Les jeunes designers polonais Maciej Kurkowski et Maciej Sutula ont collaboré pour ce projet appelé « Kredytowa » : construire un appartement et une salle de conférence à Varsovie. L’intérieur est parsemé de détails comme par exemple des gravures sur les murs ou au sol. Les photos sont de Paulina Sasinowska.
Focus sur les séries de photos aériennes du photographe polonais Kacper Kowalski, après sa nomination pour les Sony World Photography Awards 2014. Toutes prises en plongée, il livre des images prenantes et vertigineuses sur différents lieux de la Pologne et de la Chine. Une sélection de ses photos dans la suite.
Two graphic designers working in Poland’s burgeoning tech industry have taken “softwear” startups to the next level. Their unintentional product: Unerdwear, boxer shorts that unleash your true inner nerd. Kasia Bojanowska and Joanna Socha’s combined eye…
Students from Łódź University of Technology in Poland built this delicate stacked sculpture to demonstrate the structural properties of curve-folded paper.
The Fragile Beasts sculpture was designed and built by 17 undergraduate architecture students from Łódź University of Technology during a three-day workshop with Suryansh Chandra, a senior designer at Zaha Hadid Architects.
“Curved folding isn’t just the aesthetic, it’s also the structure: it can lend substantial stiffness to fairly flimsy material,” explained Chandra.
The sculpture was designed using digital modelling software to determine the slender polyhedra forms, which were then subjected to scripts that broke them down into shapes suitable for curved folding.
Once the forms and net shapes of the irregular-sided polyhedra were determined, they were sent to a laser-cutting facility that transferred the design onto a series of flat cutout sheets in five hours.
The 0.5 millimetre paper was then folded and glued into shape by the students, who had no previous experience of curved folding.
“It never fails to amaze me how nicely this shape lends itself to fabrication and quick assembly,” said Chandra.
It took just five hours for the students to fabricate the components and arrange them in two stacked clusters that reach a height of 1.9 metres.
Zaha Hadid Architects has been exploring different applications for curved folding and thin-shell structures for several years through a series of academic workshops and commissions.
Scale diagram of paper sculptures
Its Arum installation at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale resembled a huge pleated funnel made from folded metal, and was described by the firm as the first to combine its research into lightweight shells and tensile structures.
Suryansh Chandra sent us the following details about the Fragile Beasts project:
Research Context
This sculpture was built as a part of a 3-day workshop on ‘Curved Folding’ at the Łódź University of Technology, Poland. The workshop explored the idea of curved folding as a design technique in Architecture, leading to some amazing outcomes that are pre-rationalized by their very nature. It continues the lineage of work on ‘Curved Folding’ and ‘Thin-Shell Structures’ started two years ago for ZHA’s Arum Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and further pursued through academic workshops.
Highlights of the sculpture
Curved folding isn’t just the aesthetic, it’s also the structure: it can lend substantial stiffness to fairly flimsy material: 0.5mm thick card paper in this case.
Ease of assembly: The whole piece was put together with 17 students in their 4th year of undergraduate Architecture program (and novices at curved folding) in a matter of 5 hours (the laser cutting was outsourced and took an additional 5 hours).
Dimensions: 1.9m tall x 1.35m wide (6’4″ x 4’6″), 0.5mm thick card paper.
Credits
Workshop Tutor & Sculpture Design: Suryansh Chandra; Senior Designer, Zaha Hadid Architects Code Group Assisting Tutor: Sebastian Bialkowski; Doctoral Candidate, Łódź University of Technology, Poland Workshop Organizer and Coordinator: Anetta Kepczynska-Walczak; Assistant Professor, Łódź University of Technology, Poland
This baguette shop in Warsaw, Poland, by architects MFRMGR is modelled on market booths and stalls set up in the city during the 1990s (+ slideshow).
Polish firm MFRMGR, formerly known as Moko Architects, designed Serwus as a healthy and modern version of the traditional Zapiekanka stall, which served open baguettes topped with meat, vegetables, cheese and ketchup as a popular type of fast food.
“The entire spatial idea relates to the market booths where virtually everything was sold in Warsaw in the 90s,” said the architects.
“Generally, we have pleasant memories from that time when small businesses developed and huge changes took place in our country after the fall of communism,” they added.
