system, with moveable overhead canopies and wall curtains. The other three halls have level floors and may be used for various purposes and music genres. 

 

Architektura-Murator 10/2015 

 

 

Trip: Berlin  

 

 

 

 

 

ZPSM

Warsaw Music School
location: Warszawa
project: 2015, competition entry 

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin 
project team: 
konrad garbowski, oliwia stachowska, wojciech slupczynski, jacek moczala, adam kulesza
model: 
tomasz kudelski
acoustic: 
Muller-BBM Berlin

 

A1

Single Family House
location: Koszalin, Lubiatowo
project: 2015-2017
construction: 2017-2022

 

 

architect:
ANALOG, Koszalin 
partner: 
Piotr Smierzewski (Partner in Charge)

concept:
oliwia stachowska, arkadiusz laskowski, konrad garbowski (ANALOG/HS99)
project team:
konrad garbowski, leszek kassijan-wicherek, marta furmańska, (ANALOG)
interior design:
marta furmańska, kinga zakościelna, sara majkowicz (ANALOG)
model:
tomasz kudelski 
status: 
constructed

Building Footprint: 233,28 m2
Net Floor Area: 186,56 m2
Gross Floor Area: 233,28 m2
Volume: 1098,75 m3 

 

more: analog-house.com

 

 

Construction site: 

 

30.10.2021 

 

 

 

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full  Museum V – Lecture. 

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Museum IV – Lecture. 

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Museum III – Lecture

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Museum II – Lecture

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Museum I – Lecture

Program: Museum 

 

ZW109-II

location: Koszalin
project: 2015-2016 
construction: 2016-2018 

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin 
project architect: 
konrad garbowski
status: 
constructed

Building Footprint: 434,38 m2
Net Floor Area: 1781,51 m2
Gross Floor Area: 2139,42 m2
Volume: 7273,13 m3 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Sacrum II – Lecture

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Sacrum I – Lecture

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full   Living PL – Lecture. 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full    Living XL – Lecture

Kindergarten and Primary School 
location: Mielno
project: 2014-15 

architect: HS99, dariusz herman, wojciech subalski, piotr smierzewski, 
project architect: wojciech slupczynski 
project team: konrad garbowski, arkadiusz laskowski, adam kulesza 
status: before construction. 

Building Footprint: 1484,1 m2 
Net Floor Area: 1884,2 m2 
Gross Floor Area: 2387,8 m2 
Volume: 10213,6 m3 

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Concert Hall PL – Lecture

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please go to the category ?se-arch 2? in www.se-arch.pl for the full Living II – Lecture. 

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Living I – Lecture

Program: Typology 

Program: Living 

 

The New Concert Hall in Szczecin

Some with love, and some will hate the new Concert Hall in Szczecin, says Marek Dunikowski, the chairman of the competition jury, which selected this design by a young practice from Barcelona. 

At the first glance, the strikingly white, almost ephemeral structure seems to be an alien, but it actually follows the traditional building alignment, has the same hight as its neighbors, and especially the venerable neo-Gothic provincial police headquarters it adjoints, and its facade and roof divisions reflect the buildings of northern medieval towns. Before WWII, this very site was occupied by a Konzerthaus, destroyed later by Allied bombings, so although several other locations were considered, finally it was decided to uphold the tradition of the place. All elevations are made of vertical aluminum profiles, interrupted only at the entrance and very few windows. Inside, the hall and foyers are large and high, also maintained in monochrome white color. This is why the entry to either of the two concert halls means a complete change of atmoshere. The small concert hall, with 190 seats, is black, simple and neutral; the big one, of the shoebox type, is finished in expressive golden color and seats 950. The new concert hall has already become the icon of Szczecin, and together with Przelomy Dialog Center, now beeing completed next to it, it shapes one of the most important city squares. 

Architektura-Murator 07/2014 

 

PSM

Poznan Music School
location: Poznan
project: 2014, competition entry, mention

 

Location of the front of the building and the main entrance in Świętego Jerzego street determined the layout of the building. The outline of the building coincides almost entirely with development lines, seeking undeveloped space inside the quarter. Arrangement of the quarter translates to organization of the space in the building.

The axis linking the main entrance with the courtyard is a general compositional axis of the entire system. It runs through concert halls and theatre and concert hall, acting as their axis of symmetry. The lobbies, foyer finally courtyard surrender to it. The introduction of partially symmetrical layout in an irregular contour is deliberate and calculated to introduce order. The order is inextricably linked with music, but also helps to orientate and navigate the site.

One of the essential functional principles of the concept is to create a large and attractive entrance hall that will serve all users, both constant (teachers, pupils and their parents), as well as guests of the school.

The rooms which do not require lighting, but rather two-way acoustic protection (downtown neighbourhood) were located below the ground floor. Spaces of halls and corridors on these levels have been well communicated and lit with a number of openings in the ceilings and with a “joint” running along Wierzbięcice street.

Atrium is an important element of the composition of the site and is largely responsible for the image and atmosphere thereof. It forms the school courtyard and uncovered foyer in front of the concert hall, but also illuminates the school space.

Foyer, which provides access to all the performance rooms is located in a space adjacent to the Atrium, through which it is also lighted. This location facilitates access control and the possibility of completely separating the area fire associated with the major concert hall for closed events.

The configuration of the concert hall as a “shoebox” guarantees the best acoustic conditions for the small concert hall dedicated to this type of music. Slight distance between the head tops and the line of vision provides for excellent sound propagation in the audience. 

Stage area provides space for 60 members of the orchestra. Place for a hundred-strong choir is provided on the balcony behind the stage. When a concert takes place without the choir, these are the additional seats for the audience. The possibility of forming diverse room acoustics was provided by acoustic curtains. They provide a very effective reduction of reverberation time, which allows for rehearsals without an audience and expanding the offer with electrical acoustic (e.g. jazz) concerts.

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project team:  
wojciech słupczyński, adam kulesza, arkadiusz laskowski, daria achtelik, augustyna grzybowska,
room acoustics: 
Müller-BBM Berlin
status: 
competition, mention

 

 

 

 

Concert Hall in Koszalin 

Koszalin is a medium-sized city in Pomerania. A new seat for its orchestra is modest but well harmonized with its location, in a park at the edge of the city center. The concert hall consists a three-storied hall/foyer, support areas, and the concert hall proper seating 514. The main body of the building has glass walls with wooden protuberances signaling the location of the concert hall itself. There is no entrance zone; one goes directly into the main hall. The auditorium, finished in teak wood, makes an imposing impression; a pity, though, that it was designed expressly for classical music. In cities the size of Koszalin such venues usually serve for various kinds of events, concerts and performances, but the hall is not furnished with any elements which would adapt its acoustics for different requirements. 

Architektura-Murator 06/2014 

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full New Polish House Lecture

Piotr Smierzewski about the future of the library buildings. 

“Autoportret” is a programme which grew out of our conviction that space is culture; that it exerts influence on us. The discovery of the potential hidden in the space around us enables us to consciously transform the environment where we live. So when we look after the space around us we create our self-portrait – our autoportret. The “Autoportret” programme comprises of: Autoportret quarterly – a magazine on “Good Space” (in the market since 2002) and “Autoportret. Debates”.

“Autoportret. A Magazine on Good Space” is a magazine which promotes reflection about space as a cultural phenomenon. It presents theoretical reflections on various areas of knowledge, non-obvious contexts, and positive solutions. The Autoportret magazine is aimed at everybody, not only professionals. 

www. autoportret.pl 

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Polish House Lecture

 

H16

Single Family House
location: Koszalin, Rokosowo
project: 2014-15
construction: 2015-16

 

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project architect: 
wojciech slupczynski 
photo:
piotr smierzewski 
status: 
completed

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Japan House Lecture

MI-KI

Kindergarten and Primary School
location: Mielno
project: 2014-15

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project architect: 
wojciech slupczynski
project team: 
konrad garbowski, arkadiusz laskowski, adam kulesza
status: 
before construction.

Building Footprint: 1484,1 m2
Net Floor Area: 1884,2 m2
Gross Floor Area: 2387,8 m2
Volume: 10213,6 m3

 

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full American Dream Lecture

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full House-II Lecture

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full House I – Lecture. 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Architect’s House II – Lecture

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Architect’s House I – Lecture. 

Program: Positions  

 

Program: House  

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Living L – Lecture

 

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Living M – Lecture

 

Please go to the category “se-arch 2” in www.se-arch.pl for the full Living S – Lecture

 

 

 

 

 

Program: Positions  

Program: Reading  

Program: Living 

 

H15

Single Family House
location: Nowe Bielice
project: 2015-16

 

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project architect:
katarzyna frankiewicz
status:
concept design

more: analog-house.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program: Living  

 

Program: Forming 

Reading Room

Piotr Smierzewski’s review of his favourite books for Architektura-Murator monthly:  

Otto Friedrich Bollnow, Mensch und Raum 
Colin Rowe, Robert Slutzky, Transparency 
Dieter Rams, As Little Design as Possible 
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 

 

CKiWG

Sudetian Philharmonic Concert Hall
location: Walbrzych
project: 2012, competition, 1st Prize
design: 2013-14

 

 

Obszar objęty konkursem i przyległa do niego przestrzeń miejska (teren położony przy ul. Drohobyckiej) nigdy nie stanowił ukończonej, zamkniętej kompozycji urbanistycznej. Lokalizacja Centrum Kultury na zakończeniu tego niezdefiniowanego obszaru staje się szansą na dopisanie do końca historii tej części miasta. Staje się również szansą na wprowadzenie porządku urbanistycznego i rozwiązanie problemów, jakimi są dysfunkcja tego terenu i leżący u jej podstaw brak połączenia poprzecznego pomiędzy ważnymi ulicami. 

Teren pomiędzy domem towarowym z jednej strony a Aresztem Śledczym z drugiej, stanowi dzisiaj słabo zdefiniowaną przestrzeń (użytkowaną częściowo jako skwer, częściowo jako parking) kończący się stromą skarpą. Urbanistyczną ideą jest przedłużenie tego placu aż do Alei Wyzwolenia. Nawierzchnię stanowić będzie dach nowego Centrum Kultury. Flankować go będą wypiętrzenia (górne wejście do Filharmonii z jednej strony i kawiarnia z galerią oparte o sznurownię z drugiej). Północną pierzeją jest zalesione wzgórze. 

Na zakończeniu tak zdefiniowanego placu znajdują się schody łączące plac z dolnym poziomem miasta oraz taras, z którego rozciąga się efektowny widok na Masyw Chełmca oraz wgląd w Aleję Wyzwolenia i znajdujący się przy niej pomnik poświęcony pamięci Górnictwa Wałbrzyskiego. Przy półkolistym tarasie znajduje się przeszklone wypiętrzenie sali tradycji górniczej, które zapewnia wgląd w przestrzeń. To wyjątkowe miejsce, widać z niego masywy Gór Wałbrzyskich, zalesione strome wzgórze po drugiej stronie alei, ale również pomnik i ekspozycję poświęcone górnictwu. To miejsce łączące tradycję ze współczesnością, przemysł z przyrodą, kulturę materialną z duchową.

Z poziomu górnego placu zapewniono wgląd w plac przed wejściem do części filharmonicznej, zlokalizowany na poziomie Alei Wyzwolenia. Przez ten dolny plac przebiegają dwa ciągi piesze łączące Centrum Kultury z górnym placem oraz z parkingiem wielopoziomowym.

 

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project architect: 
jacek moczala
project team (competition): 
wojciech slupczynski, adam kulesza, michal ojrzanowski
project team (construction):
kasia frankiewicz, eliza owczarek, monika rybus, piotr dasiukiewicz, arkadiusz laskowski, adam kulesza
room acoustics: 
Müller-BBM Berlin
status: 
before construction

Building Footprint: 3033,85 m2
Net Floor Area: 9300,81 m2
Gross Floor Area: 12446,43 m2
Volume: 74053,59 m3

 

 

Publications: 

1. Kontext a Typologie, KRUH, Texty o Architekture 2015-2018 

 

H14

Single Family House
location: Koszalin, Grabowa
project: 2012-14 
construction: 2014-16

 

The building is located in a residential district of Koszalin, on a plot facing towards the south, bordering in the north with the municipal forest, a short distance to the H3  previously designed by HS99 in 1998 and H12 from 2008. Apart from a few exceptions, the surrounding buildings consist of unremarkable houses erected after 1990.

The H14 project is a modern interpretation of a residential house, traditional in form: a simple shape covered by a symmetrical multi-sloped roof. The external conventionality of the form of the building has been upgraded with a small patio located in the middle of the building, whose ultimate goal is to light up its interior and connect it visually.

The house was also founded in an unconventional manner. Due to the incline of the terrain towards the entrance to the plot and the decision regarding the minimum interference in the natural decline of the area, it was decided to raise the house about 3 meters above the ground. The raised residential floor was supported on massive supports from the street and a small underground portion, containing auxiliary rooms and an additional entrance to the house, from the forest. The main entrance to the house was located on the south side, symmetrically on the extension of the entrance to the plot, under the building, through the patio illuminating the house and the stairs located in it.

The interior was designed based on the traditional division between day and night sections, with the entrance to the building between these zones. One interpretation of this commonly used type is to connect the two parts with the entrance zone on one side and a covered terrace, located between the living room and the bedroom. The terrace is an integral part of the house and is an additional, summer room.

The principal, upper part of the building was made of a wooden structure and finished entirely with Siberian larch shingles. The elements below the residential level are designed in reinforced concrete with an exposed architectural concrete structure. 

Piotr Smierzewski  

 

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project architect: 
jacek moczala
project team: 
gall podlaszewski, adam kulesza
interior design:
HS99/ewelina przeworska 
status: 
constructed

Building Footprint: 295,06 m2
Net Floor Area: 242,15 m2
Gross Floor Area: 624,63 m2
Volume: 1814,45 m3

 

Publications: 

1. Kontext a Typologie, KRUH, Texty o Architekture 2015-2018 

 

Press

Few words about the library in Katowice. 

 

Azure

Apartment House
location: Mielno
project: 2012-13

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin 
project architect: 
wojciech slupczynski 
status: 
concept design

Building Footprint: 1461,00 m2 
Net Floor Area: 9050,41 m2
Gross Floor Area: 9890,00 m2

 

 

ANALOG 

ANALOG is an architecture studio run by Piotr Smierzewski. Piotr studied architecture at the TU Gdansk from 1983-1988 and graduated at the OSU, Stillwater, USA in 1992. He had been teaching assistant at the OSU and assistant at the TU Gdansk and TU Darmstadt (Prof. B. Jakubeit/Prof. D. Eberle). Since 2013 he lectures at the TU Koszalin.

Piotr worked in Germany from 1992-1999, where he run his own office Piotr Smierzewski Freier Architekt in Karlsruhe from 1995-1999. He later moved to Poland and founded HS99 with Dariusz Herman in 1999. 

Their most famous projects include the underground sacristy of Koszalin Cathedral (1998-2001), the seat of the Glos Pomorza daily newspaper (1997-2001), as well as the award-winning building of the Scientific Information Centre and Academic Library (CINiBA) in Katowice (2002-2012). In 2012 this building won the Grand Prix of the President of Poland in the Life in Architecture competition organised by Architektura-Murator. This was the first architectural prize in Poland ever awarded by the head of the state.

With HS99, Piotr Smierzewski was also shortlisted for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2013 (CINiBA), won the Building of the Year 2012 in the category of museums and libraries, awarded by members of the international ArchDaily news portal, for CINiBA. For residential building ZW109 in Koszalin they won the polish Brick Award 2015.

Founded in 2016 ANALOG is an architecture, design and urbanism office, which tries to use typology and traditional construction techniques to create significant architecture of the background. The projects by ANALOG, which range from furniture to urban planning, stand out for a strong sense of ?place? and deep knowledge of the theory of architecture, what allows to reduce architecture to its very essence.  The office won The Plan Award for Revitalisation Center in Wloclawek and The A+AWARD for the Factory Full of Life. 


www.analog-architecture.com 

 

NRC

Newton Research Center
location: Opole
project: 2011, competition entry, 3rd Prize

 

With its location, the new building “Newton” emphasizes the rhythm determined on the campus by the existing buildings, but also composes an internal courtyard and closes it with respect to the viewing axis. From the west, the building is aligned with a very clear line of development. This raised fragment of the facility is not so much an architectural culmination of the building as a highlighting of this corner of the whole campus. 

The building proposes an introspective arrangement, creating its own inner world on the basis of two different atriums, relative to each other. The atrium in this zone is orderly and regular, with a paved area where you’ll find the summer café tables. The atrium located in the zone of controlled library access is a garden and can serve as a summer reading space.

The individual functional blocks are embedded in a common space; a space for communication, recreation, social meetings, exhibitions and, discussions. The basic functions of this facility (canteen, auditoriums and library) are located in the block which reaches up to uncover the part of the building dedicated to the administration and staff. 

The method of moving around the building has an element of choice. The library, which is the culmination of form and the upper levels of the auditorium can be reached by gentle ramps provided with attractive spaces for working, reading and meetings. You can also choose the horizontal path (along the auditoriums), accompanied by the exhibitions.

The individual areas of the building are bonded to each other by identical floor, ceiling, perforated walls. This ensures the integrity of the multi-function building. The only formal differences are the different zoning of the atriums and wooden cladding separating the auditorium part – the heart of the building. 

The façades reflect the introverted architectural concept. Full glazing, besides the atriums is found only in the administrative part, near the entrance and in the library, at the furthest end of the entire composition, connecting the building with extensive views. The bands of walls, climbing along with ramps are perforated with regularly spaced holes. The perforation was made in the lining of thin-walled reinforced concrete prefabricated elements made of tight, high quality concrete, hung on the support structure of the building. 

