Studia z architektury nowoczesnej / Studies on the Modern Architecture

Titelei

Die Redaktion — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Spis treści

Die Redaktion — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Architektura miast. Refleksje o przestrzeni miejskiej od XIX do XXI wieku

Joanna Kucharzewska — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Architecture of cities. Reflections on urban space from the 19th to the 21st century

Imaginations about the city are changeable and diverse, sometimes built under the influence of generalized definitions based on historical and sociological research, but much more often they result from our individual experiences and memories. The eighth volume of Studies in Modern Architecture is a story about cities - diverse, colorful, with a unique atmosphere, characteristic smells and the luggage of history; about cities created by successive generations who hoped that they would become modern, that they would be islands of freedom and a place friendly to life. The volume includes studies on Parisian fountains, commemorative plaques in Kharkiv, and the Jewish architectural heritage in Lviv. Through the Woolworth skyscraper, we will move to New York’s Manhattan from the beginning of the 20th century. We will take a walk around the city of Warsaw and a modernist block of flats, as well as a journey through the stations of Japan and Europe, which not only perform a function related to public transport, but also constitute a modern culture-forming space.

Codzienna sztuka praktykowania miasta – taktyki chodzenia, pamiętania, wyobrażania i ewokowania obrazów przestrzeni miejskich

Marcin Jaworski — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Daily art of practicing the city; tactics of walking, remembering, imagining and evoking images of urban spaces

In contemporary art, humanities and social sciences (the third wave of sociology) there is a clear tendency to value the colloquiality and everyday practices of ordinary people. it is assumed that this is an area of reality that is effectively being created; social, cultural reality and that related to identity narratives. It is also assumed that contemporary man remains a participant of the dynamic game of assigning meanings in society, within which he has a limited but real field of freedom and creativity. One such area of human creative activity is the city space, where the “art of action” is practised every day, resulting in the creation of new imaginative figures of the city and, on the other hand, in the transformation of the subject itself in relation to the broadly understood urban space. These are vitalistic, process-oriented and “virtual” relations, based on how the subject undergoes a multifaceted (work of memory, imagination, senses) experience of certain elements of the city and evokes certain images of the city. The text refers to the personal experience of the author of the narrative and the place (Toruń, Rubinkowo I) which has become the subject of such interpretations.

Sztuka na dworcach kolejowych w Japonii i Europie

Ewa Maria Kido — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Art at railway stations in Japan and Europe

Since the 1990s, railway companies have succeeded in improving the station design. Railway stations have become modern and multifunctional facilities, relying heavily on commerce and services. Art and culture have also been applied with various effects to popularize railways. In some cases, the art was coordinated according to the design concept of the station, in others it was used as decoration. It has been found that the “art in transit” used at railway stations has a rare opportunity to be admired and enjoyed by a wide audience. Analyzed examples include Japanese and European railway and subway stations. The stations with art have been divided into four types. The typology introduced in this paper was based on the role played by the art at the station and its relationship to the station design. The most inclusive type – total design employs art as an essential part of the design concept. in the conclusion the notion, that visual art, performing arts and culture at the station have great potential to connect stations with people, revive railways and build new quality brands for railway companies was expressed. New public space created at the stations can be an important urban asset for the future.

Paryskie fontanny Wallace’a

Catherine Luscinski — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Wallace’s Fountains in Paris

Wallace fountains were built in Paris in 1872–1873. The purpose of this installation was to ensure an unlimited access to a drinkable water for citizens who needed it the most. This idea came from Sir Richard Wallace, an English rich art collector who lived in Paris for years. For him, Paris was like a second capital city. the agreement with the city of Paris allowed him to sponsor the production of fifty fountains made of cast iron. Those, were placed strategically in the new districts dedicated to workers. we can find four different models of these fountains. The first, the biggest kind, was made off richly decorated columns and decorated with water nymphs’s sculptures. the second, is a bit similar to the first. Instead of nymphs, we can observe smaller columns. The third, is an applied ornament fixed to a wall while the fourth is a decorated post with a button. the design of wallace fountains came from fountains we could find in London at that time: the drinking fountains. In London, they were built to fight alcoholism and to ensure a good hygiene for the poor. Today, Wallace fountains are still working and are a typical and an essential element of this urban space.

Tablice pamiątkowе w przestrzeni miejskiej Charkowa: polskie akcenty

Lubow Żwanko — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Memorial plaques in Kharkiv urban space: Polish emphasis

