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Before the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, works of contemporary architecture were regarded as difficult to understand, elitist art. Nowadays, due to the marketing machine, they have been tamed, but also made trite, and included in the canon of pop culture, writes Agnieszka Rasmus-Zgorzelska in the “Archigadgetomania” article published in this issue.
A map of a fragment of Katowice, presented on p. 28-29, shows that elements of architecture have found their way even to… menus.
In this issue of Architektura—about promotion and more or less literal architectural consumption.
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Archigadgetomania
Architectural memorabilia are by no means a modern invention. Grand tour was later remembered due to figurines or images of historic monuments; pilgrimages by miniatures of monasteries. But it was mass tourism which triggered large-scale production of souvenirs, and globalization of culture has led to a free mélange of images in a popcultural melting pot. Looking for new inspirations, producers of souvenirs and toys reach to architecture, including contemporary one, which has become a battle of icons ever since the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Images of buildings appear on pencil sharpeners, kitchen aprons and saltshakers, and you can build a miniature of Frank Lloyd Wright’s House on the Waterfall of Lego blocks. Images of Utzon’s opera in Sydney or Norman Foster’s Gherkin Tower in London are just as saleable as artifacts with Mona Lisa, Marylin Monroe and Hello Kitty. In this issue, we have attempted a closer look at this phenomenon in order to find out why it has become so popular.
Text: Agnieszka Rasmus-Zgorzelska, photo Muji press service, sets of wooden blocks City in Bag
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Train Station Shopping Mall
Train stations have become a shameful visiting card of most Polish cities. Following transformations of stations in Western Europe, one may conclude that modern commerce is a prerequisite of their enhanced quality. We present three Polish stations—before and after their transformation into shopping malls..
Text: Daniel Załuski, photo: Daniel Załuski, Galeria Krakowska
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Lofts in a former granary in Gliwice
(medusa group, architects Przemo Łukasik and Łukasz Zagała)
Intervention into this historic building was reduced to a minimum; its outer appearance and an original interior structure have been preserved. With a clean façade, the brick granary looks as it did one hundred years ago. Only two new volumes with stairwells were added to the longer south façade.
Text: Tomasz Malkowski, photo: Tomasz Zakrzewski, South facade with new stairwells
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Architecture through technology. St. Paul’s church in Foligno (Fuksas Architects)
The Technology section presents the newest and most significant architectural structures representing state-of-the-art technological and engineering achievements.
In February—the parish complex in Foligno by the Italian practice of Fuksas Architects. The church mass is composed of two parallelepipeds—an outer one made of waxed concrete, and an inner one of light porous concrete, combined together by elements in the form of truncated pyramids, which appear as openings in the outer shell and let light reach inside.
Text: Maciej Lewandowski, on the basis of materials from Fuksas Architects, photo: Moreno Maggi/Fuksas Architects, fragment of interior
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Singingtiger. Ready to design motto on Izabela Kaczmarek’s webpage suggests readiness to experiment. This designer deals with artwork, posters and typography. To avoid boredom and repetition, she refers to various graphic conventions, but her favorite motifs are dots and stripes. She graduated from the Fine Arts Academy in Poznań (2009) and the Art Department at the university in Zielona Góra (2005); she also received the Minister of Culture and National Heritage grant (2008-2009). Her works were shown at the Shaken Not Stirred exhibition in the Pies gallery in Poznań. In 2007, the font Roxana she designed won a mention at the Agrafa international Student graphics biennial in Katowice, in the fonts and typography category
Cloud for the Olympics—a panoramic platform composed of several dozen inflated bubbles may be hung over London to become one of 2012 Olympics attractions
Sunny Decathlon—for the second year running, German students from the Darmstad University of Technology won a competition in designing and then building houses powered by solar energy
Oasis of the future—results of a competition for the center of Masdar, the first fully ecological city built in the United Arab Emirates, were announced; giant umbrellas following the movement of the sun and collecting solar energy will be built there
Classic Polish outdoor—album with hundreds of photographs showing what advertisements do to Polish cities
Calendar
Architectural events at home and abroad
New Floor. Young architecture, graphic art and design
A series of meetings with young architects, designers and graphic artists organized by Architektura-murator in the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in 2010 are an opportunity for the creators to present their works and plans, and for the public—to look ahead into the future influenced by today’s design On Wednesday February 17, meeting with Temperówka graphic studio, Lapolka group and jojko+nawrocki practice
Train Station Shopping Mall
Train stations have become a shameful visiting card of most Polish cities. Following transformations of stations in Western Europe, one may conclude that modern commerce is a prerequisite of their enhanced quality. We present three Polish stations—before and after their transformation into shopping malls.