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project team: 
gall podlaszewski, wojciech slupczynski, adam kulesza, jacek moczala 
status:
concept design

 

Publications:   

Wettbewerbe Aktuell 11/2011 

 

 

PSG

PSG Company Headquarters
location: Gdansk, ul. Walowa
project: 2011, competition entry, 2nd Prize

 

 

Przemiana wizerunku terenów Gazowni polegać ma na wyłonieniu resztek logiki w obecnym zagospodarowaniu i uczytelnienie go poprzez odpowiednią lokalizację nowych elementów. Zasadnicza zmiana polega na wyznaczeniu strefy otwartej, która rozpoczynać się będzie przy ul. Wałowej pomiędzy istniejącymi budynkami Gazowni i Gaz-Systemu, następnie biec w kierunku ul. Podstocznej, po czym przybierając kierunek osi widokowej dotrzeć do ciągu pieszego wzdłuż ulicy Nowowałowej. W tej otwartej strefie zlokalizowane są dwa atrakcyjne, zabytkowe budynki przy ul. Podstocznej, a przy Wałowej znajdzie swe miejsce nowo projektowany budynek biurowy. Jego lokalizację uzasadnia nowa ranga ul. Wałowej, łączącej dwa duże centra muzealne. Strefa ta wysadzana drzewami owocowymi (darmowe wycinki drzewostanu w przypadku konieczności lokalizacji nowego obiektu) w całości otwarta jest dla ruchu pieszego i rowerowego. Obydwa dłuższe boki strefy oddzielone są od innych, zamkniętych części Gazowni i Gaz-Systemu alejami spacerowymi. W nasadzeniach zaproponowano aplikacje ? tereny niezadrzewione.

Pozostałe tereny Gazowni i Gaz-Systemu zostały podzielone na cztery, zamknięte, okolone żywopłotami części. Kryją one strefy techniczne. Nowe zagospodarowanie polega na sanacji budynków i otoczenia oraz na podkreśleniu porządku nowymi elementami takimi jak chodniki, trawniki i drzewa.

Proponowane zagospodarowanie terenu wykorzystuje motywy związane z tradycją miejsca. Nowo projektowany budynek biurowy powstanie w oparciu o okrąg byłej wieży gazowej. Nadal dla tego obszaru dominantą i głównym elementem identyfikacyjnym pozostanie rusztowanie wieży gazowej. Podświetlona w nocy widoczna będzie z dużej odległości.

Odpowiedzią na dużą ilość miejsc parkingowych jest lokalizacja w budynku biurowym zewnętrznego parkingu otwartego, którego organizacja polega na wykorzystaniu do parkowania stale wznoszącej się rampy. 

Nowoprojektowany budynek proponuje układ ekstrawertyczny, komunikuje się z Miastem całym swoim obwodem. Ten czterokondygnacyjny budynek zakomponowany jest w oparciu o cztery koncentryczne pierścienie oraz dziedziniec wypełniony spiralą stale wnoszącej się rampy parkingu. Pierwszy pierścień to podwójna fasada. Kryje ona urządzenia do ochrony przeciwsłonecznej i pomosty do mycia. Odpowiada on nie tylko za wizerunek obiektu, ale również za mikroklimat w jego wnętrzu. Drugi pierścień zawiera pokoje biurowe. Wydzielono w nim też po cztery na kondygnację poszerzenia korytarzy (hole). Trzeci pierścień to korytarz, z którego zawsze istnieją dwa kierunki ewakuacji. Czwarty pierścień wypełniają pomieszczenia pomocnicze, poczekalnie, klatki schodowe, trzony dźwigowe, szachty instalacyjne. Dziedziniec zaprojektowano jako wielopoziomowy parking otwarty organizowany jako szeroka, stale wspinająca się wstęga rampy. Pod względem ilości miejsc w parkingu budynek jest samowystarczalny.

 

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin 
project team: 
jacek moczala, adam kulesza, wojciech slupczynski 
status: 
competition 

 

Selected Exhibitions: 

2019 Polska. Architecture, Lisboa 
2019 Polish nominations for the Mies van der Rohe Award, Katowice

2018 The Plan Award, Venice

2017 Polska. Architecture, Shenzen, China
2017 Polish Architecture Today, MBK, Cracow

2016 East Centric Architecture Triennale, Bucharest
2016 Made in Europe, Museum of Architecture, Wroclaw

2015 Polska. Architecture, Baku, Skopje, Plovdiv, Sofia, Guangzhou, Dublin, Vienna  
2015 Design and Art, National Museum in Gdansk-Oliwia 
2015 Design and Art in Culture, Iwano-Frankowsk, Ukraine 

2014 Architektura-Murator’s Collection, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw 
2014 For Example. New Polish House (Centrum Architektury) Berlin, Wien, Prague, Madrid, Vilnius,  

2013 For Example. New Polish House (Centrum Architektury) Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; Museum of Architecture Wrocław;  
2013 Wild, Wild East, Berlin  
2013 Constructing Europe – Mies van der Rohe Award 2012, Barcelona  

2011 Architektura Roku Województwa Śląskiego, Katowice  

2009 Wild, Wild East, Hamburg  

2008 Polen Architektur, Ringturm, Wien  

2005 Emerging Identities-East, DAZ Berlin  

2004 321, New Architecture in Japan and Poland, Kraków, Rome, Mediolan  
2004 Silesian University Library, Museum of Architecture, Wrocław 

2003 Young Polish Architecture, Museum of Architecture, Wrocław 
2003 Mlodzi do Lodzi, Lodz  

1995 Europan 3, Brussels   

Chapel

Cementery Chapel
location: Koszalin, Gnieznienska
project: 2010, competition entry, 3rd Prize

 

The main part of the Cemetery in Koszalin consists of two functional zones. The first and most important is the area around the cemetery chapel. In addition to the chapel there are also the cemetery administration building and accidentally located florist’s building. The second area is the quarter of Soviet soldiers – located north of the chapel.

The proposed urban concept involves the breakdown of the area around the chapel into two parts. The first – closely associated with the chapel – with all elements of development – Farewell Hall, greenery and a square dictated by symmetry of the axis of the chapel. The second, whose width is determined by the administrative building, where a car park and square in front of the Monument to the Victims of Communism are located. 

Concise in its form, cut from the cube with sides of 10.50 m (width of the existing chapel), the body of the new chapel with its geometry adapts to the main divisions of the existing facility. At the same time, this body hides the furnace chimney. Simplicity of form is a kind of counterpoint to the richness of the surrounding greenery.

The continuation of development is also evidenced by the use of brick to wrap the building on the outside. However, the manner of its use gives the traditional building material features of the present times. Walled and grouted brick on the roof serves as the pressure layer in the inverted roofing.

The interior of the Farewell Hall was entirely cast in white concrete. The hall has two benches for the immediate family and benches placed in the recesses of the walls which house a total of 45 seats for mourners. The only elements made of another material are windows, glass railings surrounding the catafalque with a coffin and rock crystal chandelier. Hole through which the catafalque with a coffin is brought to the hatch room using a hydraulic jack provides an opportunity to observe the introduction of the coffin into the furnace. 

Two same-sized holes provide contact of the interior with the environment, light and are responsible for the mood of the interior, which contrasts the monochromatic harshness with richness of forms and colours of the vegetation surrounding the building.

Layout of the underground part of the building is a response to technological and technical assumptions. The old and the new part of the chapel are connected by an underground corridor. This implies the construction of a staircase and cargo and passenger lift. Given the desire to limit the area of the new aboveground part of the chapel, traffic elements have been located in the old chapel.

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project team: 
wojciech slupczynski, adam kulesza,
status: 
concept design

Building Footprint: 456,3 m2
Net Floor Area: 748,1 m2
Gross Floor Area: 938,4 m2
Volume: 4045,3 m3

 

 

Selected Publications: 

 

2022
Młoda Polska. Przyszłość Polskiej Architektury na którą czekam. RZUT +30
Gropius nie miał racji. A&B 7-8/2022 

2021
Re-Use, A&B 12/2021 
LPP by JEMS, Architektura 09/2021 

2020
Delat Architekturu, Jina Perspektiva 
Dać Życie Fabryce, Anna Cymer, A&B 09/2020 
Moodboard, A&B 4/2020 
Muzeum Wyspiańskiego, ARCH 1(57)/2020 

2019
Pełnia Życia, A&B 09/2019 
Kampus Służewiec, ARCH 3 (53)/2019 
Miejsce na Muzykę, Z:A 65
Interview. Versopolis Poetry

2018
Atlas of Architecture, A&B 5/2018
Sto budynków na stulecie Polski, Architektura-Murator 11/2018

2017
Rosevia, Piotr Smierzewski, Architektura 08/2017
PR02 Residential Complex,
The Plan 099 
Architecture Renaissance for Poland
, Michael Webb, The Plan 099
CINiBA, Future Arquitecturas 51/52

2016
Apartamenty Boulevard w Ustroniu, Architektura-Murator 11/2016
Miasto Archipelag, Filip Springer, Karakter 2016 
Reportaż z przyszłości, Filip Springer, Magazyn Miasta #14 
Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, ARCH 34 
Spektakularna Przestrzeń, Piotr Śmierzewski, Architektura-Murator 02/2016
H9, Design a Sztuka, 2016 

2015
Formalna Asymetria, A&B 6/2015 
Nuove biblioteca del Campus universitario di Katowice, I’industria delle costruzioni 442
Po drugiej polskiej Edycji Brick Award, ARCH 29
Budynek Mieszkalny ZW109 w Koszalinie, Swiat Architektury, 05/2015 
Hans Ibelings, Nowa Historia Architektury, Architektura-Murator, 04/2015 
Zhang Dali, Wang Panqing, Masonry Material and Structure, Tianjin Ifeng Space Media Co., Ltd. 2015 
Manuela Roth, Library Masterpieces, Braun Publishing, 2015 

2014
Blok Mieszkalny w Koszalinie, Architektura 12/2014 
CINiBA, Arhitext 3/2004 
Kolekcja Architektury Murator, Architektura 10/2014 
Grzegorz Piątek, Co architektura mówi o nas, Gazeta Wyborcza 03.10.2014 
Piotr Sarzyński, Mocna ćwiartka, Polityka 40/2014 
Dom H13 w Lubiatowie, Architektura 7/2014 
Science Spaces, Autoportret 44 
Architecture outside The Centres 
Cesty do Polska 
Die Klugen unter den Schonen, Bauwelt 3.14, styczeń 2014 

2013
Metropolregion Katowice – Sudpolen im Aufbruch, Interior Design 07-08/2013 
Mądre wśród pięknych, Gazeta Wyborcza, 13.07.2013 
Na Przykład. Nowy Dom Polski, Centrum Architektury, Warszawa 2013 
Mies van der Rohe Award 2013: Scientific Information Centre and Academic Library, Barcelona 2013 
Scientific Information Centre and Academic Library, Poland, Modern Decoration 2/2013, Chiny 
Słynne Wille Polski, Foibos publishing, 2013 
Polish Architecture, Mark 42, 02-03/2013 
Zycie w architekturze, Architektura 2/2013 

2012
Rudzielec z Katowic, A&B 12/2102 
Biblioteka w Katowicach, Architektura 10/2012 
Architektura Zegarka, Polityka 30.05.2012 
Vedecke Informacni centrum a univerzitni knihovna v Katovicich, era 21 02/2012 
Update: University Libraries, A10 44, 03-04/2012 

2011
101 Landmarks of Contemporary Polish Architecture, Agora 2011 
Villa Moderna w Koszalinie, Architektura 9/2011 

2010
Rynek Staromiejski w Koszalinie, Archivolta 2/2010 
Osiedle Słoneczne w Koszalinie, Architektura 01/2010 

2009
HS99 – niematerialne, Archivolta 4/2009 

2008
Laterizio e legno (H9), CIL 126, 2008 
Polen Architektur, Wien 2008 
Dom Piotra Smierzewskiego w Koszalinie, Architektura 08/2008 
H8 House in the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architetcure, Phaidon 2008  
Clear and formal home in Koszalin-Lubiatowo, A10 05/06 2008 

2007
Knihowna Slezske Univerzity v Katovicich, era 21 06/2007 
Galeria Jednego Projektu, Muzeum Architektury, Wrocław 2007 

2006
Biblioteka US w Katowicach, Architektura 08/2006 
Dom pod Warszawa, Architektura 08/2006 

2005
Emerging Polish Architecture, World Architecture 05/2005 
Emerging Identities-east, DAZ Berlin, 2005 
University Library, Katowice, A10, 04/2005 
Directions, Nowa Architektura w Japonii i Polsce, 2005 

2003
Dom w Nowych Bielicach, Architektura 3/2003 
Biblioteka US w Katowicach, Architektura i Biznes, 2/2003 

2002
Centrum handlowo-rozrywkowe galeria Emka, Architektura 9/2002 
Trzy strefy, Architektura 6/2002  

2001
Głos Pomorza, Architektura 10/2001 
W Starym Drawsku, Architektura 6/2001 
Nastrojowy realizm (podziemna zakrystia przy Katedrze), Architektura 3/2001  

1998
Dom z płaskim dachem, Architektura i Biznes, 2/1998 
Głos Pomorza, Architektura i Biznes, 1/1998 

1996
Radio Koszalin, Architektura i Biznes, 9/1996 
Struktura falowa, Architektura i Biznes, 5/1996 
Volksbank Wiesloch, Wettbewerbe Aktuell 3/1996 

1994
Towards the Other Bank, Europan 3, Belgia 1994 

 

DC

National Museum and Center for Dialogue – Przelomy
location: Szczecin, Solidarnosci Square
project: 2009, competition entry

 

 

Koncepcja zagospodarowania zakłada zespolenie Placu Solidarności z przestrzeniami zlokalizowanymi po jego wschodniej (plac Św. Piotr i Pawła) i zachodniej stronie (Brama Królewska) w jeden miejski organizm. Łącząca strefy kamienna posadzka o dwóch różnych kolorach i dwóch różnych fakturach swój rytm naprzemiennych pasów bierze z podziałów fasady Filharmonii. Usytuowanie budynku Centrum naprzeciwko gmachu policji pozwala na wydzielenie z centralnej części placu strefy, która w jednym kierunku jest sceną uroczystości związanych z placem a w drugim kierunku ? przedpolem dla Filharmonii. Pomnik Anioła Wolności ustawiono na tle budynku Centrum. Z każdej części placu widoczne są wszystkie ważne obiekty go okalające i na nim usytuowane. Budynek Centrum dzięki swej kompozycji nie stanowi zapory wizualnej i zapewnia wgląd we wszystkie strefy tego prestiżowego placu.

Dynamiczna bryła budynku podparta jedynie przez ściany dziedzińców pozostaje w równowadze i z niej czyni jeden z motywów kompozycji.

Historia częściej dzieje się na ulicach niż w gabinetach a “koło historii toczy się na gąsienicach”. Stąd czerpie swą genezę idea budynku – wybrukowanej ulicy, wspinającej się i opadającej. Ulicy, która była świadkiem wielu dramatycznych wydarzeń. Ulicy jako miejsca spotkania a nie konfrontacji, gdzie nikt nie jest gościem ani gospodarzem.

Całkowite przeszklenie fasad zapewnia budynkowi kontakt z miastem co wzmaga narrację o jego historii. Jednocześnie z przestrzeni miejskiej zapewniono wgląd w przestrzeń budynku. Zaciera się granica między sceną a widownią, a symultaniczność akcji historycznej i przesuwających się obrazów współczesności może być źródłem wielu wystawienniczych pomysłów.

Budynek nie ma początku ani końca. Jest ciągły, a jego granice z zewnętrzem nie są całkowicie materialne. Stwarza to niezwykłe możliwości ekspozycyjne – wystawa nie musi mieć początku i końca, nie musi układać się chronologicznie, za to może mieć swoją dramaturgię, swój punkt kulminacyjny. Wykorzystanie do ekspozycji nowych technik multimedialnych umożliwia pokonywanie pętli kilkukrotnie. Jedynymi przestrzeniami zamkniętymi (i to nie do końca) są paradoksalnie dwa dziedzińce zewnętrzne. Będą one miejscem ekspozycji zewnętrznej dostępnej z placu, ale też odbieranej z wnętrza budynku.

Obiekt tematyzuje swoją formą jedną ze swoich podstawowych funkcji jaką jest edukacja historyczna. Pętla, ciągłość, przełomy, zakręty, ulica, równowaga – pojęcia przełożone na abstrakcyjny język architektury stanowią środki artystycznego wyrazu próbujące odbić dramatyczną, ponad tysiącletnią historię Szczecina. Historię, której nikt nie jest beneficjentem, a z której dumni mogą być wszyscy ze Szczecinem związani. Otwarcie budynku na plac, na którym współistnieją obiekty różnych okresów historii miasta (Kościół św. Piotra i Pawła, Brama Królewska, gmach policji i wreszcie najnowszy, prestiżowy budynek Filharmonii) jest ilustracją ciągłości tej historii i świadectwem współistnienia ze sobą różnych kultur i narodów.

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project team: 
adam kulesza, lukasz pisarek, agnieszka desowska, kuba florek
status: 
concept design

KO-MA

Market Square 
location: Koszalin, Rynek Staromiejski
project: 2009, competition entry, mention

 

 

Projekt wprowadza na płytę Rynku zabudowę w postaci wieży oraz odpowiadającemu jej stylistycznie budynkowi poziomemu. Poza płytą, w pasie ul. Zwycięstwa zlokalizowano przeszkloną wiatę osłaniającą przeniesione tam przystanki autobusowe. Te trzy zasadnicze elementy porządkują przestrzeń Rynku, odmieniają jego proporcje, charakter ale i funkcje. Nowy wizerunek Rynku dopełnia nowa posadzka, której kompozycja jest ściśle związana z modułami, o które oparto całą koncepcję Rynku wraz z jego zabudową, nowe oświetlenie, nowe ?umeblowanie? placu oraz nowe elewacje budynków okalających Rynek.