Red and yellow steel frames – coloured to resemble ketchup and cheese – surround wooden serving counters, representing the framework of a market booth.
During construction the architects also exposed the original tiled floor, dating back to before the Second World War.
The interior is divided into five stalls. The first one is a welcome zone with the menu and cash register while the second zone separates the customer and staff area with a flap and gate.
The third stall is designed as an area for preparing sauces and storing ingredients. The fourth stall is the food preparation area and the fifth stall, in front of the window, features a high counter where customers can sit and enjoy their food.
Recently, hamburgers and other types of food from distant places of the world have become extremely popular in Warsaw. However, we always felt sentimental about the typical Polish toasted baguettes called zapiekanka which were common fast-food in the 90s and were sold in hideous booths on markets or in trailers.
The basic zapiekanka was made with delicious baguette with mushrooms and real cheese with ketchup on top. Unfortunately, the typical tasty zapiekanka became extinct like the dinosaurs or we can say that they ate their own tail – instead of a yummy meal you could buy just a large frozen baguette with cheap ingredients (ham, cabbage, onion etc.) which was prepared in a microwave.
At Serwus we decided to experiment with the vision of zapiekanka. Apart from the reference to classics we created variations with original and healthy ingredients. Our offer is based on the idea of slow-food – each morning fresh products are prepared while the sauces (ketchup) is prepared using homemade methods. The ingredients, shape and size of the baguette was prepared by a partner bakery according to our guidelines. Zapiekanka is prepared in a fan oven.
The entire spatial idea relates to the market booths where virtually everything was sold in Warsaw in the 90s. Generally, we have pleasant memories from that time when small businesses developed and huge changes took place in our country after the fall of communism.
The small space features five such booths with different dimensions. Each stall is dedicated for a particular function in the process of preparing food. The structure of the stalls consists of powder-coated steel profiles which have the colour of ketchup and cheese. The frame of one stall is zinc-coated. Countertops and enclosures of the oven and refrigerators are made from softwood plywood coated with clear varnish. Round bulbs with visible filaments hang from horizontal steel connectors. Intensity of illumination can be regulated while the worktops can be illuminated with warm-colour fluorescent bulbs.
Each stall is equipped with all necessary elements for completing a certain function. Stall 1 – welcome zone for the customer. This is where the menu and cash register is located. Under the counter there is a place for beverages and a small refrigerator. After ordering and paying the customer moves further into the restaurant.
Stall 2 – serves as a separation point between the customer zone and the employee zone. There is a flap and gate. Stall 3 – the area for preparing sauces where the induction stove is installed. It also features the storage area for ingredients in plastic cases. It is possible to attach herb pots, knives, cutting boards etc. on the steel profiles.
Stall 4 – the area for preparing food, cutting bread and putting ingredients on the baguette. This area also features a large fridge, an oven and a storage area for bread in plastic cases. Apart from the multi-function hangers there is also a paper towel holder.
Stall 5 – the area for customers where they can enjoy their food, read a newspaper or have a cup of coffee. Due to the small space, this area features only a high counter where the guest can eat or talk to friends.
During renovation of this shop we discovered unique flooring from the pre-world war II period. The wooden frame where the glass panels were attached using putty was refurbished and repaired where necessary. The frame was coated with red varnish on the outside and cream-white varnish on the inside. We also successfully renovated the brass door handle. In order to easily locate the restaurant we have designed a neon light using old technology.
Project name – SERWUS – Zapiekanka Bar Project city, country – Warsaw, Poland Designers/architects – MOKO ARCHITECTS / MFRMGR / Marta Frejda , Michał Gratkowski / Collaboration – Pamela Krzyszczak Logotype – Lange & Lange Status of project / expected completion – completed in 2013 Usable floor area: 18 m2
The concrete walls inside this house in Poland by Ultra Architects were formed against wooden boards, creating a grainy texture that inverts the surface of the timber-clad facade (+ slideshow).
Named Seaside House, the three-storey residence was designed by Poznań firm Ultra Architects for a site behind the sand dunes of a beach in north-west Poland. This meant that groundwater levels were particularly high, so the house had to be built with a heavy waterproof structure.