The article analyzes the place of the Polish element in the commemoration of the past in the spatial dimension of Kharkiv. For several centuries, the Polish community for which a geographically distant Kharkiv has become a temporary or permanent home, has been represented in the ethnic context of the city. The author outlined two categories of Polish figures, to whom ten memorial plaques were installed in 1998-2018. The first includes the world-famous Henryk Siemiradzki, Adam Mickiewicz, Jozef Piłsudski, and Tadeusz Brzezinski. The second group consists of Poles, whose work has made the world of ordinary Kharkiv residents more comfortable, safer, more beautiful: doctor Vladislav Frankovsky, photographer Alfred Fedetsky, composer Konstanty Gorski, philanthropist Mykola Gedroyts, Count Seweryn Potocki, whose name is associated with the creation of the imperial university. A separate plaque concerns honoring the memory of the fallen Poles, victims of the Stalinist regime. The author used a peculiar analysis algorithm: a brief historical background, location, initiator and opening ceremony, location of elements on the board, coverage of the event in the media. The conclusions include the following points: signs of Polish memory, located in the city center, on the one hand, form the image of the local Polish community as an environment from which came famous figures who became part of the symbolic space of the city, and on the other hand the presence of boards forms the image of Kharkiv as a territory of ethnic tolerance. Given that the urban space is an arena of struggle between the categories of „memory” and „oblivion” of the ethnic groups represented in it, the Polish community of Kharkiv belongs to the category of „memory”, perpetuating itself in the memorial plaques of its prominent representatives.Therefore, the term „Polish” Kharkiv in a sense can be used to describe one of the symbolic spaces that make up the common space of a modern metropolis.

Dawna architektura żydowska we Lwowie: okresy i kierunki rozwoju

Jurij Biriulow — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Former Jewish architecture in Lviv: periods and directions of the development

The article is an attempt of analysis of stylistic transformations in the jewish architecture of Lviv of the period the 13th century – September 1939. Historical, political, economic and socio-cultural conditions have been lodged so, that Lviv has been formed as unique city, in architectural stratigraphy which it is possible clearly to detect different stylish blocks – the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the mannerism, the baroque and the Rococo, Classicism, neostyles of the historicism, secession, art déco, the functionalism and other. They are characteristic of the building development of historical Jewish districts and streets of Lviv of layerings up temporary, socio-cultural and stylistic. analysis of architectural and artistic features of the jewish building development according to this typology is inseparably associated with historical periods of the development of the city, and at the same time according to the evolution of styles.

Nowoczesność ubrana w gotyk – Woolworth Building w Nowym jorku

Lidia Gerc — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Woolworth Building in New York, modernity dressed in gothic

The Woolworth Building was erected in Manhattan, New York. When it was completed in 1913, it was the tallest building in the world with its 241 meters heights. Its name comes from the family name of its investor Frank Woolworth, the founder of the 5- and 10-cent chain of stores that have dominated america and europe for many decades. the building was designed by the American architect Cass Gilbert, who moved his studio to New York at the end of the 19th century. Before he started working for Woolworth, he had completed many designs, e.g. United States Custom House and Broadway Chambers, both in New York. The Woolworth Building has become one of the most recognizable and popular landmarks of New York. Even before the construction, not only the New York press but also European newspapers, including Polish ones were reporting on the tallest building in the world and its modern engineering solutions. Stefan Bryła, a famous Polish constructor, did not miss the Woolworth Building construction site during his trip around america and was impressed by the scale and organization of work on this building. the edifice built with the most modern technological solutions acquired Gothic forms. This style was obtained by covering the facade with decorative terracotta. The tower crowning the building is particularly rich in Gothic ornaments. The interior, which includes a swimming pool, a club, cafes, and apart from typical offices, various other commercial premises, including a bank, has also been richly arranged. The lobby is decorated with sculptures, mosaics, and marbles. No costs were spared for offices – the most impressive one belonged to Woolworth. The edifice was an independent, self-sufficient facility with all the comforts for its users. the woolworth Building is an architectural monument of his investor and creator, who decided to dress the most modern solutions of the then technology in a medieval style. Gilbert did it with good taste and the building is still one of the most popular in New York.

Zachodni Rejon Centrum w kontekście historii powojennego rozwoju zabudowy Śródmieścia Warszawy

Tomasz Ziemkiewicz — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Western Center Area in the context of post-war Warsaw urban development

This article briefly presents the history of a largely unbuilt urban project called the Western Center Area (Zachodni Rejon Centrum). Firstly a brief historical context is drawn, focused on the results of wartime destruction brought upon Warsaw, and the early post-war rebuilding projects. The narrative is followed by a quick sketch of the communist cultural agendas in the 1950s, and their influence on the rebuilding process and urban development – firstly the strict Stalinist ideas, exemplified by monumental socialist-realism projects, and the “modernist revival” instigated by the 1956 political shift (the so-called “Thaw”). The aforementioned “modernist revival” resulted in new, large-scale, state-funded urban projects, that aimed to transform Warsaw into a modern metropolis, while also displaying the capabilities of the socialist state. The largest of them, constructed between 1961 and 1970, called the “Eastern Wall” (Ściana Wschodnia), was an ambitious and architecturally consistent project, that combined housing, trade, service and leisure. It also paved the way for the implementation of high rise architecture in the vicinity of the dominant Culture and Science Palace (Pałac Kultury i Nauki). After that the narrative switches to the western part of the city centre, describing the architectural projects the predated the Western Centre Area, and impacted its future development. Then the project itself is presented, with a brief analysis of its programme, aims, brief formal analysis, and followed by the history of its partial completion. This part ends with a quick stylistic analysis, highlighting the project’s clear connections with western architecture and international modernist aesthetics. The aim of this article is to bring attention to highly interesting history of the post-war development of Warsaw Midtown (Śródmieście). The Western Center Area was supposed to be the highlight of the 1970s vision of a modern capital, aimed specifically at fulfilling the needs of tourists from across the world. Its ideas remain potent well into this day, and still shape the capital’s image.