– Wieża ? o wymiarach 10,5 x 10,5 x 73,5 m stanowi dominantę nie tylko w obrębie Rynku i jego najbliższego sąsiedztwa ale i całego miasta oraz okolicy. W sensie urbanistycznym ma być punktem identyfikującym miasto i domykającym perspektywy. Obecność na Rynku wieży, ale i budynku poziomego w niczym nie zagraża dominacji Katedry, która nadal będzie obecna w pejzażu miasta, a zaproponowane obiekty nie będą jej przesłaniać. Wieża pełnić będzie funkcję widokowo-gastronomiczną, jednokondygnacyjna kawiarnia będzie poruszać się jak kabina dźwigu osobowego i wjeżdżać na szczyt odsłaniając Koszalinianom oraz ich gościom panoramę miasta, okolicy ale przede wszystkim morza. Również ewakuacja z kawiarni ma odniesienie do ewakuacji z dźwigu osobowego – w chwili wystąpienia zagrożenia, kawiarnia podobnie jak kabina windy opadać będzie grawitacyjnie w kontrolowany sposób.

– Galeria Miejska – to trzykondygnacyjny budynek o wymiarach 73,5 x 10,5 x 10,5 m, mieszczący w sobie sale konferencyjne, wystawowe, restaurację i kawiarnię ale również zespół pomieszczeń pomocniczych takich jak toalety podziemne czy zespół dźwigów osobowych do przestrzeni parkingowej. Obiekt przejmie część prestiżowych funkcji Ratusza i stworzy zaplecze dla różnych bardziej lub mniej oficjalnych imprez.

– Zintegrowany przystanek autobusowy – to długa na 52,5 m przeszklona wiata wspierająca się na pylonach informacyjno-reklamowych, pod którą zlokalizowano przystanki autobusowe przeniesione z Rynku i z wlotu ul. Słowackiego.

– Elewacje domów okalających Rynek – bardzo prostymi (i tanimi) środkami radykalnie zmieniono elewacje frontowe kamienic przyległych do Rynku. Głównymi elementami są wspornikowe dachy nad parterami budynków. Czoła tych dachów będą polem reklamowym, spody tych dachów będą rampą świetlną, a wierzch dachów stanowić będzie platformę wsporczą pod donice z winobluszczami. Elewacja opleciona będzie linami ze stali nierdzewnej zamontowanymi do ścian z dystansem. Po tak uformowanej płaszczyźnie wspinać się będą różne gatunki winorośli i winobluszczy. Zabieg ten odmieni wizerunek Koszalina, który jeszcze bardziej kojarzyć się będzie z zielonym miastem.

– Oświetlenie – zrezygnowano z wysokich latarń ulicznych na rzecz oświetlenia o skali parkowej. Oświetlenie wmontowane będzie również w posadzkę Rynku i elementy małej architektury znajdujących się na płycie.

Rzeczywista odległość od morza i związki z nim Koszalina są głównymi motywami decyzji o lokalizacji wieży (oprócz motywów urbanistycznych). Ponad stumetrowej powierzchni kawiarnia wspinać się będzie po konstrukcji wieży aż do jej wierzchołka. Coraz bardziej rozległe widoki miasta i okolicy dążyć będą aż do kulminacji – najrozleglejszego widoku na Jezioro Jamno, morze, Górę Chełmską i okoliczne lasy i jeziora. Ta niewątpliwa atrakcja Koszalina będzie jednocześnie wspaniałą wizytówką i reklamą miasta i regionu. Jednocześnie, Koszalin, który dla wielu jest jedynie krótkim przystankiem nad morze swą wieżą zaintryguje podróżnych jeszcze w pociągu, samochodzie czy na dworcu. Będzie też wieża widoczna z morza i będzie swą obecnością przypominać o mieście, które warto odwiedzić, mieście, w którym znajdziemy miejsce postojowe, mieście, po którym bezpiecznie i przyjaźnie poruszają się piesi, mieście z wieloma ogródkami kawiarnianymi ulokowanymi w atrakcyjnej przestrzeni o skali i atmosferze innych starych miast choć bez zabytkowych kamieniczek. Przypomni też o mieście młodym i dynamicznym, nie próbującym w karykaturalny sposób podrabiać historii a tworzącym nowe obiekty w duchu pokolenia, które je kreuje.

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project team: 
wojciech slupczynski, kuba florek, adam kulesza, lukasz pisarek, agnieszka desowska,
status
competition, mention

Building Footprint: 935,00 m2
Net Floor Area: 6813,43 m2
Gross Floor Area: 7808,00 m2
Volume: 28482,00 m3

 

Publications:

Rynek Staromiejski w Koszalinie, Archivolta 2/2010  

 

MHP

Museum of Polish History
location: Warszawa
project: 2009, competition entry, 1st stage

 

 

Kiedy wytyczano Oś Stanisławowską, Etienne-Louis Boullée kładł podwaliny pod nowoczesną architekturę. Gdy Claude Nicolas Ledoux wcielał w życie swe projekty – państwa polskiego już nie było. Ciągłość niezbędna do wykreowania architektury świadomej, opartej na racjonalizmie, pozbawionej romantycznej symboliki została przerwana. Na półtora wieku Polacy, miast myśleć o przemianach i nowoczesności byli zmuszeni zająć się spiskowaniem. Krótki okres międzywojennej nadziei związanej z odzyskaną niepodległością brutalnie przerwała wojna, a Żelazna Kurtyna będąca jej następstwem na długo oddzieliła Polaków od Europy i Świata. Od dwudziestu lat Polacy odrabiają dystans dzielący ich od reszty rodziny europejskiej. Od dwudziestu lat nie muszą walczyć o przetrwanie, o własne państwo. Od dwudziestu lat polska architektura nie musi być manifestem patriotyzmu, nie musi niczego przedstawiać, niczego symbolizować, może być wreszcie abstrakcyjnym wyrazem nieskrępowanego racjonalizmu szanującego wartościową spuściznę i porządkującego przestrzeń pełną błędów po poprzednich okresach rozwoju.

Sylweta Warszawy na przestrzeni ostatnich dwudziestu lat silnie się skomercjalizowała. Wieżowce zdominowały panoramę. Muzeum Historii Polski może być dobitnym znakiem w przestrzeni o kulturowych aspiracjach Polaków.

Skarpa Wiślana to najbardziej charakterystyczny naturalny element ukształtowania Warszawy. Stanowi nie tylko ważną część systemu przyrodniczego Warszawy ale tworzy też podstawę do kształtowania najbardziej wartościowych i atrakcyjnych przestrzeni miasta. Jest również wspaniałą ekspozycją dla wszystkich zdarzeń architektonicznych w tym obszarze miasta. Skarpa Wiślana jest naturalnym cokołem dla wielu ważnych obiektów, zamków, pałaców, kościołów. Jest również bazą dla Zamku Ujazdowskiego i przyszłego Muzeum Historii Polski. Kula Muzeum nie dominuje w panoramie jednak przewyższa swoje sąsiedztwo (średnica 66 m, wysokość Prudentiala) i podejmuje dialog z obiektami o ponad miejskim znaczeniu, takimi jak Stadion Narodowy czy Centrum Kopernika.

Oś Stanisławowska zapoczątkowana dobitnie poprzez Kanał Piaseczyński w czasach stanisławowskich jako część większego układu i bardzo konsekwentnie prowadzona wzdłuż Alei Wyzwolenia i ul. Nowowiejskiej, na pierwszym swym odcinku od Zamku Ujazdowskiego do Alei Ujazdowskich wskutek przecięcia wąwozem Alei Armii Ludowej straciła swoją czytelność. Rozległy i skomplikowany system komunikacyjny Placu Na Rozdrożu oraz głęboki i szeroki wykop Alei Armii Ludowej nie tylko czynią oś niedrożną ale też wymazują ją ze świadomości osób odwiedzających Park Ujazdowski i przemieszczających się Alejami Ujazdowskimi. Główne zadanie urbanistyczne projektu to przywrócenie osi w tym miejscu, nadanie jej należnego znaczenia, uporządkowanie ruchu kołowego i pieszego w obrębie Placu Na Rozdrożu i w tym kontekście wkomponowanie gmachu Muzeum Historii Polski tak aby nie przerywał osi ale aby ją podkreślał podporządkowując się uprzywilejowanej pozycji Zamku Ujazdowskiego.

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project team:
adam kulesza, kuba florek, agnieszka desowska, lukasz pisarek
status: 
competition, 1st stage entry

Net Floor Area: 49017,0 m2
Gross Floor Area: 51420,0 m2
Volume: 177737,0 m3

 

 

HS99

Architectural office HS99 located in Koszalin, Poland was co-founded by Piotr Smierzewski in 1999. HS99 tried to accent rational plot in contemporary architecture in its projects and in logic, as well as in simplicity, searched for the beauty. The partners give up to collaborate  in 2016.

Contact:

Piotr Smierzewski
mail: piotr@smierzewski.com

ZW109

Residential and Commercial Building
location: Koszalin, Zwyciestwa St. 
project: 2008-12 
construction: 2012-14

 

The historical continuity of Koszalin was interrupted in March 1945, when the Russian army demolished the town, already abandoned by its inhabitants. The image of devastation was completed with the demolition of the historic urban infrastructure before the National Harvest Festival in 1975.

For these reasons Koszalin cannot boast of much architecture before 1945. It is, therefore, of particular importance for the town’s identity to withhold even most basic objects from the past that in another context would simply be pulled down. The plot at 109 Zwycięstwa Street was developed with exactly such one-storey buildings whose front elevation was decided to be renovated.

The residential and commercial building is the first of three buildings designed to be built on the plot located in the city centre. One of the main objectives of the project was a rational development of the estate, consistent with the structure of the space. The plot has an unusual shape resulting from random post-war changes in its ownership.

The existing spatial development plan did not allow constructing at the eastern border of the plot, which ruled out the rational development of this part of the city. Fortunately, obtaining a derogation for the location of the building on the plot border allowed to extend the narrow strip of buildings from 6 to 10 meters. The relatively small building was designed as a one-bay structure with small one-sided flats on the west side and slightly larger flats from the south and north. The eastern wall, which will be further developed in the future, was temporarily insulated and painted in gray. Commercial units are located on the ground floor. They are not accessible from the main street, but from the internal pedestrian passage connecting the already erected object with the two buildings planned to be built at the back of the estate.

The distinctive facade of the old building was decided to be reconstructed on the basis of plaster casts of the original ornaments. It features as a “gateway” to the pedestrian passage. To contrast the facade of the main façade the gate was painted white. Particular attention was paid to the entrance area of the building. Two entrances were designed; one from Zwycięstwa Street and the second from the park. These entrances lead to a one-flight staircase lighted from the top, finished “in white”, as the gateway.

 

architect: 
HS99, Koszalin
project team: 
wojciech slupczynski, adam kulesza, kuba florek
foto: 
Jakub Certowicz (2014)
status: 
completed

Building Footprint: 416,60 m2
Net Floor Area: 1833,6 m2
Gross Floor Area: 2218,1 m2
Volume: 7083,9 m3

 

Publications: 


Kontext a Typologie, KRUH, Texty o Architekture 2015-2018 
Formalna Asymetria, AiB 6/2015
Budynek Mieszkalny ZW109 w Koszalinie, Swiat Architektury 05/2015
Po drugiej polskiej edycji Brick Award, Arch 29, 2015
Blok Mieszkalny w Koszalinie, Architektura 12/2014
Michael Webb, Architecture Renaissance for Poland, The Plan 099 / 2017    

 

Awards: 


Brick Award 2015 (polish edition) – Grand Prix
Brick Award 2015 (polish edition) – Best Housing Project.

 

 

H13

Single Family House
location: Koszalin, Lubiatowska St. 
project: 2008-10 
construction: 2010-13

 

The location of the building considering the landscape values in what was formerly the village of Lubiatiowo, the situation on a hill and the size of the lot are exceptional. The house was set parallel to the road and the lot boundary, while its height is such that it does not obstruct the view of the vast Lubiatowskie Lake. 

The lot with an access from the north and tilted towards south permitted a classical division of the zones in the grounds: into a public area in front of the house and a private one behind the house. The functional organization of the house follows similar logics: the service rooms (the bathrooms, the  dressing rooms and the kitchen) were situated from the entry to the lot, and the residential rooms look out to the private south side. 

Due to the inclination of the lot, the house was lifted up over the ground, and the main storey, which contains all the residential functions, was set on pillars and a small utility section. As a consequence, a part of the house has no direct contact with the garden, which was compensated for with large patios, that are adjacent to the living area of the house, and round stairs (to be built) that connect the patio situated opposite the entrance with the garden. 

The entrance to the building was located from the north in its central part, between the daily and nightly parts. The vast and glazed entrance hall offers a view to the lot behind the building long before one enters the house. Owing to the use of mechanical ventilation, an orderly flat roof has been maintained, which is visible from the nearby road; in this way, it fulfils the expectations of the “fifth” elevation of the building. 

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project architect:  
wojciech slupczynski
project team: 
wojciech słupczyński, adam kulesza, 
interior design:
 jakub sucharski
foto: 
jakub certowicz (2014)
status: 
completed

Building Footprint:  350,0 m2
Net Floor Area: 292,0 m2
Gross Floor Area: 372,0 m2
Volume: 1668,0 m2

 

Publications:

Dom H13 w Lubiatowie, Architektura 07/2014
Wohnhaus in Koszalin, PL, Ecola Award, 2015
Michael Webb, Architecture Renaissance For  Poland, The Plan 099

 

Awards: 

Nomination for Ecola Award 2015

 

more: analog-house.com 

Museum of Modern Art 
location: Wroclaw
project: 2008, competition entry 

architect: HS99, dariusz herman, piotr smierzewski 
project team: wojciech subalski, adam kulesza 
status: competition entry 

Net Floor Area: 19984,0 m2

 

MSN

Museum of Contemporary Art
location: Wroclaw
project: 2008, competition entry

 

Budynek Muzeum Sztuki Współczesnej stara się kontynuować przerwaną przez Drugą Wojnę Światową logikę kwartału. Zarówno linie zabudowy jak i skala obiektu, jego wysokość w stosunku do zespołu klasztornego mieszczącego w sobie Muzeum Architektury, pozwalają na harmonijne uzupełnienie dawnego kwartału. 

Wejście do budynku zlokalizowano od strony głównej ulicy Nowego Miasta (Purkiniego), analogicznie jak wejście do Panoramy Racławickiej i Muzeum Narodowego.

Parter i piętro budynku wycofano ukośnie w stosunku do ulicy odsłaniając widok na Panoramę Racławicką i park. Tak powstały plac ?zadaszono? ostatnią kondygnacją zawierającą sale wystawowe.

Nadziemną część budynku podzielono na trzy naprzemienne, ułożone w pionie strefy: introwertyczne parter i kondygnacja wystawowa, rozdzielono ekstrawertyczną drugą kondygnacją. Ta otwarta ze wszystkich stron na Miasto przestrzeń wypełniona pomieszczeniami publicznymi (sala audytoryjna, wielofunkcyjne sale wystawowe, pomieszczenia klubowe, hol kasowy) stanowi platformę mogącą funkcjonować niezależnie od sal wystawowych. To tu skupia się życie publiczne budynku. Przestrzeń ta w największym stopniu odpowiedzialna jest za komunikację Miasta z Muzeum i Muzeum z Miastem.

W opozycji do otwartości przestrzeni piętra zakomponowano kondygnację z salami wystawowymi. Kondygnacja swoimi dużymi, jednoprzestrzennymi, pozbawionymi podpór salami wystawowymi otwiera się na sztukę. Lokalizacja sal wystawowych na najwyższej kondygnacji i ich zblokowanie pozwoli na pełniejsze ich wykorzystanie, na większą ilość wariacji aranżacji. Będzie to miało szczególne znaczenie przy organizacji dużych wystaw.

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team: 
jacek moczała, kuba florek, anita skalska, wojciech słupczynski, adam kulesza, paweł skóra 
status: 
competition entry 

Net Floor Area: 19984,0 m2

 

 

H11

Single Family House
location: Warszawa, Indycza St. 
project: 2008

 

Działka zlokalizowana jest na obrzeżach Warszawy, w pobliżu lasów kabackich, w willowej części dzielnicy Ursynów.

Koncepcja domu jest odpowiedzią na życzenie inwestora, który oczekiwał małego i prostego domu z płaskim dachem a także zapisów decyzji o warunkach zabudowy, która nakazywała dachy strome, wielospadowe.

Konstrukcję domu wraz z dachem zaprojektowano jako żelbetową, monolityczną. Elewacje wykonane będą z prefabrykowanych elementów żelbetowych, murowanych na ławach fundamentowych.

Introwertyczna przestrzeń domu zorganizowana została wokół niewielkiego dziedzińca na osi wejścia do budynku. Przedłużeniem tej osi jest taras łączący część dzienną z nocną. Kolorystyka wnętrza oraz wyposażenie utrzymane będzie w jasnej, monochromatycznej tonacji, zgodnie z zasadą stan surowy = stan wykończeniowy.

 

 

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project architect: 
jacek moczala
status: 
before construction

Building Footprint:  125,26 m2
Net Floor Area: 108,32 m2
Gross Floor Area: 142,32 m2
Volume: 648,38 m3

 

see-arch 

see-arch.com is a nonprofit web site dedicated to the education in architecture. 

more information at: www.see-arch.com
 

Neo

University of Gdansk, Rector’s Office and Faculty of Neophilology
location: Gdansk, Wita Stwosza St. 
project: 2008, competition entry

 

 

Nowo projektowany obiekt stanowić ma dominantę dla całego układu urbanistycznego jakim jest campus i otaczająca go zabudowa. Ten silny znak w przestrzeni, z racji swej narożnikowej lokalizacji, wysokości i zwartej kompozycji ma stanowić element identyfikujący cały Uniwersytet. Szczególne usytuowanie, wyróżniające go z układu urbanistycznego również dwoma placami (Rektorskim i Studenckim), zwarta w porównaniu z innymi obiektami bryła i charakterystyczna forma sprawiają, że budynek ten nawiązuje raczej dialog z Biblioteką Uniwersytecką (a w szerszym kontekście również z Halą Oliwii) niż z przyległymi obiektami. 

