The building that wasn’t there
Architecture
This is ecological and unimposing architecture. The winners of an international architectural competition organised by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Ministry of Environment for the concept of a 21st century garden including an exhibition pavilion were announced at the end of November. This was a special competition, the winner of which turned out to be a most unusual design. The scheme involves the revitalisation of an undeveloped part of the park. With the implementation of the project the residence of the last Polish king, Stanisław II August, will be extended by 2.5 ha of gardens, which is to cover an exhibition pavilion with an area of 1,800 sqm.
Invisible architecture
A total of 80 teams applied to take part in the competition, including 16 international studios. Of these, 66 qualified to submit competition entries, 48 of which submitted studies in the first stage. An international jury passed five competition entries to the finals. The first prize was finally awarded to architects from two studios: Mecanoo International of the Netherlands and Jojko+Nawrocki Architekci of Poland. The joint proposal of the two studios is for a garden-meadow including a pavilion entirely located underneath the planned garden. “The winning design is of course unique, you could even describe it as poetic. Of course the stipulations of the competition eliminated the possibility of locating a large volume building on the site; however, we were enchanted by the idea of a garden-meadow and hiding the pavilion underground. It will be the first project of its kind in Warsaw,” says architect Krzysztof Ingarden, the chairman of the competition jury. At the same time he adds that the standard of the competition was very high. “The majority of entries scored more than 50–60 points. The participants adopted a variety of approaches and actually there was no clear leader until the very end,” emphasises Krzysztof Ingarden.
The finalists included the WXCA studio of Warsaw, which won second prize. The jury also awarded some honourable mentions. One went to KKM Kozień Architekci of Kraków, which had prepared a design together with the Berlin-based Coqiu Malachowska Coqui studio. Another went to the team of RAr2 Laboratorium Architektury and Abies Architektura Krajobrazu. A joint work of JRK 72, 2N Studio Architektury and Arch.Krajobrazu Maciej Nonas was also recognised.
Push for ecology
The construction of the project is scheduled to take between 2014 and 2020. It is expected to be funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as well as from European funds. It is not out of the question that the project will also be supported by the Fund for Environmental Protection. “I think that the project will cost app. PLN 35 mln. This is not a large amount. Besides, it is worth mentioning that the planned exhibition pavilion will also serve other Warsaw museums. Warsaw is in sore need of such a facility because many large exhibitions cannot be held in Warsaw at this time,” explains Tadeusz Zielniewicz, the director of the Łazienki Królewskie museum. It is significant that this will be one of the first facilities of its type in Poland that incorporates green technologies with energy production. Renewable materials are also to be used in its construction.
The times they are a’changing?
The design of the garden in Łazienki park forms part of a broader context. Ecological architecture is now being increasingly promoted. It is the sort of architecture that does not impose itself. “This is a new way of understanding life and architecture, which tends to be represented by the younger generation of architects, mostly European ones,” says Monica Luengo, the president of the ICOMOS-IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes, who was a member of the competition’s jury. In her opinion it is more often becoming the norm for them to move away from iconic projects that ignore their context – in particular for projects developed with public funds. Can a similar trend be detected in commercial architecture? Monica Luengo has some doubts. “Ecological aspects have admittedly featured in commercial projects for some time, but you need to remember that these projects also serve other functions. By their very nature they have to be as vivid and attractive for as many users as possible,” she claims.