Ethnodesign—what is it??
This question was asked by organizers of the Rzecz Małopolska Etnodizajn Festiwal project, provoked by the popularity of folk culture motifs in contemporary design
An obliterated memory of architecture—conversation with Wojciech Wilczyk
I had no idea about the scale of this phenomenon, about the fact that more than 300 synagogues and prayer houses have survived to our times, about the scale of their remodeling and devastation, says photographer Wojciech Wilczyk about his There Is No Such Thing as an Innocent Eye project
The Association of Polish Architects SARP gives awards
2008 Award of the Year and the SARP Award for the best architectural structure built from public funds went to young architects from db2 practice who designed the Opole Open-Air Museum of Rural Architecture
Municipal debates at Gdynia forum
For the first time, a panel on relations between contemporary urban planning and city economy was held at the economic forum in Gdynia
PLGBC—green investment
A symposium in Krakow inaugurated the activity of the Polish Green Building Council (PLGBC), founded in 2007
Live by architecture—Stanisław Bukowski
Review of Sebastian Wicher’s book about architect Stanisław Bukowski, designer of the most important buildings in the center of Białystok and creator of Socialist Realism in this city
On creating good places
Creation of good public spaces in Poland is a very timely subject. A debate on their functioning, shaping and transformations may be fueled by the Polish edition of the American manual How to Turn a Place Around prepared by the Project for Public Spaces organization, and a conference organized by this organization in Kakow
We were driving a rented air-conditioned bus, stupefied by heat, not paying attention, and did not even notice that we missed that famous Las Vegas. Desert, blinding light, finally some small houses, but the road just ran straight on. Sure, we saw on a map that the highway was parallel to the main boulevard, The Strip, and that that there is but one slight curve. For twelve kilometers, measured only by boards of subsequent gigahotels, we were sure that those were just suburbs; but then we entered the desert again, with its rattlesnakes and desiccated cactuses.
Archigadgetomania
Images of buildings appear on pencil sharpeners, kitchen aprons and saltshakers, and you can build a miniature of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater of Lego blocks. Images of Utzon’s opera in Sydney or Norman Foster’s Gherkin Tower in London are just as saleable as artifacts with Mona Lisa, Marylin Monroe and Hello Kitty.
Mapungubwe Interpretation Center—winner of the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, and 2009 Building of the Year
(Peter Rich Architects, project architect Peter Rich, Lineo Leratholi, Anne Fitchett, Desrae Dunn, architect Heinrich Kammeyer, Abdullah Abass, architect Franz Prinsloo)
Murano Apartments in Warsaw
(DDJM Biuro Architektoniczne sp. z o.o., architects Marek Dunikowski, Wojciech Miecznikowski, Jarosław Kutniowski, Piotr Czerwiński, Piotr Uherek, Krzysztof Kliche, Krzysztof Kozielewicz, Tomasz Flejterski, Michał Pietrzak)
Agora Cultural Center in Wrocław
(A.S.P.A. Pracownia Architektoniczna, architects Aleksander Szarapo, Mikołaj Smoleński (project architect), Łukasz Komar, Maciej Szarapo)
Lofts in a former granary in Gliwice
(medusa group, architects Przemo Łukasik, Łukasz Zagała)
Underground tourist trail in Rzeszów
(Autorska Pracownia Architektury CAD sp. z o.o., architects Agata Łuczaj, Krzysztof Popiński, Katarzyna Sikora)
Chamber Stage of the Polski Theater in Warsaw
(Szymborski&Zielonka Architekci, architects Wojciech Szymborski, Lech Szymborski)
Seats for auditoriums and sports structures
Tense hanger by Aze Design duo
ETSAM—Faculty of Architecture at the Madrid University of Technology
St. Paul’s church in Foligno
(Fuksas Architects)
Kit – new products and technologies for architects
Wooden architecture—church in the village of Tarnów
Designers of structures presented in 2/2010 and cover design
Cover design: Izabela Kaczmarek
Artistic supervision: Jerzy Porębski
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