Dwa place poprzedzają obiekt. Pierwszy – Rektorski znalazł swe miejsce pomiędzy projektowanym budynkiem a ul. Bażyńskiego. To stąd swoje wizyty rozpoczynać będą oficjalni goście i delegacje. Plac ten stanowi również podjazd dla VIP-ów. Podjazd, z którego poprzez krytą rampę dostępny jest garaż podziemny. Drugi plac – Studencki  – łączy obiekt z terenami campusu. Wyraźnie obniżony w stosunku do poziomu ul. Wita Stwosza i ograniczony budynkami sąsiednich wydziałów ma bardziej kameralny i mniej oficjalny charakter. Obydwa place obramowane są schodami terenowymi wykorzystującymi różnice poziomów budynku i strefy parkingowej.

W budynku wyróżnione są dwie zasadnicze strefy (podział ten odzwierciedlają również fasady) – pierwszą – otwartą o prawie nieograniczonej dostępności wypełniają pomieszczenia ogólne takie jak sale audytoryjne i związane z nimi hole, czytelnia, bufet i kawiarnia, etc. Druga strefa, pięciokondygnacyjna wypełniona jest pomieszczeniami poszczególnych katedr Wydziału Neofilologii (na czterech kondygnacjach) oraz położonym na najwyższej kondygnacji rektoracie z towarzyszącymi mu biurami.

 

architekt: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team: 
pawel skora, adam kulesza 
status: 
competition entry 

Net Floor Area: 18521,3 m2  
Gross Floor Area: 20130,3 m2 

 

Publications:  

HS99 – niematerialne, Archivolta 4(44)/2009

 

SP06

Residential Building Villa Moderna
location: Koszalin, Szpitalna St. 
project: 2007 
construction: 2008-10

 

Though often damaged during the last war and neglected later, the cities from the so-called areas of Recovered Territories differ significantly from their counterparts in other Polish regions. The previous political system has destroyed in them what constitutes the essence of each city: its ownership structure. It has enabled every city to rebuild after each disaster. The image of a lack of identity of these cities was compounded by their almost total replacement of residents. The new ones began to learn about their city only after 1990.

In this context, “patching holes” in the city is still one of the main tasks of design offices. Modest, balanced architecture bringing order to the chaotic urban space appears to be most needed.

The project site consisted of two plots. The plot adjacent to ul. Szpitalna for unknown reasons, was to have been excluded from the Urban Zoning Plan and provide the mode of access for the plot located further in. Both the manner of the plot development, withdrawn from the street and windows placed against all logic in the gable wall of the neighbouring building, as well as the building height recorded in the plan did not allow for the complete filling of the quarter. 

The plan was to construct a simple building, which in the best possible way would complement the existing development. The result is an affordable building (sales price approx. 4000 PLN/m2), which, despite the erroneous records of the zoning plan has completed the history of this part of the city, interrupted by World War II.

Maybe it is not much, but on the scale of a city like Koszalin it is already quite a lot. 

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project architect: 
jacek moczala
design team: 
wojciech subalski, kuba florek, pawel skora, rafal sobieraj, adam kulesza, wojciech slupczynski
photo: 
piotr krajewski (2011), wojtek grela (2012)

Building Footprint: 540,0 m2
Net Floor Area: 1927,0 m2
Gross Floor Area: 2498,0 m2
Volume: 7643,0 m2

 

Publications:

Villa Moderna w Koszalinie, Architektura 9/2011

Awards:

2012 Nomination for Life in Architecture Award – Best Residential Building: Villa Moderna

 

Atrium

Residential Area
location: Grzybowo
project: 2007-08 

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project architect: 
kuba florek
status: 
concept design

 

KCIK

Krajowe Centrum Informatyki Kwantowej
location: Gdansk, Wita Stwosza St.
project: 2007, competition entry, 1st Prize
design: 2007-09

 

The main urban planning rule makes a reference to the original concept from 1970s. It adds the Central Square: a park on the plan of an elongated rectangle. This central green space has its begginings in a pond planned in the 1970s and stretches parallel to the streets of Wita Stwosza and Grunwaldzka. Its width maps out a distance between the existing facilities. 

The land, which is adjacent to the main communications axis of the University, forms the Faculty Square. From there, the current building of the Faculty is available (the authors: architect W. Benedyk and architect S. Niewiadomski). There, the new computer science building was placed. This surfaced square, which was designed in an opposition to the Central Square, merges both facilities and maps out the space, which is an easy for identification, and which focuses the live of the Faculty. The laboratory part was placed in this square (similarly to the existing structure). The square closes the arm positioned perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis running through the buildings of the Faculty. 

The difference of the levels of land allows one to create the natural boundaries of the Faculty Square, and gives an access to the facility from different levels: a different level from the side of the campus (the Faculty Square), and a different level from the side of the car parks that continue the already existing car park complex. The communications arrangement results from a logical continuation of the existing communications system. 

Three fundamental elements make up the block of the facility. The first one, which constitutes a typological continuation of the existing building, includes above of all teaching rooms. The second one, which is placed perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of both buildings (closing the Faculty Square space), houses lecture halls and the Quantum Centre. The third element is the laboratories closed in an almost standalone block (connected with the main building only via the ground floor), which is intentionally distinguished in formal terms. 

A two-storey entrance hall which joins not only the arms of building but also the levels of entrances leading to it, was designed between the two first elements. A lecture hall connected with a café adjoins this space. This three-storey hall is the continuation of the Faculty Square. The hall which precedes the Quantum Centre is situated above it. The view from it extends onto the whole Faculty Square. 

The facades of the Computer Science Faculty Building express the structure of the building accepted, including the functional structure. Regular, two-layered, prefabricated ferroconcrete and glass facades run around the building. The inside layer constitutes an element of the constructional system. Repeated window plots, which are withdrawn in the direction of the interior of building, are shaded against the sun in a natural manner. The laboratory section is faced with black laminated tempered glass.  

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team: 
rafal sobieraj, kuba florek, anita skalska, pawel skora, adam kulesza 
status: 
construction deleted 

Building Footprint: 3 689,5 m2 
Net Floor Area: 9 894,8 m2  
Gross Floor Area: 12 246,5 m2 
Volume: 53 703,25 m3  

 

Latarnik
location: Gaski
project: 2006

architect: HS99, Koszalin 
project architect: kuba florek
status: concept design 

Building Footprint: 
Net Floor Area: 
Gross Floor Area: 
Volume: 

SM

Silesian Museum
location: Katowice
project: 2006, competition, mention

 

In opposition to the fragmented overground structure of the buildings of the mine, the block of the museum is a homogenous form merging all its functional parts. A standarized height and a standardized level of the foundation constitute the counterpoint for the diversity of the levels and the heights of the individual historic facilities. 

An outside space contained between the floor in front of the museum and the cantilever roof is the most characteristic element which identifies and organizes the urban planning structure of this place. This space is the Museum Forum, which is at the same time a fragment of the traffic route and an outside museum exhibition for all the devices and historic and industrial facilities which were dismantled from the remaining buildings in the District. Therefore, this new building will include the pieces of all the remaining buildings of the mine. The following renovated historic facilities: Warszawa mineshaft, an engine room building and a clothes warehouse are included in this space. The “corridors” between the space of former mine and the urban space were used to locate the entrance to the individual parts of the MainBuilding. They constitute a communications space and an outside exposition area. They ensure a contact between the town and the area of the former mine (the District of Museums). 

The programme of the museum was arranged in three functional modules. Two of them include exhibition rooms and third one includes a complex of rooms connected with conference and administrative functions. These modules were merged with a technical storey, which was concealed in the thickness of the roof and two underground storeys to be used for the shipment of showpieces, for car parks as well as storage and technical facilities rooms. 

The facades of the museum were designed from glass channel sections, which constitute the wall facing on certain fragments. In the joints between the modules, they make up a transparent glass facade. This material contrasts with the brick of the historic facilities and emphasizes their authenticity. The smoothness of the facades, concealing of the structure in the Main Edifice building serves to highlight the industrial beauty of Warszawa and Bartosz  mineshafts as well as of the showpieces collected in the Forum and in the “corridors”. 

It is only the temporary exhibition room, as one which is visited the most frequently, which was located on the ground floor (it was preceded by an extensive foyer). Only those rooms which are to be used to exhibit painting works were located under the roof to provide the exhibition with a day light. The remaining rooms were located on the first floor. All the rooms were centred on the two sides of the main hall, which was designed as a complex of galleries surrounding the entrance patio. Its characteristic and dominating element is “Warszawa” mineshaft, which serves as an identification of the museum and previously the mine. The rooms painting works illuminated from above with daylight. 

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team: 
agnieszka desowska, magda erycińska, kuba florek, lukasz gąska, adam kulesza, lukasz pisarek, rafał sobieraj, paweł skóra , wojciech słupczyński, wojciech subalski 
status: 
concept design

 

 

Cricoteka

Cricoteka and the Museum of Tadeusz Kantor
location: Krakow
project: 2006, competition entry

 

With its materiality, this building becomes part of the context of the localization on the Vistula, springing up like a rock on the wharf. It creates a characteristic and memorable sight, while it is not trying to dominate in the space as it is. The building of “Cricoteka”, as thoroughly modern exhibition and museum building, through its material sphere, has constitute a background for the collections on exhibition and the meetings organized there. Therefore, the solutions accepted concerning the materials used are characterized by guardedness and austerity. Black (communications spaces) or white (exhibition spaces), concrete ceilings, stairways or industrial floors are to diversify the zones of the building in an explicit manner.

The lack of any additional stimuli in the form of wall or floor facings help to introduce the mood of concentration required for communing with the arts of Tadeusz Kantor. Through the use of overhead or reflected artificial and natural lighting, which is administered in a subtle manner and is specially controlled, perfect conditions for the exhibition are created. The outside layer from perforated and consistently corroded Cor-Ten steel sheet with red and ginger colouring warps the whole building, and thus it seemingly makes a monolith of the said building. Steel sheet panels are mounted on a steel or aluminium under-structure, which is fixed to ceilings and walls. The glazings are made in the system of a structural facade with point-fixed glass. The windowpanes come with UV filters and protective layers to prevent an excessive heating up of the interior. 

The building was designed in a reinforced concrete monolithic, plate and columnar structure. This structure fulfils the following theses: it is maximally simple and tough; also, it allows spatial transformations both at the design stage and in later period: during the realization and the use of the building. The ceiling, which is smooth on the top and at the bottom, is made from a sandwich type reinforced concrete slab. It is supported by reinforced concrete pillars through heads sunk in the slab.

These heads are in the form of intersecting steel elements made from hot-rolled sections. In those areas of the slab where there are no heads, polystyrene foam blocks are sunk in the slab, which discharge the slab and do not reduce its load capacity. Owing to the system of perpendicular internal ribs, the slab is suitably reinforced. Several reinforced concrete walls as well as the staircase casing and the lift shaft casing serve to brace the spatial arrangement of the building in both directions. The pillars were designed to be made from reinforced concrete and with a rigid reinforcement. 

 

architect:
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team:
adam kulesza, pawel skora, adam kaminski
status:
concept design 

Building Footprint: 760,7 m2
Net Floor Area:
Gross Floor Area: 3274,4 m2
Volume: 14794,2 m3

 

Publications:

HS99 –  niematerialne, Archivolta 4(44)/2009

 

 

JPII

Monument
location: Koszalin, Jana Pawla II St. 
project: 2006

architect:
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
status:
concept  design

 

 

 

Selected Lectures:

 

2023

2023.12.15 TU Gdansk
2023.11.23 KA 2023, Warszawa
2023.10.11 ArchEvent, Bydgoszcz
2023.10.02 Reflections on Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Bratislava 
2023.05.31 FEST 30,  TU Opole
2023.05.17 ArchEvent, Rzeszów 
2023.04.03 Domowo, TU Kraków
2023.01.19 Spotkanie z Mistrzem, Sarp Kraków

2022
2022.12.15 Zalew Architektury, Sarp, Szczecin 
2022.12.07 ArchEvent, Katowice 
2022.09.27 Sarp, Poznan 
2022.09.08 Lights on Tour, Warszawa  ArchEvent, Gdansk 

2021
2021.10.27 MBA, Kraków
2021.10.13 ArchEvent, Białystok 
2021.09.11 Projekt Stocznia, Gdańsk
2021.06.09 ArchEvent, Olsztyn

2020
2020.09.03 ArchEvent, Warszawa
2020.01.24 KASA, Jelenia Góra

2019
2019.11.19 ArchEvent, Poznań
2019.06.04 Meta, TU Wrocław
2019.05.27 Perspective 2019, Rome
2019.04.25 ArchEvent, Łódź 
2019.02.14 Budma, Poznań

2018
2019.10.26 TU Vilnus
2019.09.13 ArchEvent, Wrocław
2018.05.22 Perspective 2018, Venice

2017
2017.12.07 Different Perspectives, Kruh, Prague
2017.10.05 Archiblok, Lódź Design Festival
2017.05.16 Perspective EU, Venice 
2017.04.21 III Forum of Culture, Rybnik
2017.04.05 The University of the Third Age, Koszalin

2016
2016.12.19 TU Poznan 
2016.09.27 Beijing Design Week
2016.09.24 Triennale, Bucharest
2016.07.18 FH Erfurt 
2016.06.16 HBC Biberach

2015
2015.12.10 TU Wroclaw
2015.12.02 Made in Koszalin 
2015.04.24 Architektour, Walbrzych 

2014
2014.12.04 Poznan
2014.10.17 Westival, Szczecin 
2014.05.30 Kawalek Podlogi, Koszalin 
2014.05.16 TU Lublin 
2014.04.24 EL Gallery, Elblag 

2013
2013.10.24 Academy of Fine Arts, Wroclaw 

2012
2012.10.25 TU Warsaw 

2010
2010.11.25 TU Kielce 
2010.05.26 TU Wroclaw 

2009
2009.12.10 SARP Gallery, Katowice 
2009.04.29 School of Architecture, Wismar, Germany 

2008
2008.01.10 Szczecin 

2005
2005.11.25 DAZ, Berlin, Germany  

2004
2004.11.29 Manggha, Krakow 
2004.05.06 Museum of Architecture, Wroclaw 
2004.04.24 Spiritual Places, TU Warszawa
2004.04.21 TU Gliwice 
2004.02.11 Fabryka Trzciny, Warszawa 

2003
2003.12.09 Poznan 
2003.07.10 FH Dusseldorf, Germany 

H10

Single Family House
location: Czerwonak, Poznan
project: 2005, private competition entry, 1st Prize

 

The introverted nature of house was the result of the tastes and the way of the investor’s life. All the rooms were grouped around the unroofed patio opened onto the southern part of the plot with, which is closed by a deciduous forest. It is only the guest room and kitchen with the view to driveway which do not follow this rule.   Such an internal organization is reflected from the outside by the massive brick walls with the rare (controlled) window openings and the light wooden facades half filled with glass from the side of the patio. 

The functional programme was divided into four sections: a sleeping section, an entrance area with a guest room, a living room with a kitchen, and an outside terrace to complement the regular arrangement of the whole layout. Each of these sections was located on different levels (a difference of 50 cm) for which the slope of the land in the southern direction of the plot was used. 

The whole building was covered with a multi-slope roof, whose geometry results from the spatial arrangement of the interior and also indirecly from the existing layout of the land. At the same time, the surface material of the roof is identical with the material of the wall. The central part of the arrangement is a patio with a centrally located newly planted deciduous tree.

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team: 
rafal sobieraj, wojciech subalski, adam kulesza, lukasz gąsiorowski

Building Footprint: 322,8 m2
Net Floor Area: 319,7 m2
Gross Floor Area: 403,11 m2

 

Publications:

Architektura i Biznes, 2006 

 

 

H9

Single Family House
location: Koszalin, Lubiatowo
project: 2005-06
construction: 2006-08

 

The first line on paper is already a measure of what cannot be expressed fully. The first line on paper is less.
Louis I. Kahn “Form and Design”
(in “the Voice of America Forum Lectures” 1960)

It was not to be an exceptional house. The architect’s own house was treated as any other design in hs99 studio, and as any other designs, it received its number. In principle, this was to be a small, light and one-storey house with a clearly defined functional programme and budget.   The house was designed in a suburban district of Koszalin, which as recently as till the mid 1990s was a village with a partially preserved buildings characteristic for this region.  

Located parallel to the road, the house divides the external area into public and private spaces. A garage was given up, and parking spaces for two cars were located directly by the road, outside the fence surrounding the plot. The chief purpose of the design was an attempt of a new interpretation of the type of a house with “detached maintenance rooms”, which divide the interior into various functional areas.  

The internal space was organized on a plan of three squares. The middle one, not divided by walls, constitutes the central part of the house, which centres the daily life of the occupants around the kitchen, the table and the fireplace. Two side squares include the connecting area comprised of patios and maintenance rooms, which separate the central part from the individual rooms. Fully glazed in walls adjacent to the patios provides a visual contact between the living room, the bedroom and the study. This also allows a smooth penetration of the internal space, making the relations between these zones different from the commonplace ones.  

It was deliberate choice not to accent the entrance and to resign from a porch and a canopy. In spite of a lot of glazing, the house has a rather introvert nature. While inside, you are in a slightly different and orderly world, the exit from which is not so obvious.   The materials used for the realization is the brick typical for this region, combined with wood, as well as cobblestones with irregular shapes, resembling the ones put on the main road in the village.   As a rule, the design does not posses any refined details; it limits itself to defining only those things which are essential for it to exist. Not enough?