Architects Marcin Kościuch and Tomasz Osięgłowski chose a concrete framework that could be left exposed on walls and ceilings throughout the interior.
“The building’s structure was designed as a monolithic shell made of reinforced concrete,” they said. “This kind of construction secures safety, geometric stability and tightness. It also let us use a structural material as a natural finishing of interiors.”
The exterior walls are clad with the same kind of timber panels used as formwork for the in-situ concrete, allowing the two different materials to match one each other in texture.
“In effect we achieved a characteristic reversal – warm wood on the outside and rough concrete with imprints of a formwork inside a house,” said the architects.
The house was constructed on the exact footprint of a demolished older house to prevent disturbing the roots of any surrounding pine trees.
The volume of the building is made up of two rectilinear blocks that are offset from one another. These form the two main floors, while a third storey is buried below ground level.
Bedrooms are all positioned on the uppermost floor, including a master suite with its own living room, while living and dining areas occupy the middle floor and open out to a wooden deck. A swimming pool is located in the basement.
Read on for more information from Ultra Architects:
Seaside House
The very first task was to choose a structural material which would work in heavy natural conditions on a plot where the building had to stand.
For the sake of instability of the ground and high level of ground water, the shell of the building must be heavy and waterproof. It also must be firm and solid since we designed large windows to open the interior for a beautiful view of a seaside landscape.
The answer was simple – concrete. Choosing it, we wanted to make best use of its qualities. Our main idea was sincerity of material – concrete is true both in the way it is used and it looks. These two aspects are not separated from each other but they create a coherent wholeness.
The building’s structure was designed as a monolithic shell made of reinforced concrete. This kind of construction secures safety, geometric stability and tightness. It also let us use a structural material as a natural finishing of interiors. Concrete has become a leitmotif of the whole design, also determining aesthetic solutions in interiors. Grey colour and a rough texture of concrete are balanced with whiteness of some internal walls and bright, wooden floors.
Another important material we used in this design is wood. Exterior cladding of elevations is made of screw-in vertical boards (in analogy to the formwork for monolithic structure). In effect we achieved a characteristic reversal – warm wood on the outside and rough concrete with imprints of a formwork inside a house. The third material is a sheet metal. Window-frames and all other exterior metal elements were designed in graphite colour.
The house was built in a coastal town, on a plot located just behind dunes. It replaced an old building which was too small and architecturally unattractive. Pine trees grow all over the plot and we wanted to save them all. New cubical block was inserted in the place of a former building this way not to remove any of them.
All elevations of a building are almost identical (each follows the same pattern). Characteristic point of a house is an entrance area which offers two entry points located in both eastern corners of a building, in a part of a plot adjacent to the road. Along the south-west and north-west elevation there is a wooden terrace with a built-in barbecue stove.
Each storey of a building acts different function. The ground floor which was designed as an open space is intended for daily home activities. First floor serves leisure and entertainment functions. It is divided into two sections: the bigger one, with a view for a sea, it’s owners’ private zone.
It contains a small living room, bedroom, wardrobe and a bathroom. In the southern part of a floor there are situated three identical guest rooms with bathrooms. Basement accommodates storage and technical facilities as well as a swimming-pool.
Architects: Marcin Kościuch, Tomasz Osięgłowski / Ultra Architects Collaborators: Łukasz Piszczałka, Marta Perlik-Napierała Year: 2013 Area: 470 sqm
A wooden canopy made of irregular timber lengths sprawls across the ceiling of this Thai noodle bar in Warsaw, Poland, by Moko architects (+ slideshow).
Referencing Thailand’s covered street food markets, the Tuk Tuk bar by Moko architects is contained in a small room that features an angular timber installation.
“Thai cuisine in Poland is usually associated with expensive sublime meals in large restaurants,” said the designers. “The concept of TUK TUK was to bring the people living in Warsaw closer to the atmosphere of street food in Bangkok.”
The dining area is covered by the freestanding wooden structure, lit by tubular lamps attached along the timber lengths.
The walls and floor of the restaurant are painted in light green to the height of the canopy, then the tops of the walls and ceiling are coloured black so the wood stands out.
A granite work surface separates the open kitchen at the back from the dining area towards the front of the restaurant.