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
photo: 
jakub certowicz (2006), marcin czechowicz (2008), piotr krajewski (2011), juliusz sokołowski (2013)
status:
completed

Building Footprint: 151,0 m2
Net Floor Area: 121,0 m2
Gross Floor Area: 151,0 m2
Volume: 528,0 m3

 

Publications: 

1. Kontext a Typologie, KRUH, Texty o Architekture 2015-2018 
2. Die Klugen unter den Schonen
, Bauwelt 3.14
3. At home with the Architect, culture.pl
4. For Example. New Polish HouseCentrum Architektury 2013
5. Great Villas of Poland, Foibos publishing 2013
6. Dom Piotra Smierzewskiego w Koszalinie, Architektura 08/2008
7. Piotr Smierzewski’s clear and formal home in Koszalin-Lubiatowo, A10 #21 2008
8. Polen Architektur, Wien 2008

 

Exhibitions: 

1. Design and Art, National Museum in Gdansk-Oliwa, 2015
2. For Example. New Polish House, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2013  – Warszawa, Wrocław, 2014 – Berlin, Wien, Madrid, 2015 – Vilnius,
3. Great Villas of Poland, Museum of Architecture, Wroclaw 2013
4. Polen Architektur, Wien 2008 

 

Lectures Series 

 

Zalew Architektury (Lagoon of Architecture) and Morze Architektury (Sea of Architecture) are lecture series organized by SARP (Association of Polish Architects) Szczecin and Koszalin, which aim in improving architectural awareness in the local community. The first edition of SOA started in January 2016 with the lecture of Stanislaw Niemczyk, the first edition of LOA in November 2021 with the lecture of Przemo Łukasik from Medusa Group. 

 

ZALEW ARCHITEKTURY

 

ZA-IV: ŚLĄSK

18.01.2024 Aleksander Bednarski, Mariusz Komraus, SLAS 

 

14.12.2023 Jacek Krych, JRK 

 

16.11.2023 Oskar Grąbczewski, OVO 

 

26.10.2023 Ewa Janik, MOC 

 


29.06.2023 Marlena Wolnik, MWA 

 

 

ZA-III: MIESZKAĆ

25.05.2023 Wojciech Kotecki, Bartosz Świniarski, BBGK

27.04.2023 Marcin Kościuch, ULTRA

30.03.2023 Krzysztof Mycielski, GRUPA 5

26.01.2023 Marcin Major, MAJOR

ZA-II: STARE I NOWE

15.12.2022 Marcin Brataniec, eM4
20.10.2022 Roman Rutkowski, RRA
09.06.2022 Marta Sękulska Wrońska, WXCA

 

ZA-I: MŁODA POLSKA

 21.04.2022 Hugon Kowalski, UGO
17.03.2022 Magdalena Orzeł-Rurańska, Kinga Bączyk, K3XMORE
17.02.2022 Tomasz Trzupek, TRZUPKI
20.01.2022 Barbara Nawrocka, Dominika Wilczyńska, MIASTOPRACOWNIA 
16.12.2021  Wojciech Mazan, Bartosz Kowal, PROLOG

 

ZA: INAUGURACJA

18.11.2021 Przemo Łukasik, MEDUSA Group

 

 

MORZE ARCHITEKTURY 

 

 

MA-I: ŚLĄSK NAD MORZEM 

16.06.2016 Robert Konieczny, KWK PROMES 
19.05 JOJKO, NAWROCKI 
21.04 Jacek Krych, JRK 
17.03.2015 Przemo Łukasik, MEDUSA Group 
18.02 Andrzej Duda, Henryk Zubel 
21.01 Stanisław Niemczyk  

 

MoA

Museum of Architecture
location: Wroclaw
project: 2005, competition, 2nd Prize

 

The museum’s new building realizes the accepted urban planning objectives, whose most important element is the formal and functional independence of the new form. This form, situated on the historical development line, is in a dialogue with other important buildings both in the semantic sense (the Racławicka Panorama) and in the urban sense (the Post Office building). 

The museum’s new building was designed as a cube with a 24 metre side. Our contact with the building starts from the box office lounge, which precedes a small exhibition hall. The main element of the lounge is wide stairs leading to the underground space and narrow stairs leading to the upper floors. The wide stairs lead to a large lounge (lit by the patio), from where a cloakroom and toilet complex is available, a coffee shop, a conference hall and the main entrance to the Old Museum. The stairs running up lead to the Great Hall. On the half way, they reach the library floor. All the time which ascending and descending the stairs, the visitors can enjoy the view of the Slowacki Park and the Old Museum. 

One of the principles accepted while forming the Old Museum is the minimum necessary interference with the historic tissue of the building. A single space of the basilica and the subordination of the longitudinal axis in its formation were the reasons of the axial designation of two exhibit halls in the aisle and one exhibit hall in the presbytery. 

The glass façades of the New Museum reflect the accepted building’s structure. Three orders were imposed on the façades. The first, neutral one – which reflects the structure of the building’s construction – is eight three-metre high strips of hardened glass. The second order is the transparency of the panes decreasing in the upward direction, achieved through an overprint thickening in a geometric progression (from 100% on the lowest strip to 0% on the highest one). This corresponds with the functional dispositions – the Great Hall – lit from the above has opaque walls, the Small Hall – daily light from the façade, with a full contact with the immediate surrounding. The third order is manifested in the façade,s tectonics.

 

architect:
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team: 
kuba florek, adam kulesza

Gross Floor Area: 4477,6 m2
Volume: 13824,0 m3

 

Publications: 
HS99 niematerialne, Archivolta 4(44)/2009

 

H8

Single Family House
location: Jozefow, b. Warsaw
project: 2004
construction: 2004-06

 

A vast pine wood which hides widely spaced houses forms the context in which H8 is located. Its modest, straightforward, orthogonal form does not make an attempt to rival the richness of the flora.   The location and form of the house divides the plot into two zones: a public one from the road and a private one from the garden. These two basic outer spaces, which start at the corners of the house, were closed with a fence made of horizontally oriented larch slats.  

The main body of the building is set parallel to the street. Before and after it, on its two ends, the body extends laterally to form a nighttime part on the first floor and the daytime part on the ground floor. The entrance hall is located between these zones and connects the foyer with the garden.  

The living area is organized around the detached one-flight stairway which divides the kitchen from the dining room and the living room on the ground floor, and the study from the patio on the first floor. This two-floor space joins both levels and finishes with a glazed patio façade which becomes, together with the trees, an integral part of the house interior.  

The building’s exterior is finished with brick veneer. The window openings were aligned with the exterior of the façade. The garage was encased with wooden slats similarly to those from the fence. A strongly emphasized horizontal direction of the house is in opposition to the tree trunks.

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team: 
rafal sobieraj, wojciech subalski
foto: 
juliusz sokolowski (2006)
status: 
completed

Building Footprint: 208,0 m2
Net Floor Area: 304,0 m2
Gross Floor Area: 383,0 m2
Volume: 1238,0 m3

 

Publications: 

H8 House in the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture, Phaidon 2008
Dom pod Warszawa, Architektura 08/2006
Laterizio e legno, CIL 126/2008 

 

 

CH

City Hall of Konstancin
location: Konstancin
project: 2004, competition, mention

 

The building was designed as an integral part of the landscape, where the protected trees were not cut down. Only the protective cylinders for the trees, which are located directly by the facade, cut the compact block. The compact block of the building has a favourable impact on the organization of the public space.  

Two entrances from two opposite sides of the building lead to the building. The main entrance to the town hall was located from the side of the pond. The second entrance was located from the side of square between the town hall and the bank. It serves above all those who come from the car parks.  

The Town Hall Square was designed between two pedestrian precincts in front of the Municipal Council Office building. It is not an ordinary square. A pond constitutes its part, while its surface is a platform from wooden beams arranged with intervals. In the platforms, large circles for trees were cut out. The non-typical floor of the square is to be associated with the nature of locality; it is a distant from the municipal typology. The solutions proposed give the surrounding area of the Town Hall the nature of a peculiar buckle which fastens the single elements of the health-resort together as a whole. They supplement these with a new functional and scenic dominant feature. 

The building was divided into three areas which were consistently introduced on all the storeys. The office rooms were situated in two strips located along the longer sides of the building. The middle area was reserved for the main functions of the building such as an entrance hall with a waiting room on the ground floor, an exhibition hall on the first and second floors in the middle part of the building. There is a buffet on the ground floor from the side of the street of Wilanowska, a room of wedding ceremonies on the first floor and a room of the town council on the second floor.

This centrally placed block with auxiliary rooms allows the concentration of systems in the same place and allows their optimal distribution vertically and horizontally. The strips of the office rooms can be modified and adapted to the changes of the organizational structure of the office building.   The facades of the new town hall constitute an attempt of a modern interpretation of the characteristic elements of the local architecture which makes use of wood as material for the facades.

The vertical elements, which are arranged in an irregular fashion, and which are filled up with glass with different degrees of transparency, have a conversation with the trees growing nearby. This conversation is also continued in the centre of the building through the irregularly arranged elements of the structure of the building and its fixtures and fittings. The windows were integrated with permanent glazings. The load-bearing structure of the facade was shifted outside, while the glazing was carried inside. This inverted glazing makes use of the thickness of the facade structure for the partial sun protection of the glazing and the rooms located directly behind the facade. 

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
model: 
pawel skora
status:
concept design 

 

Publications:
HS99 niematerialne, Archivolta 4(44)/2009

Exhibitions: 
Design and Art, National Museum in Gdansk-Oliwa, 2015

 

Chelmska

Pilgrimage Center
location: Koszalin, Chelmska Hill
project: 2004-06

 

Chełmska Hill is located within the borders of the town of Koszalin, and is one of the highest peaks in Middle Pomerania. During the Middle Ages, it was an important and well-known European pilgrimage site affiliated with the cult of the Blessed Mary. Since then it has been granted a recreational character. The only remaining element of this time period is the dominant 31.5m brick viewing tower built in 1888. The years of communism brought devastation and degradation to the Chełmska Hill. The decision to restore the Saint Mary’s Sanctuary finally put an end to this cycle of neglect. At present, apart from the viewing tower on the hill’s summit, there is a chapel to the Mother of God and a convent.  

The first stage of the redevelopment of Chełmska Hill (the second stage is an extension of the convent) consists of cleaning the hill from the remnants of the former, substandard buildings and erecting a cultural and educational centre, which will serve both the pilgrims and the residents of Koszalin. 

The viewing tower will remain the dominating element of the new complex. The design restores the splendour and importance to the amphitheatre park concept. Its axis is constituted by the framework of the whole composition, which is made up, apart from the tower, from a multifunctional building and an inclined platform. The tower, owing to its rank, is the only one to go beyond this axial order.   The inclined platform is not only a wide ramp, which joins the level of the square with the level of the tower entrance situated 1.7 m higher, but also a terrace and a well sunlit square, from which there is a view of the simplest yet the most important element: the chapel, the target of the pilgrimages.  

The platform, slightly ascending, is finished with a building and an entrance to its higher, conference level. The lower level, accessible from the amphitheater’s crown, is entirely occupied by a coffee shop and accompanying rooms. This double accessibility is reflected by the composition of the building, whose one of the main elements is a complex of two halls located on two levels, on two sides of the building, joined with a pair of stairs. An equally important element of the building’s composition is its almost ideal symmetry, which is the consequence of the composition of the land development. Parts of the building resting on supports include smaller meeting rooms. All the elements of the complex have been designed with varied use of brick veneer. 

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team: 
rafal sobieraj, wojciech subalski, adam kulesza
status:
construction cancelled

Building Footprint: 319,6 m2
Net Floor Area: 739,4 m2
Gross Floor Area: 860.0 m2
Volume: 3649,2 m3

 

PR01

Promykowa Estatment 
location: Koszalin, Promykowa St. 
project: 2004-05 
construction: 2005-08

 

PR01 terraced houses were meant as a proposal attainable for an average family dreaming of their own house. The place of execution – a city in the province, the cost of execution – cheap house instead of an apartment in the block of flats, areas of the plots – a minimum in the provisions of the plan, the size of units – reasonable management of square meters – all of this was to determine the tailor-made design, well-suited to the financial capabilities of a local customer (PLN 2,700/m2 with a basic finish level) and to their optimized needs. 

Polish construction law and zoning plans are very wasteful with regard to the financial resources of citizens, forcing high ceilings, large dimensions of stairs, dictating the types and angles of roofs, the size of plots, etc., heedless of the cost of designs prepared according to these assumptions. Why are much richer countries less strict in these assumptions?

The design stripped down most of the requirements under the regulations to a minimum, and only where additional values could be achieved without abusing the resources of investors, decisions were made to allow for “modest extravagance” – the height of living rooms, durable façade and roofing, wooden blinds. 

PR01 is also the voice of the authors on the quality of housing in the city. The compact terraced development makes full use of scarce resources of land available for development, while allowing for a sense of intimacy by residents.

Sticking to the principles above, it was possible to create a complex of modern houses, modest in form and function and economical in construction and use. Tailor-made. 

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team: 
jacek moczała, wojciech subalski, wojciech slupczynski, adam kulesza
foto: 
wojciech krynski (2009), piotr smierzewski
status:
completed

Building Footprint: 1302,0 m2
Net Floor Area: 2294,0 m2
Gross Floor Area: 3057,0 m2
Volume: 9248,0 m3

 

Publications: 

Zespol domow szeregowych na Osiedlu Slonecznym w Koszalinie, Architektura 01/2010

 

Critical review of the Competition Entries for the extension of Raczynski Library in Poznan. 

The Raczynski Library was founded by Count Edward Raczynski (1786-1845), a nobleman of the Wielkopolska region, social activist, patron of art and science, writer, and publisher. The opening of the Library took place on May 5th, 1829, in a building erected specially for Library purposes at what today is Wolnosci Square 19. Raczynski wished the first public library in the Wielkopolska region to be a center of Polish culture under Prussian rule.

He drew up a status defining the financial grounds of the institution, its organization, objectives and rules of book collection, in which he wrote: “I, the undersigned, overwhelmed with a desire to make the means to education and information accessible to everyone, hereby establish a public library in Poznan, the place of my birth. The library, along with the building erected (…) for its purposes, with all the books currently housed in the facility, and with funds allocated for remuneration, shall come into the perpetual possession of the city.  (…) The objective of the Raczynski Library is to make its reading room, which is soon to be opened, accessible to everyone, regardless of user’s status, on fixed days and hours.” 

www.bracz.edu.pl 

 

 

Piotr Smierzewski’s opinion about the new Metropolitan Building in Warsaw, designed by Norman Foster. 

“Tremendous excitement – the idea of doing something in Warsaw, doing something for Gerald Hines – our first project in Central Europe. I think there was a real passion to respond to the rich historical heritage of Pilsudski Square with a contemporary building. Our starting point was to respect the fact that all the buildings around the square have a uniform height. 

We wanted to create a building that is transparent for those who use it – with fantastic views – but which also appears solid like all the surrounding buildings. That was a real challenge. The solution is the vertical granite fins – viewed obliquely the façade appears to be made of solid stone, but becomes more transparent when viewed straight on.”

Norman Foster, www.metropolitan.waw.pl 

 

Critic


LPP Fashion Lab w Gdańsku, Architektura 09/2021
Rosevia,
Piotr Smierzewski, Architektura 08/2017
Spektakularna Przestrzeń
, Centrum Dialogu Przełomy, Architektura 04/2016
Współczesna Architektura Gmachów Publicznych, Narodowe Forum Muzyki,  Architektura 10/2015 
Abstrakcja i Puryzm, Filharmonia Szczecińska, Architektura 07/2014
Siedziba Filharmonii w Koszalinie, Architektura 06/2014
Komentarz do Projektów Konkursowych, Biblioteka Raczyńskich, Architektura 04/2004 
Metropolitan, Architektura 10/2003 

H6 
location: Mielno, b. Koszalin
project: 2002 
construction: 2003-2013

architect: HS99, dariusz herman, piotr smierzewski 

Building Footprint: 127,8 m2 
Net Floor Area: 156,7 m2 
Volume: 840,2 m3 

This building was located in a seaside plot near Koszalin. The ground floor was designed as an open space with a separated block of auxiliary rooms, which gives functional zones of this part of the house: the living room and the kitchen and the dining room. The first floor includes rooms for individual use and a bathroom located directly over the block of auxiliary rooms.  The facades were made different considering the directions of the world and the relation of the building to the sea. The north facade from the side of the sea, taking into consideration winds, was designed as ceramic with a small number of window openings. The south facade was designed as made of wood with one half of it glazed in. The remaining ones are totally glazed in and shadowed by wooden balconies.  

Publications:  
Nowoczesny Dom, Dom&Wnetrze 02/2004 
Zlamany w pol, Dom Doskonaly 02/2005 

Awards:  
3rd Prize in competition “Project of The Year” organised by Dom&Wnetrze 

 

 

H6

Single Family House
location: Mielno, Gdanska St. 
project: 2002-03
construction: 2003-16

 

This building was located in a seaside plot near Koszalin. The ground floor was designed as an open space with a separated block of auxiliary rooms, which gives functional zones of this part of the house: the living room and the kitchen and the dining room. The first floor includes rooms for individual use and a bathroom located directly over the block of auxiliary rooms.  

The facades were made different considering the directions of the world and the relation of the building to the sea. The north facade from the side of the sea, taking into consideration winds, was designed as ceramic with a small number of window openings. The south facade was designed as made of wood with one half of it glazed in. The remaining ones are totally glazed in and shadowed by wooden balconies.  

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin

Building Footprint: 127,8 m2 
Net Floor Area: 156,7 m2 
Volume: 840,2 m3 

 

Publications:  

Nowoczesny Dom, Dom&Wnetrze 02/2004 
Zlamany w pol, Dom Doskonaly 02/2005 

 

Awards:  

3rd Prize in competition “Project of The Year” organised by Dom&Wnetrze 

 

H5

Single Family House
location: Nowe Bielice, b. Koszalin 
project: 2002
construction: 01.04.2002-15.08.2002

 

This relatively small single-family house is located in the outskirts of the town of Koszalin, in a new exclusive residential district. The diversity of the newly erected buildings, together with the existing residential buildings, form a development chaotic in its nature.  It was the investor’s wish that this be a one-storey building with a strictly defined programme and budget, and with its realization time reduced to a minimum. The consequence of the design guidelines was a detached building without a basement, in the technology of a prefabricated wooden framework, on a reinforced concrete slab. 

 

 

Lack of clear regulation lines along the road enabled the building to be moved away from the road and withdrawn towards the east side of the plot. The west side of the plot was left undeveloped. It now constitutes the recreational area of the plot fenced from its three sides with a high hedge (a former orchard). The access road to the property was planned from the north side, therefore the existing road was used. To the north of the residential building, there is a car shelter with a box for garden tools. 

The whole facade of the building was designed from wooden beams located horizontally. The proposed façade from non-varnished larch wood reacts to changeable weather conditions (sun and rain), and thus has a dialogue with the garden, which is subject to cyclic and constant changes. The changeable weather conditions, seasons of the year and the passing time, provide numerous themes.  The building was constructed by a company from Koszalin, which deals with the production of ready houses in wood technology, which are traditional in their forms. 

 

architect: 
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team: 
mateusz polak, dariusz cyparski
foto: 
Piotr Smierzewski (2002), Piotr Krajewski (2011)

Building Footprint: 121,0 m2
Net Floor Area: 103,0 m2
Gross Floor Area: 121,0 m2
Volume: 416,0 m3

 

Publications: 
1. Dom w Nowych Bielicach, Architektura 3/2003
2. Great Polish Villas, Foibos publishing, 2013 

 

Exhibitions: 
Great Polish Villas, Museum of Architecture, Wroclaw 2013

 

 

CINiBA

The Scientific Information Centre and Academic Library
location: Katowice, ul. Bankowa
project: 2002, competition, 1st prize
design: 2002-2004
construction: 2009-2011

 

The Silesian University is currently housed in a complex of buildings adapted from the facilities of the former Teachers’ Training College. This unpremeditated development did not suitably reflect the prestige of this institution which is well-renowned throughout Poland. Thus, the design of the new library has become a catalyst for establishing a new campus redevelopment plan to be implemented in the coming years. 

Located at the intersection of the east-west axis that forms the spine of the campus, and the north-south axis which connects the recreational grounds by the river to land set aside for further university expansion, the library reinforces the axial organization which has so far been poorly articulated. A central university square at the foot of the library, the FORUM, generates a civic gathering place that opens onto the library’s grand three stores atrium. 

The height of the library has been determined by the average height of buildings on the university campus. The north elevation surpassing this height is directed towards the FORUM and houses the library’s closed stacks. This elevation emphasizes the rank and function of the FORUM and is in dialogue with the existing tall buildings which close the east-west axis.

The facades, clad in a repetitious fabric of rich kahan red sandstone, relate to the raw clay bricks on the neighbouring buildings without the connotation of scale inherent to a singular brick element. The exterior treatment abstracts the building’s function of organized book storing while introducing a notion of mystery inseparably connected to books. 

The lack of discernible scale produces a monolith when seen from afar that is gradually familiarized. Details such as the decreasing proportions of the façade tiling, the irregular cut of the sandstone slabs, as well as the windows carefully nested inside become visible.

The fenestration projects a stunning patchwork of light onto the FORUM at night, yet in the daytime allows diffused light to permeate into the library’s reading rooms. The resulting strongly introverted interior composition of the library floors focuses one’s attention onto the books while calming the space. Partial isolation from the external world not only influences the atmosphere within but also introduces a flow of time detached from the pulse of the surrounding city. 

 

architect:
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project architect: 
rafal sobieraj, wojciech subalski
project team: 
adam kulesza, jacek moczala, wojciech slupczynski
foto: 
jakub certowicz, tomasz zakrzewski,
status:
completed

Building Footprint: 2 910 m2
Net Floor Area: 12 273 m2
Gross Floor Area: 13 260 m2
Volume: 62 560 m3
Maximum Volume Storage: 2 000 000 books

 

Publications: 

Kontext a Typologie, KRUH, Texty o Architekture 2015-2018 
Michael Webb, Architecture Renaissance for Poland, The Plan 099 / 2017
East Centric 2016, Arhitext 4/2017    
 Form Follows Freedom,
Nuova Biblioteca del Campus universitario di Katowice, I’industria delle costruzioni 442, 2015
CINiBA, Zhang Dali, Wang Panqing, Masonry: Material and Structure, 2015
CINiBA, Katowice, Poland, M. Roth, Masterpieces: Library Architecture + Design
Scientific Information Centre and Academic Library, Arhitext 03/2014
Co architektura mówi o nas, Gazeta Wyborcza 03.10.2014
Kolekcja Architektury Murator, Architektura 10/2014
Przestrzenie wiedzy, Autoportret 44
Metropolregion Katowice, “interior design 07-08/2013” by Detail and Grid
Mies van der Rohe Award 2013, Barcelona 2013
Special space, “Modern Decoration” 2/2013 (273)
Polish Architecture in transition, Mark 42 – 02/03 2013
Zycie w Architekturze, Architektura 02/2013
Rudzielec z Katowic, AiB 12/2012
Best polish architecture of the 21st Century, Gazeta Wyborcza 07.12.2012
How to read a Library, Gazeta Wyborcza, Katowice 05.10.2012
Biblioteka w KatowicachArchitektura 10/2012  
Do czytania i oglądania, Polityka 23.05.2012
+12 731 716 Euro, Era 21 02/2012
Update: University Libraries, A10 #44 – 03/04 2012
101 Najciekawszych Polskich budynków dekadyAgora, 2011
Architektura Roku Wojewodztwa Slaskiego,  Arch #9 2011
Lucidus Ordo, Bibliotheca Nostra 2(24) 2011
Biblioteki świata, które trzeba zobaczyć, Newsweek 9/2011
Intrygujaca fuga na 4004 okna, R. Nakonieczny, Almanach 2010
Knihovna Slezske Univerzity v Katovicich, era 21 6/07
Galeria Jednego Projektu, MA Wrocław, 2007
1000x European Architecture, Verlags Braun, 2006
Emerging Polish Architecture, Word Architecture 05/2005
University Library, Katowice, A10 04/2005
321, Nowa Architektura w Japonii i Polsce, Manggha, Kraków 2005
Biblioteka UŚ, Architektura i Biznes 02/2003

 

Exhibitions:

2015 Polska. Architecture, Baku
2014 Architektura’s Collection in Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw
2014 Architektura Małopolski i Śląska, Kraków
2013 Mies van der Rohe Award 2013, Barcelona
2011 Architektura Roku Województwa Śląskiego, Katowice
2009 Wild, Wild East, Hamburg
2005 Emerging Identities-East, DAZ Berlin
2004 321, Nowa Architektura w Japonii i Polsce, Kraków, Rzym, Mediolan
2004 Biblioteka Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach, Muzeum Architektury, Wrocław
2003 Młoda Architektura Polska, Muzeum Architektury, Wrocław

 

Awards: 

2013 “Annual Public Space Award of the 11th (2013) Modern Decoration International Media Prize
2013 CINiBA shortlisted in Mies van der Rohe Award
2013 ArchDaily Building Of The Year 2012 – Museums and Libraries category
2013 Nominacja do Nagrody im. Miesa van der Rohe: CINiBA
2012 Grand Prix Życie w Architekturze za Najlepsza Realizacje 2000- 2012: CINiBA
2012 Główna Nagroda Życia w Architekturze za Najlepszy Budynek Użytecznosci Publicznej 2000-2012: CINiBA
2012 Nagroda SARP za Najlepszy Budynek Wzniesiony ze Srodków Publicznych: CINiBA
2012 Nagroda Polskiego Cementu: CINiBA
2012 Laureat Nagrody Architektonicznej Polityki: CINiBA
2012 Pierwsze Miejsce w Plebistycie Architektonicznym Bryła Roku: CINiBA
2011 Grand Prix Architektura Roku Województwa Slaskiego: CINiBA

 

 

 

 

It is not the buildings of our town that have set a mark in our imagination. Its low architectural rank was additionally deteriorated by the surroundings degraded with the war devastation and the socialist urban thought. Our town is a ring with an ugly stone, yet a beautiful frame in the form of forests, lakes, the sea and … dunes. 

Sand dunes are the place where three elements meet: the earth, the sea and the air. This is a battlefield, where one of the forces has a momentary victory. The wind attacks one or the other rival. Trees are motionless witnesses. Regardless of the result of the war, they are always losers.

Sand dunes constitute a specific space, something of the opposite of an oasis surrounded not by a dessert but by the human civilization. The awareness of the vicinity of the urbanized world intensifies the feeling of a contrast. A moment of marching takes us into another and surprising area. The feelings we have are multiple, from admiration to fear. 

Sand dunes are a slow place. One may think that time adapts itself to the toil of marching in the sand. Time loses its cycle and is not measured by the sun but by storms. It is hard to tell the seasons from one another. 

Our senses, used to strong stimuli, only after a time begin to tell the difference between subtleties from which the images, sounds and scents of dunes are composed. The textures on the sand, written by the wind, rain and animals are astonishing with their uniqueness and richness. These are the papillary ridges of the elements. Here we can see how many colours the light has.  

The primeval nature of this place, the mystery of time and light, the frames of trees, and sand moving under one?s feet, all of this fills one with anxiety, but also with admiration of nature. It is here, like in very few places, that one feels transcendence. Sand dunes are of a whimsical nature. Multiplicity of countenances, from a sunny idyll to turpist darkness, makes it impossible to describe dunes in any other way than subjectively and only at a given moment.

fot. M. Czechowicz

 

Awards


2020 A+AWARD,
Winner, Factory Full of Life
2020 The Plan  Award, Shortlisted, Factory Full of Life

2018 The Plan Award 2018, Winner Future-Renovation Category

2017 Made in Koszalin, Culture and Design category for ANALOG

2015 Made in Koszalin, Main Award in Culture and Design category for HS99. 
2015 Brick Award – Grand Prix (polish edition): Koszalin, ZW 109
 
2013 Annual Public Space Award of the 11th (2013) Modern Decoration International Media Prize: CINiBA  
2013 “shortlisted” in Mies van der Rohe Award: CINiBA   
2013 ArchDaily Building Of The Year 2012 in Museums and Libraries category: CINiBA  
2013 Nomination for the Mies van der Rohe Award: CINiBA

2012 Grand Prix Life in Architecture for the best polish realisation  2000- 2012, President of Poland Award: CINiBA 
2012 Main Award Life in Architecture for the best public building  2000-2012: CINiBA 
2012 Nomination for the Life in Architecture Award in Residential Building category for SP06 (Villa Moderna)  
2012 SARP Award for the best building raised with public funds: CINiBA 
2012 Polish Cement Award: CINiBA 
2012 First Polityka’s Architecture Award: CINiBA 
2012 Pierwsze Miejsce w Plebiscycie Architektonicznym Portalu Sztuka Architektury: CINiBA  
2012 Pierwsze Miejsce w Plebiscycie Architektonicznym Bryła Roku: CINiBA

2011 Grand Prix Architektura Roku Województwa Śląskiego: CINiBA 

2004 Dom & Wnętrze Award, House of the Year, 3rd place: H6 


Competitions: 

2023 TBS Stargard – 1st prize 

2021 Sosnowiec, Teatr Zagłębia – 1st prize 

2020 Katowice, Parking in The Culture Zone – mention 

2019 Wyspiański Museum, Kraków – the Final Selection

2018 Dąbrowa Górnicza, City Center – 1st prize
2018 Warszawa, Students Housing – 3rd prize 

2017 Wloclawek, Revitalisation Center – 1st prize

2015 Rybnik, School of Music – 1st prize
2015 Krakow, National Museum – 3rd prize 

2014 Piła, Mediatheque – mention
2014 Poznań, School of Music – mention 

2013 Wałbrzych, CKiWG (Sudetian Philharmonic Hall) – 1st prize

2011 Gdańsk, Gasworks – 2nd prize
2011 Opole, Newton Center – 3rd prize

2010 Koszalin, Funeral Chapel – 3rd prize 

2009 Koszalin, Market Square – mention   
2009 Bydgoszcz, City Hall – mention 

2007 Gdańsk, KCiK/Faculty of Informatic – 1st prize
2007 Szczecin, Philharmony – mention 
2007 Katowice, Silesian Museum – mention 

2005 Wrocław, Museum of Architecture – 2nd prize
2005 Warszawa, Chopin Centre – mention 

2004 Konstancin-Jeziorna, City Hall – mention 

2002 Katowice, University Library – 1st prize 

1998 Koszalin, Underground Sacristy – 1st prize 

1997 Koszalin, Głos Pomorza – 1st prize 

1996 Stuttensee, Raiffeisenbank – mention 
1996 Koszalin, Radio Koszalin – 2nd prize

1995 Wiesloch, Volksbank – mention 
1995 Koszalin, Mury Miejskie – special mention 

1994 Koeln, Baulucke – shortlisted 

1993 Liege, Europan 3 – special mention

 

Piotr Smierzewski

Education: 
1991-1992 Oklahoma State University, School of Architecture, USA, Master of Architecture, “Museum of Motion Picture in Hollywood” 
1990-1991 Goethe Institut in Iserlohn, Germany 
1983-1988 TU Gdansk, Poland, Master of Architecture, “Center of Cinema Culture in Koszalin” 

Experience: 
2016- ANALOG, Koszalin, Szczecin, Poland 
1999- HS99, Koszalin, Poland 
1995-1999 Piotr Smierzewski, Freier Architekt, Karlsruhe, Germany  
1994-1995 Prof. R. Kramm + A. Strigl, Darmstadt, Germany 
1992-1994 Manfred Raus, Freier Architekt, Karlsruhe, Germany 

Teaching: 
2013-2017 TU Koszalin, Poland, Lecturer 
1994-2000 TU Darmstadt, Germany, Assistant, Prof. B. Jakubeit/Prof. D. Eberle  
1992-1992 Oklahoma State University, School of Architecture, USA,  Teaching Assistantship in Design Studio 
1988-1990 TU Gdansk, Poland, Institute of Health Service Architecture, Teaching in 2nd and 3rd year Design Studios 

 

 

Market

Market Square
location: Koszalin, Rynek Staromiejski 
project: 2001

 

The following design work constitutes the main elements of this concept:
– location of an underground car park for 150 vehicles under the market square area;
– location of a public utility building along the west frontage of the market square (functions related with the development and promotion of the town);
– a new form of the market square plane and extending its pavement to the town hall;
– optionally (depending of the results of archaeological work): location of a permanent archaeological exhibition under the market square area. 

Basement: direct communication with the car park; it is here that the rooms connected with the operation of the car park and the technical facilities are located. Both the stairs and the lift lead to the market square area and further into the building.

Ground floor: the information centre of Koszalin (from the street of Zwycięstwa), also a tourist information centre, a cafe, a two-floor lecture hall for 150 people, which makes use of the decline of the ramp of the access to the garage to organize the audience area.

First floor: a two-floor exhibition hall (liquidation of the Office of Artistic Exhibitions /BWA/, limited opening hours of the art gallery in the Town Hall; this generates the demand for a small hall for exhibitions), accessed directly from the square through an external staircase and a lift for disabled people; a cafe entresol (which may serve as catering facilities area for events organized in the lecture hall).

Second floor: from the street of Zwycięstwa: an entresol of the exhibition hall; in the remaining part, a function connected with the development and promotion of the town. 

The Market Square area starts by the wall of the Town Hall and continues southwards to the pavement in the street of Zwycięstwa. In the perpendicular direction, it starts at the west frontage and runs over the greenery belt. The building runs eastwards to the water and greenery belt located by the street of Młyńska. This direction is emphasized with stripes which articulate the rhythm of the underground structure and the structure of the building. This division is accented with street lamps which finish the Market Square area. Behind the row of the street lamps, there is a belt with exits from the underground car park and benches. This area is separated from the greenery with a water body including fountains.

The Market Square area was made even; three ramps secure collision-free communication with the surrounding area. The first one is located at the boundary of the Market Square area and the pavement in the street of Zwycięstwa; it runs along the length of this boundary (from the building to the greenery area). The second one is located on the level of the second floor passage under the building; it connects the Market Square area with the west frontage. The pavement along this frontage was made even, owing to which the terrace and the stairs by the shops could be demolished. The third ramp connects the level of this pavement with the area of the square in the north-west part. 

Should any foundations or basements of the medieval town hall for example be found during earthworks, a permanent archaeological exhibition might be organized in this place, even at the cost of resigning from several dozen or so of parking spaces.

The Market Square is where various outdoor events are organized. The organization of the Market Square space makes it possible to orient these in two ways: north-south as until now, and additionally east-west. As regards this second orientation, it is not necessary to close the traffic from the street of Młyńska. 