Thai cuisine in Poland is usually associated with expensive sublime meals in large restaurants. There is no tradition of eating fresh food in small restaurants in the city or street food.
The concept of TUK TUK was to bring the people living in Warsaw closer to the atmosphere of street food in Bangkok. In our opinion it seems rather like a lack of order and rules, a bit of chaos and food prepared with fresh local products which tastes and smells delicious.
An inspiration for this project were the structures which can be seen above the markets in Thailand. In this single room of the restaurant we have designed an installation of square timber elements which appears to be out of order. It constitutes the vault and roof supporting the installed lights. Additionally, its aim is to attract the consumers.
The restaurant is illuminated using fluorescent lamps mounted in irregular intervals and at various heights. The lamps provide two different shades of light – intense warmth and intense coldness. Under the above structure, small tables and colourful stools are placed irregularly.
Initially, we proposed to use plastic stools, which are very often used in Thailand, but since it was impossible to acquire them, as a temporary option we used standard tools which are easily available.
There is no determined method of placing the tables – they can be freely arranged depending on the guests’ needs. The entire design is matched with a neutral interior which features finishing materials so often used in Thailand street food restaurants, i.e. inexpensive terrazzo tiles. The kitchen is open and forms a stage where the chef is a starring actor.
The design of TUK TUK does not contain any strict principles or a mathematical formula – it is merely an impression and a freely transformed collection of memories and associations brought here from a trip to Thailand.
News: Dutch architects Mecanoo have won a competition to design a garden and an underground pavilion with a corkscrew staircase in the Polish capital, Warsaw (+ slideshow).
The garden and pavilion proposed by Mecanoo will be located in the city’s popular Lazienki Park, which was designed around a series of buildings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Called the Garden of the 21st Century, this new addition comprises a triangular sliver of landscaped parkland criss-crossed by an undulating path, with exhibition spaces hidden underneath.
“The Garden of the 21st Century is special, because the design of the pavilion follows from that of the landscape,” said the architects.
Mecanoo collaborated with Dutch landscape architect Michael van Gessel, Delva Landscape Architects and Polish firm Jojko Nawrocki Architekci on the design of the landscaping and pavilion.
Entrances in the walls that run along both of the park’s long edges lead into the pavilion, which can also be entered from a public plaza that slices into the landscape.
“Two entry points are carved out of the side walls and another one out of the landscape,” explained the architects. “All give access to a central hall, which connects two major exhibition spaces and two smaller ones that have modular layouts.”
This entrance foyer contains a spiralling staircase connecting two levels and a series of skylights that appear above ground as rounded oculi embedded in the garden.
The pavilion is designed to house temporary exhibitions, while the garden will be used for educational as well as recreational purposes.
Here’s a brief project description from the architects:
Garden of the 21st Century in Warsaw
A team consisting of Mecanoo, Michael van Gessel, Delva Landscape Architects and Jojko Nawrocki Architekci has won the competition to design the new Garden of the 21st Century with integrated exhibition pavilion in Warsaw. In a ceremony at the Royal Lazienki Museum on Friday 16 November, the Polish Minister of Culture & National Heritage and the Minister of Environment jointly announced the result of an international competition with 80 submissions.
The new 2,5 hectare garden will be part of Lazienki Park, one of the most important touristic destinations in Warsaw that includes many 18th and 19th century buildings such as the Royal Baths, a Roman-inspired theatre and a water tower. The existing gardens in the park were all designed around these historic buildings. The Garden of the 21st Century is special, because the design of the pavilion follows from that of the landscape.
The 1800 m2, underground exhibition pavilion seems to grow out of the undulating walkway that surrounds the garden. Two entry points are carved out of the sidewalls and another one out of the landscape. All give access to a central hall, which connects two major exhibition spaces and two smaller ones that have modular lay-outs. Several oculi, or large round skylights, protrude through the walkway and the vegetation creating a mysterious play of light in the garden, but also providing carefully controlled daylight in the pavilion.
Both the garden and pavilion will provide new cultural life to the park with its many museums. The pavilion will host large temporary exhibitions, whereas the garden will play a role in local environmental education as well as be an example of 21st century landscape architecture.
A rainbow of coloured cords streaks across this trainer shop in Poznań, Poland, by designers Mode:lina Architekci (+ slideshow).