 

architect:
HS99 Herman i Smierzewski, Koszalin
project team: 
filip gołębiowski, dariusz cyparski, mateusz polak

Building Footprint: 512,0 m2
Net Floor Area: 1103,5 m2
Gross Floor Area: 1258,0 m2
Volume: 5252,0 m2

 

Galeria Emka
location: Koszalin, ul. Jana Pawla II
project: 2000-01 
construction: 2001-02 

architect: HS99, dariusz herman, piotr smierzewski 
project team: filip golebiowski, dariusz cyparski, mateusz polak 
foto: daniel rumiancew (2002) 
status: completed 

Building Footprint: 10557 m2 
Net Floor Area: 21853 m2 
Gross Floor Area: 22679 m2 
Volume: 104565 m3 

The designed building is the first stage in a complex development called Papieski [Papal] Square 

Papieski Square is an undeveloped, well-connected piece of land covering approx. 5 hectares, which is part of a housing development extending along ul. Władysława IV. The development for the most part consists of multiple-occupancy residential buildings. Directly in the square, there is the Church of the Holy Spirit, identifying the area. Between the surrounding buildings, a lack of  clearly defined public spaces can be observed, along with spatial disorganisation and a lack of developed green areas.

With its compact arrangement and the scale of the adopted solution, the chaotic development of this part of the city will become arranged and organized.

On the ground floor, there is a commercial space divided into different sized shop units located along the internal trade routes. The northern part of this floor is occupied by the space designated for handling deliveries and technical rooms. The functional structure of the storey is more complex. On this floor, as well as retail units, a recreational area is to be found, consisting of a bowling alley, a fitness centre, a children’s playground and various dining options. The recreational area has an additional separate entrance located on the side of the park. Both floors are connected by a two-storey hall (centre), with a glass top, around which most of the attractions will focus. In the hall escalators are located, forming the main mode of vertical transport.

The centre building is designed essentially as a two-storey building on the design module 10/10m using reinforced concrete pillar-slab technology.

The Investor resisted the idea of the uniform design of shop windows, opting instead for diversity, which he believes contributes to the attractiveness of the centre. What was left in the hands of chief designer is the concept at the very centre of the building, of a glazed, two-storey “atrium”.

On 20 June 2002 Galeria Emka took on a life of its own no longer influenced by designers but rather by the marketing department. Its destiny lies in their hands.

Publications:  
Galeria Emka, Architektura 9/2002 

 

Contact:

 

Piotr Smierzewski

 

Krzywoustego 63/4, 70-251 Szczecin, Poland, tel. +48 602 584 046 
Szymanowskiego 13/2, 75-573 Koszalin, Poland, tel. +48 602 583 454

e-mail: ps@ana-log.pl 

EXPO 2000

Polish Pavilion 
location: Hannover
project: 1999, competition entry

 

The main theme of this pavilion is equilibrium but not weight. It is not an object but a notion: an idea of equilibrium transported in an abstractive and logical manner into a specific architectural form.  With its composition, the building intentionally reduces its building area to a minimum, by which it is made similar to the structures of most of living organisms (e.g. trees). The space thus obtained allows one to organize outdoor events which encourage those passing by to visit the pavilion. It also adds a Polish motif to the main greenery belt running from the south to the north of the exhibition grounds.  

The massive first floor divides the area into two differently arranged zones. The south side of the plot is devoted to nature; it is freely arranged, which is evident in the modulation of the grounds with soil from foundation trenches. The north side, which has a closer contact with the entrance section and the main access routes to the exhibition area, is to display technology. 

The pavilion consists of two elements which are different as regards their formal and functional aspects: lower and upper, entrance and exhibition. The lower part, which is closed in the form of an elongated cuboid divided into massive and transparent zones, was established on the axis of the main entrance. The massive zone includes a number of auxiliary functions. The transparent zone is open towards the main access routes to the exhibition grounds. It constitutes a transitory space communicating with the external area. 

An entrance hall and a restaurant are located here. Owing to the concentration of the auxiliary function in the lower part, a less limited decor of the exhibition part is possible. The two elements, which are oriented differently (the axis of the first one is horizontal: east-west, and the axis of the second one is vertical: earth-sky), create two disparate moods. The lower part is ready to accept and neutralize chaos, while the upper section is filled with the right atmosphere for the contemplation of the exhibition. On the second floor (the first exhibition floor), the exhibition area is accompanied by the administration area. 

The facades reflect the main functional guidelines. The lower facade is extravert and communicates with the outside world. The upper one is introvert and is directed inwards; it communicates with the elements of the exhibition. The exhibition area has a contact only with this surrounding area which the man converted to a minimum extent. The exhibition area is encircled with a light double facade made of glass and filled in with conifer needles. 

The facade designed in such a manner gives a controlled transparency of the casing and an impression of massiveness from the outside; at the same time, it grants a poetic feeling to the boundary between the interior of the exhibition pavilion and the external space of EXPO. Such a facade could illustrate the motif of the cyclical character of nature. During the World Exhibition (late spring until autumn), the facade would adapt its colours to the natural cycle.

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe 
dariusz herman
status:
concept design

 

Publications:
1. Kontext a Typologie, KRUH, Texty o Architekture 2015-2018 
2. HS99 – Niematerialne, Archivolta 4(44)/2009  

 

H4

Single Family House
location: Koszalin, Morelowa St.
project: 1999

 

This facility is situated on a relatively large plot in a small housing complex located in an exclusive residential development estate in Koszalin. The designed house constitutes the first element of the housing complex including six houses of a similar nature and concentrated around their central public space.  

Through its orientation on the plot, the house is divided into two areas: the public area from the entrance and the private area from the garden. In this manner, the building forms a screen which separates the public space from the private section of the plot, which ensures intimacy.  

Such a spatial arrangement was transferred to the interior of the building. The spatial arrangement of this single-family house results from the fact of dividing it into two functional areas. From the entrance side, auxiliary rooms were located including an entrance hall, a kitchen, a pantry, a toilet and a passage to the garage. From the garden side, habitable rooms were located together with a study, stairs and also a gallery on the first floor. This gallery provides a contact between the first floor and the living room, and with the garden via a large glazing.    

This two-floor space connects the two floors and provides communication to the occupants. It ends with a glazed-in facade of the garden, which in this way becomes an integral part of the house interior.  

This two-floor building, without a basement, was designed in a slab-wall construction; the headers and binders are not articulated. All the constructional elements are within the thickness of the floor. The external walls are made of three layers with face brick on the outside. The internal load-bearing walls are made of brick and are plastered; the internal partition walls are made of plaster panels.  

The building was finished with face clinker brick. The outer measurements of the house were selected in such a way that only whole brick modules or halves of bricks could be used. All the windows were designed to be made of wood. The two-floor wooden facade from the garden side was individually designed on the basic window module. 

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe 
dariusz herman 
status:
concept design

 

Publications: 
Dom otwarty, Top Dom 02/2002

In their commentary called “Under the roofs of Koszalin”, architects Dariusz Herman and Piotr Smierzewski point out that they have some doubts as to the strategy proposed by Professor Bronic-Czerechowski. They say this project does not sufficiently account for the role and significance of the traditional city centre. Actually, Koszalin does not have a well-articulated historic centre which could bear the competition of a peripherally located and well communicated commercial centre whose total area would exceed that of the services offered in the city centre. Considering the city’s limited funds for development, this could mean withdrawal of capital from the city centres for a number years to come. The concentration of the city’s fund and potential in the Papal Plaza postpones, and perhaps even blocks for good, the restoration of the old city centre to its original significance.

The gap in the continuity of the historical tradition of our nation has in the recent years instigated a reaction of heightened interest in our “family roots”. The desperate search for ancestors among the gentry is now often reflected in the architecture of the single-family house. Thus the homes of today fail to reflect the spirit of the time, the wealth of available materials and technologies, not mention the financial potentils. The housing estates built in the 1960s and 1970s on the peripheries of urban areas were architectural caricatures of the modernist architecture of the 1920s. Today, the society’s negation of modernist architecture is the result of the poor quality of that poor-quality mass production spawned half a century later. But now, the generally accepted model of a landed-gentry manor house has also fallen victim to poor architectural standards. The small lots in the cities are hardly a backdrop for mansiones and palaces. 

 

Sacristy

Underground Sacristy at the Cathedral in Koszalin 
location: Koszalin, Laskonogiego
project: 1998-1999, competition 1st prize
construction: 1999-2001

 

The Koszalin Cathedral is the town’s most precious monument. Although it lacked sufficient space for an adequate sacristy, the architects refused to directly add onto the cathedral’s finite form. The decision to add an underground expansion connected to the existing sacristy by a stairway provided a solution that would also eliminate any elements that may tarnish the monument’s historical character.  

The concept of a somber, narrow corridor leading from an ascetic sacristy to the altar reinforces the symbolism of “per aspera ad astraad augusta per angst.” The climate and atmosphere create a setting for the priests’ moment of preparation in the sacristy and the meeting of sacrum at the Lord’s Table. The underground structure is divided into three main zones. The first zone an extension of the stairs that leads to the adjacent wardrobe and restrooms that constitute the second zone. Here valuable liturgical vessels are kept behind armored glass. The third is the sacristy proper that contains the priests’ wardrobes built into niches of the structural retaining walls. A lightwell tucked into a deep alcove illuminates a timber figure of the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of the parish. This small chapel is the place of prayers and concentration for the priests before the Holy Mass.  

Concrete, wood, stone, and glass are the only materials used for the construction and ornamentation. Proportions and detailing are articulated consistently throughout the space. The construction module is carried into the layout of the stone floor tiles, wooden furnishings, and lighting fixtures. Light emitted by the frosted artificial lighting takes on the same quality as the soft light coming from the square skylights. This unity establishes the calm, humble, and reflective nature of the new sacristy.   

 

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe 
dariusz herman
collaboration:
Filip Gołębiowski

Net Floor Area: 113,0 m2
Gross Floor Area: 121,05 m2
Volume: 468,0 m3

 

Publications:  

1. Kontext a Typologie, KRUH, Texty o Architekture 2015-2018 
2. Polen Architektur, Ringturm, Wien 2008
3. Emerging Polish Architecture, World Architecture 05/2005
4. Emerging Identities-East, DAZ Berlin 2005
5. 321, Nowa Architektura w Japonii i Polsce, 2005
6. Nastrojowy realizm (podziemna zakrystia przy Katedrze)Architektura 3/2001

 

Exhibitions:  

1. Polish Architecture Today, Kraków 2017
2. Polen Architektur, Wien 2008
3. Emerging Identities-East, DAZ Berlin 2005
4. New Architecture in Poland and Japan, Krakow, Rome, Venice, 2004

 

H3

Single Family House
location: Koszalin, Grabowa St.
project: 1998
construction: 1998-2008

 

The plot on which this house was designed is exceptional: a steep slope encircled with wood from north and with an orchard from west, and with a beautiful view of a green exclusive residential estate and the town centre of Koszalin.

The land to be developed is characterized by a horizon difference of ca. 6m, which runs along the north-south axis. It borders directly with a forest from north. The building was situated on the north-east corner of the plot parallel to the contour lines and the side of the forest. 

The building was composed of two blocks being perpendicular to each other and differing as regards their formal and functional aspects. The first one, which merges with the scarp, is the entrance section including the block of auxiliary rooms. It constitutes a support (together with the walls-pillars) for the main block: an elongated cuboid with strictly habitable rooms.  

Each of these sections was organized differently. The lower one reacts to the axis perpendicular to the contour lines, which combines the access to the plot with the entrance to the building. This system is reversed by 90 degrees on the upper floor. One-flight stairs, which end with a view of the town panorama, join the two floors. Owing to this composition, levelling of the ground can be avoided; this also does not obstruct waters flowing down the slope.  

The habitable rooms were composed on the axis running perpendicular to the contour lines and the side of the forest. Owing to such a location, these habitable rooms have a maximum of contact with the panorama of the town of Koszalin and the side of the forest from the north. Thanks to the grouping of the auxiliary rooms (the bathroom, toilet, utility room and the kitchen) in one detached functional block, the remaining of the floor was freed for purely habitable purposes. This block was located in such a manner that it could separate the private sphere (two identical bedrooms) from the representative area of the house. 

Owing to the elongated shape of the upper part of the building, a single-span structural wall-panel could be set there. It was an intentional choice not to articulate the window heads in order to make it possible to insert windows from the floor to the ceiling. The floors in the habitable part were made from industrial parquet in a light beech colour. The walls inside were plastered and painted white. The internal panelled doors with transoms were made in a light beech colour, while the door frames were assembled in the thickness of the doorway so that they could on the same level with the surface of the wall.

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe 
dariusz herman
status:
completed

 

Publications: 
Dom na cokole, Top Dom 2/2000

City Hall

Malsch City Hall 
location: Malsch, Germany
project: 1997

 

The project of the new city hall for a small city located in the northwestern corner of the Kraichgau south of the cities of Wiesloch and Walldorf in South-West  Germany.

 

“Das geplante Rathaus schließt den Kirchplatz von der südlichen Seite ab und vermittelt zwischen dem Platz vor der Kirche und dem Kirchengarten. Weiterhin wurde das Gebäude als Vermittler zwischen dem Platz vor der Kirche und der Landschaft geplant. Die im Norden zurückgesetzte Erdgeschoßzone öffnet sich zum Platz und beide Obergeschosse in Süden zur Landschaft.

Der Eingang wurde auf der Ecke vom Platz und Kirchberg eingerichtet, so das er vom Weiten (Kirchberg, Kirchengarten) sichtbar wird. Das Gebäude wurde in zwei Funktionszonen geteilt, die durch einen Erschließungstrakt verbunden sind.

Die innere Organisation wurde auf einer Achse, die parallel zur Kirchenachse verläuft, organisiert. Der mittlere Bereich enthält die Erschließungszone und öffnet sich zum Kirchengarten. Der nördliche Teil, der zum Platz vor der Kirche orientiert ist, wurde in oberen Geschossen mit repräsentativen Räumen (Sitzungssäle, Trauzimmer) ausgefüllt. Der südliche Teil enthält Büroräume.

Die Fassaden folgen dem Profil des Gebäudes. Zum Platz hin wurden strenge, eher geschlossenen Fassaden aus Sichtbeton geplant. Nur zurückgesetzte Erdgeschoßzone erhält offene Fassade, die mit Holzfenstern geschlossen ist. Im Hinterebereich, zur Friedhofstraße ist das Prinzip umgekehrt. Erdgeschoß wurde eher geschlossen gehalten und die zwei obere Geschosse, die mit Holzfenstern geschlossen sind, öffnen sich zum Ausblick und zur Landschaft”. 

 

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe 

 

GP

Glos Pomorza Headquarters
location: Koszalin, ul. Mickiewicza 24
project: 1997-98, competition – 1st Prize
construction: 2000-2001

 

The building which houses the editorial office of Głos Pomorza daily was erected in the north-east part of the former old town. Considering an irregular development, this is a special fragment of the town encircled with old city walls. This irregularity was the result of the fact that a Cistercian convent existed in this place when the town was located; after the convent had been secularized, a residence of Kamień bishop was situated here. The only element which remained is the former castle chapel, which is now an Orthodox church.   The design of the new seat of the editorial office of Głos Pomorza daily was treated as an opportunity to heal the whole area by the city walls in this part of the town. The chief deficiencies of the present state are as follows: lack of clear lines of the development, an undefined context of the Orthodox church and an accessibility of the Town Park.

Owing to the direct location of the building by the street of Mickiewicza, it was possible to organize the area by the church and restore to its former position in the urban planning context. A square is the main spatial element which organizes the area around the church. The building of Głos Pomorza constitutes the north frontage of this square. It is also here, from the side of the square, that the entrance to the building was located; this additionally emphasizes the function of the square. The axis of the square is at the same time the axis of the church. More important passages were designed parallel to it between the street of Mickiewicza and the Town Park.   A simple form based on a rectangle projection was the starting point of the body of the building; its height was limited to the cornice of the church. This form reacts with its structure, cut-outs and the facade composition to the urban-planning context of the place. Efforts were made to limit formal procedures only to the change of the material in the same plane so that the facades could have a maximum smoothness. 

With its materiality, the building of the editorial office intentionally emphasizes its novelty in this area: see the monochromatic facades (steel sheet, aluminum window sections and sun shutters). Nevertheless, it is its location, scale, and proportions which permanently link this building to this place. These are elements which do not follow fads. The purpose of resigning from the contextual use of materials for the facade is to focus on these timeless values in architecture.     

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe 
dariusz herman
collaboration: 
filip golebiowski, mateusz polak
status: 
completed

 

Building Footprint: 328 m2
Net Floor Area: 962 m2
Gross Floor Area: 1121 m2
Volume: 3565 m3

 

Publications: 

1. Kontext a Typologie, KRUH, Texty o Architekture 2015-2018 
2. 101 Landmarks of Contemporary Polish Architecture, Agora 2011
3. Głos Pomorza, Architektura 10/2001
4. Głos Pomorza, Architektura i Biznes, 1/1998

H2

Single Family House
location: Koszalin, Debowa St.
project: 1997

 

The H2 project constitutes an attempt to take a position to the development of a single-family houses estate, usually deprived of any character; many of such settlements were built in the post-war period in Poland. 

The building was organized on the axis which runs parallel to the longer border of the plot, which runs in the direction of north-east and south-west. The body of the building, the arrangements of the rooms and the composition of the facade are subordinated to this formal design axis. The basic form of the building was divided into three functional areas, which were formally articulated in various manners.  

The main area of the building, which includes the habitable part with a living room on the ground floor, and private rooms on the first floor, was designed within the basic body. The part with connecting rooms including the hall with vertical communication, the kitchen and the study on the ground floor and bathrooms on the first floor, comes out from the basic body towards the access to the plot. The utility section of the ground floor was inserted under the main body of the cuboid, which is cut out in this place, and separated from the habitable section of the ground floor by introducing a horizontal row of windows. The individual elements of the body composition were formally separated from one another by introducing spaces which divide these elements (glazing) and the use of different materials. 

The entrance to the building was located on the extension of the ramp leading to the access to the plot in the direction of the building, in the space between the utility part and the line of the rooms including the study, hall and the kitchen. The central part of the building including the vertical communication was designed as a two-floor space illuminated from above. This space was linked in the vertical direction with a massive wall which separates the auxiliary rooms from the purely habitable part. Along this part, light stairway was located (a steel and wood structure). 

The first floor includes four individual rooms of the same size yet with different relations to the external space of the building. The rooms located in the north-east part have an exit to a vast walled-off terrace opening towards the access to the plot. The rooms in the south-west part have this contact through the wall with three windows with a vertical format. By opening these windows fully, we have a walled-off balcony in these rooms. The gables of the main body of the building were fully opened and filled with glazing in wooden frames. These windows have the height of the storey, without any additional divisions. The side walls include low vertical openings in the direction of the main axis of the building, which serve to emphasize the main composition idea.    

The main “window” of the opening of the terrace on the first floor is located towards the access to the plot and parallel to the ramp which leads to the entrance door. 

architect: 
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe 
dariusz herman 

 

Publications:
1. Dom z płaskim dachem, Architektura i Biznes 02/1998 

 

Piotr Smierzewski 

Young Polish born architect Piotr Smierzewski graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Gdansk Technical University and obtained his Master’s Degree in Architecture at Oklahoma State University, where he also taught. He successfully took part in several competitions, including two editions of Europan – in 1993 (design a bridge-like house on the Meuse in Liege, Belgium, where he received specisl mention) and in 1996 (a linear centre for Dutch Randstadt metropole). The architect was also awarded in a 1996 competition for a new headquarters of Radio Koszalin, and his design reaches the final stage in competition for a infill development in Koeln (Ideenluecke, 1994), and Radio Krakow. The architecture proposed by Smierzewski is accurate, correct if conventional – inspired by modernism. He currently lives in Karlsruhe, runs his own practice and teaches at TH Darmstadt.  

AiB 

 

Contemporary Polish Architecture doesn’t exist. (…) 

The first text about contemporary polish architecture written for Architektura & Business monthly. 

RKo

Radio Koszalin
location: Koszalin, Pilsudskiego St.
project: 1996, competition – 2nd prize

 

The designed building consists of two basic parts (which differ regarding their functions, structure and the amount of fittings) and the space (the joint area) formed as a result of drawing the two buildings aside. The first block, which is standing closer to the street, houses offices and editors’ rooms. The second one, located at the back (in a quieter part of the plot) houses strictly radio and technical facilities (e.g. sound control rooms, studios, a newsroom etc.). The space formed as a result of shifting the two blocks aside constitutes an entrance hall and a communication space: the place of information flow and exchange. It is here where one can most fully experience both radio functions.  

Between these two functionally different elements of the broadcasting station, there is a flow of impulses, by which the building becomes similar to the schematic diagram of a radio receiver. Just like in a radio receiver, all the elements are encircled with a joint casing which emits information, all the parts of the buildings are combined into one block through the external part of the layered multimedia facade. Emission, which constitutes the basic function of the radio, is also one of the functions of the facade designed.  

The authors extend the phenomenon of the emission of the facades and propose a visual facade apart from the acoustic one. The devices installed between the facade layers would emit information (time, temperature, telephone numbers of the broadcasting station, the level of atmospheric pollution, frequency, news, etc.) as well as advertisements broadcasted simultaneously with radio advertisements, which may minimize the maintenance costs of the building.   

The purpose of encircling of the broadcast and recording block with fittings is to impart a technical nature to this part of the facility, and makes its function easily recognizable. Owing to the many planes and the transparence of the facades, the boundary disappears between the interior of the broadcasting station and the architecturally attractive urban space; these two merge and complement each other. 

In order to become a harmonious part of the small and historic architecture of the street of Pilsudskiego, the cubature is divided into two parts, with the first one of them (fitting with its size) being located in a place which emphasizes the characteristic rhythm of the street, and the technical block being withdrawn to the back of the plot. A harmony through opposition and not through similarity: this will serve to articulate the architectural honesty of the end of the millennium, and will create the frame for the function which uses the latest technical achievements (satellite communication, optical fibres, the Internet etc.). The neutral and contemporary character of the facade is to emphasize the value and authenticity of the existing building development. 

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe 
dariusz herman 

 

Publications: 
Radio Koszalin, Architektura i Biznes, 1996

Bank 

Raiffeisenbank 
location: Stuttensee, Germany 

project: 1996, competition, mention

 

The competition entry for a new building for Raiffeisenbank in Stuttensee near Karlsruhe.  

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe 

 

H1 

Single Family House
location: Koszalin, Raduszka
project: 1996 

 

This house was designed on a trapezoid-shaped plot with a slope of ca. three meters to the north. It is on this side that the main access road to the building is located. However, the entrance to the building is located on the opposite site. The residents of the house, and also their guests, have to go along the building and to experience its length. 

The building consists of a simple and massive two-floor cuboid, which is laid on the basement, which sinks in part in earth.  The massive part of the building, which includes all the living quarters, was contrasted with the light openwork structure of the balconies and terraces from the west. The balconies are additionally furnished with shifted wood panels, which perform visual and sunshade functions. As they can be freely shifted, they contribute to the continuously changing looks of the west facade.

This semi-transparent strip of the balconies constitutes a transitory element between the introvertic interior of this massive building and the open spaces of the garden. The ground floor of the building was organized around a standalone block which includes auxiliary rooms such as a toilet or a wardbrobe. This element serves to separate the kitchen from the living part of the house, yet in a way which ensures a good access to these rooms.  The geometric and functional centre of the house is constituted by a two-floor dining room, which opens towards the living room. 

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe 
dariusz herman

Building Footprint: 138,7 m2
Net Floor Area: 271,7 m2
Gross Floor Area: 426,9 m2
Volume: 1126,2 m3

 

Publications:
1. Piotr Smierzewski, Architektura & Biznes 2/1997
2. Dom nad Stokiem, Top Dom, 02/2000

RKr

Radio Krakow
location: Krakow, Trzech Wieszczy Ave.
project: 1996, competition entry, final stage

 

The urbanistic idea of the building is to tightly fill up the area of the plot between the streets of Lobzowska,  Aleja Trzech Wieszczy and Koscielna. A homogenous and characteristic block is composed on the plan of an ellipse sector. This decision is justified by the proximity of a square and the width of the avenue of Trzech Wieszczy, and also the intention to use the plot economically.  

The concept of the broadcasting building is based on a spatial opposition between the production-broadcasting rooms and the office rooms. Inside the arrangement, there is a broadcasting and production block, which is surrounded by an oval element. Its first two floors are filled with those functions which form a transitory space being intermediate between the town and the interior of the broadcasting station. Each of the vertical layers of this element constitutes another wave, and at the same time another screen which isolates from the city noises the block which constitutes the essence of the radio. The space between these elements serves the purpose of communication and constitutes an information exchange area. It is here where the information flow is generated between all the entities of the broadcasting station, which is similar to the flow of electric impulses inside a receiver. 

The multi-layer facade of the building is the consequence of the wave structure of the whole facility. The whole internal part of the elevation is glazed in. A steel openwork structure constitutes the external layer. The space between them is filled with sunshade elements, lighting as well as elements of active information and advertising. 

Owing to the transparent structure of the facades and advertising elements, the boundary between the broadcasting station building and the urban space becomes relative and loses its worldliness, while the external and internal spaces are inseparably bound; these two merge and complement each other.

A simple mechanism driven by wind (ether) could constitute an additional element of the facade to add to its multimedia character. It could cyclically put the elements of the steel structure in vibration. In this manner, sound would be produced which constitutes the idea of the radio. 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe
dariusz herman 

 

Publications: 
Struktura Falowa, Architektura i Biznes 05/1996

Babelsberg Film School

location: Potsdam, Germany 
concept: 1996 

 

One of the own favourites competition projects, which exists only in sketchbook.  

Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF follows an interdisciplinary approach to the artistic, technological, and academic teaching and research on the universal subject of film. Established as Deutsche Hochschule für Filmkunst and known as Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen “Konrad Wolf” (HFF), Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF ranks among the country’s largest and most modern film schools and, in July 2014, became the first German film school to achieve university status. 

http://www.filmuniversitaet.de 

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe  

 

Europan 4

Europan 4
location: The Hague 
project: 1995, competition entry

 

The lay of the Erasmus zone at the limits of The Hague and the outside area of Randstad requires comprehensive analysis for urban development. Starting from the tendency of cities to growth within the ring between Utrecht and Rotterdam to a compacted zone between the ocean and the area more influenced by the landscape, buffer zones of decreasing density are created at the respective city limits, similar to the intervertebral discs of the spine, which enable a connection between the two elements ocean and landscape. These evolutionary and very sensitive connecting elements are to be supported. By an exact analysis of the position of these “green lungs”, it is possible to establish a connection to infrastructure. If you simulaneously consider the anticipated growth tendencies by for instance comparing with the development of American sprawls, then you reach the result that traffic networks and especially their intersections encourage settlements. 

Such connecting zones and simultaneously centres of impulse can be found in The Hague as well. The most interesting, becouse just being formed, crosses the Erasmus zone by connecting the exit of the autobahn with broader corridor of the Dedemsvaartweg leading to the sea. In parallel to this stripe planned as empty space respectively “zone vide” is the building. This stripe is planned as being evolutionary: The building or facilities, which already exist there, may be preserved in traces. Due to the fact that some functions can be found within our hybrid building, they are in course of time reclaimed by nature in the sense of the vacant lot. A guiding idea for this is the city as a “Kasco”. Becouse a dichotomy between city and landscape is no longer limited to individual points in this region, but is effected by and by, we called it a “Linear Centre”, to simultaneously express the growing importance due to growing mobility of this peripheral zone, seen from the old center. Also, by this orientation, our urban development aspect is to be stressed again, as the second term supports our recomendation for density at this transition to landscape, becouse the latter does not form an unlimited resource. 

At the building itself this transition from a more urban, compact area to a wide landscape can be seen. This process is accompanied by landscape platform, which extends as a topic through the whole building. Thus, the guiding idea of a “Kasko” and even more the appendix 5’04” evokes a comparision with music, which is determinated by time, as well as the Linear Centre is determinated by the fourth dimention.

Sites are fixed not only according to the temporal distance in our mobile society. Starting from the apartment as a fixed point the “dromocracy”, respectively every “dromomane” (Virilio), can put his town together after his own conceptions and requirements, mostly using his car. Therefore the building is five minutes long – distance, which is still accepted by a pedestrian. If you take the average speed of a pedestrian, which is five kilometres per hour, a building which is 420 meters long can be passed during 5 minutes. The four seconds are to be read ametrical and symbolize the transition, the metamorphosis or disintegration to landscape. During this segment of time, there are  various possibilities of shopping and attractivities to spend the leisure time (cinema, coffee-house, sport, mediatheque, and other services) whereas the circulation in the hybrid building should be inviting as a public place to communicate. Further network is permanently available by means of electronic communication, teleaction and so on as a virtual movement. 

All kind of technical supply for the apartments is concentrated in the technical stripe, which is located at the north side of the building. This zone also provides the virtual connections for each flat: every room has technical equipment which allows to participate in the telecomunication network, or simply to plug in. Furthermore this transparent zone of supply reflects the living’s customs and activities of the inhabitants. This concentration of technical equipment provides a maximum of flexibility for the disposition of thr floor-plan. Each person or family can create his own, individual space of living according to their personal habitudes.

Both making visible the different functions and activities, which take place behind them, the north and south elevation differ widely in their character and appearence. The south facade is situated in front of the individual rooms and is totaly glazed, revealing the daily activities of the inhabitants and changing of seasons. The northern side of the building is a zone of communication and movement. It consists of stairways, elevators, galleries and airspacewith bridges leading to the individual entrances.

This zone of circulation is accompanied by an time axis, which is also visible on the facade, thus presenting the different velocities of the dromomane. Consequently the small segment of time, the composition of five minutes, is integrated into the rhythm of seasons. 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe
michael maas, gisela schmitteckert

 

Publications: 
1. Piotr Smierzewski, Architektura & Biznes 2/1997

 

 

Volksbank

location: Wiesloch, Germany
project: 1995, competition – mention

 

Die Verbindung der zwei Banken zur Volksbank Wiesloch eG ist der Aus­gangspunkt des Entwurfs. 

Städtebauliche Idee

Das neue Volksbankgebäude ist als ein freistehendes Objekt geplant. Somit gewinnt das Volksbankgebäude an Bedeutung. Um den Abschluß zu der bestehenden Be­bauung und die notwendige räumliche Kanten zu schaffen, wurde ein Wohngebäude (Nord-Süd Typ) im nordlichen Teil des Grundstücks ge­plant. Vor dem Wohngebäude, auf der Höhe der Bahnhofstraße entsteht ein neuer Weg, der die Hauptstrasse mit der Gerbereistrasse verbindet. Von die­sem Weg aus werden die Mitarbei­ter- und Besucherparkplätze erschlo­ßen.

Der nördliche Teil des Gebäudes schiebt sich an der Hauptstraße zu­rück und schafft dadurch einen Vor­platz, der wiederum durch den Süd­riegel des Gebäudes gefaßt wird. 

Gebäudekonzept

Die Idee der Verbindung der zwei Banken wurde räum­lich umgesetzt. Das Gebäude setzt sich aus zwei L-formigen Baukörpern zu­sammen. Diese werden durch eine zweige­schoßige Kundenhalle verbun­den.

Das Gebäude nimmt von Innen nach Außen an Transparenz zu.

Durch das Verschieben der zwei Bauteile wird der Besucher auf den Vorplatz des Volksbank-Gebäudes geführt. Der Eingang wird durch den südlichen Riegel markiert.

Der Bewe­gungsfluß im Gebäude wird durch zwei ineinandergreifende Ge­bäudeteile bestimmt.

Der Kern des Entwurfs ist die Kun­den­halle mit dem Tresor. Er wurde als frei­stehender, dreigeschoßiger mas­siver Körper geplannt. In der Halle befinden sich die Servicebereiche der Bank. Um die Kunden­halle herum ziehen sich die halböffentliche inti­meren Beratungs- und Betreungszo­nen, die sich in einer halb­transparen­ten Schicht sich befinden. In der nächster L-formiger Schicht befin­den sich die Arbeitsräume der Bank, die nach Außen transparent und offen gestalten sind. Dies gibt dem Gebäu­de einen offenen Charakter nach Au­ßen, aber auch Sicherheit im Inneren des Gebäudes.

Die südliche und östliche Fassade wird aus klimatischen und energetischen Gründen als Doppelfassade ausgeführt.

Der Baukörper wird in drei Abschnitte geteilt. Mit dem Riegel an der Gerbereistra­ße sowie dem Gebäudeteil zu dem neuen Weg soll der Bau begin­nen. Nach der Fertigstellung dieser Ge­bäudeteile übernehmen diese den Bank­betrieb, so daß das bestehende Gebäude abgebrochen werden kann. Danach wird das Gesamtgebäude vervollständig. 

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe 

Publication: 
Volksbank Wiesloch, Wettbewerbe Aktuell 

 

 

Ideenluecke 1994

Ideenluecke 1994
location: Koeln, Germany 
project: 1994, competition, shortlisted 

 

The competition project – shortlisted for the final stage in competition for a infill development in Koeln. 

 

 

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe
with karin dast, jaroslaw szarabajko

The second competition project – shortlisted for the final stage in competition for a infill development in Koeln.

 

Publications:
1. Piotr Smierzewski, Architektura & Biznes 2/1997 

 

European 3

Towards The Other Bank
location: Liege, Belgium 
project: 1993, competition entry – special mention 

 

The river Meuse with its banks and bridges dominates the landscape of the whole conurbation of Walonia – “the crossroads of three cultures and three languages”.  

The project was inspired by the idea of the bridge in the archetype meaning of the word, with its symbolic value as a connection and integration of different components, the seek for comunication. As a neutral, independent element, the bridge is by its nature the place where the meeting of different cultures is possible. This function of the bridge and its symbolic impact were the main inspiration of the proposed solution. It gave the answer to the question of transition between public and privat – the main theme of Europan 3. 

The scheme of project was strongly influenced by the historic evolution of the site. It is some kind of reminiscence of the old Pont des Arches, and the situation of the neighbourhood before 1938. The building consists of three massive blocks which are connected by the light steel-glass structure of the bridge. The new bridge picks up the direction of Pied du Pont des Arches and the old Pont des Arches at the same time. It reminds that this street was one of the most important connections with another bank of the river Meuse, which is now difficult to realize. The introduction of the passage-internal street restored the old connection between the city and the river. 

Another part of the dialogue with the heritage of the city was the intention to protect all the existing houses of the city block. For this reason the idea of the bridge helps to connect two different parts of the site without demolition the existing building. The structure of the bridge stands above the old building that is located in the middle of the site. Moreover, the scheme integrates it in a way that it becomes the unseparable part of the concept. 

The idea of the bridge was also used as a part of the answer to the question of relationship between privat and public sphere, intimacy and urbanity. the form was divided into three parts, one located tomthe west of existing house (Rue de la Cite) contains service facilities and offices, the others on the east side (Quai de la Ribuee) contain services and apartments. The bridge connects functionally and symbolically those two different components. The climax of this unification is a theater – a meating point of inhabitants and general public ( concerts, happenings, etc.). In order to attract the people into the town and stop the irregular development of the countryside the project proposed alternative urban form of habitation to the idea of the “house with the garden”. It mixes residential realms with places of work and supply and service facilities. 

The location of all 12 apartments on the east side of the site, along Quai de la Ribuee, provides eye-contact with the river and gives the feeling of living outside the crowded city. On the other side all the apartments through their living space keep close contact with the live of the passage. The layout of many apartments allows the flexibility of their arrangement. For example the place of work can be integrated with the entrance, and the living space of the apartment. The other places of work are to be found in the west part of the site. 

 

architect:
piotr smierzewski, freier architekt, karlsruhe
with joanna skok, jaroslaw szarabajko, karin dast