Mode:lina Architekci created the rope installation designed to look like colourful shoelaces for the Run Colours store. It contrasts with the dark grey interior and references the store’s brand and logo.
The ropes zig-zag through shelves of shoes on the walls and across the space in seven different colours. “Their prismatic shape refers to a fast movement of a runner,” said the designers. “Colourful lines bounce from one wall to another also merging into floor space.”
The motif continues as a graphic on the floor while the rest of the store is furnished with antiques in the same shade of dark grey as the walls.
The interior of the Poznań store was based on the original design of the first branch in Warsaw, created by the owners of the brand themselves in 2009.
Encouraged by their succesful Warsaw-based store and internet store – owners of Run Colors decided to show their offer of limited series of Nike, Adidas, New Balance shoes to citizens of Poznań.
Designers created a concept for their new store in Stary Browar shopping centre as a space with strong connection to recognizable Run Colors name and logo – “running colors” theme.
Shoelace – a feature distinctive for the brand – inspired mode:lina designers to create a dynamic and multicolour installation made of colorful ropes that remind of shoelaces.
Their prismatic shape refers to a fast movement of a runner – colorful lines bounce from one wall to another also merging into floor space. Dark grey walls make a great background for a wide range of shoes in different colours as well as coloful rope installation.
Store interior is furnished with dark grey painted antiques – it is an echo of Warsaw-based shop. Massive old furniture with tiny colourful touches makes a good counterpoint for light rope installation.
Design: mode:lina architekci architectural studio (Paweł Garus & Jerzy Woźniak) Project team: Paweł Garus, Jerzy Woźniak, Kinga Kin, Agnieszka Owsiany Completion: October 2013 / Październik 2013 Location: Poznań, Stary Browar Area: 110 m2
A spiralling stack of chunky wooden blocks forms this staircase designed by architecture studio QC for an apartment in Poland.
QC, which is based in Rzeszów, created the staircase during the renovation of a two-storey apartment for a young couple and it comprises a pile of spruce blocks that fan out around a central pivot.
The blocks are glued together and connected with steel rods, plus some have been anchored to the wall with additional rods.
“The idea was to make the stairs a ‘box on box’, composed of monolithic wooden steps prepared for easy assembly for any handyman,” architect Lucjan Kuc told Dezeen.
To give each block a unique worn appearance, Kuc poured water over the wood and then dried it out in a kiln so the material would expand and crack.
“The only problem was the drying of such large dimensions; to obtain a satisfactory result the wood was dried three times in the kiln dryer,” said Kuc. “This process made the wood hard, so it deforms and is lightly cracked in a definitive way.”
“The reason for drying parts of the stairs was the only technical solution, but the final ‘weathered effect’ can add a whole charm,” he added.
The staircase connects an open-plan kitchen and living room on the ground floor with a first-floor bedroom and bathroom.
Photography is by the architects.
Here’s some a project description for the entire apartment from QC:
Split Flat
A functional and at the same time elegant and simple split-level flat designed and made by QC, a young architectural firm. The design concept was to fully utilise the metric area of this small flat, making a comfortable space for a couple of young people who value harmony, quietness and order.
The integration of the kitchen into the living room has given a fully open daytime zone in the ground floor. The zone area, comprising the kitchen and the living room, has become mobile – it gets smaller or larger depending on the circumstances. When watching pictures or projecting them on the wall with a projector, you can feel that the area of the living room expands to include the kitchen. The occupants of the flat can use the daytime zone according to their needs. The predominating white colour has been complemented by wooden features: a high wooden table and a black sofa that completes the final effect.
When entering the flat mirror hanging along the entire length and width of the wall on the left. The mirror does not only make the space look larger but also functions as a toilet/utility room door.The architect has decided to mount a suspended ceiling to camouflage the gas installation, retaining the air inflow at the same time, and to gain additional lighting effects.
Simple and austere, the wooden stairs connect the day-time zone to the night-time one.
“For the flat design I adopted a certain principle. The big patches of space were made at the lowest expense possible but the details were in turn selected carefully, which translated into higher costs. With one exception: The stairs, which have become a distinctive element of the entrance zone, were made in a very simple and cheap way. With no compromise to the quality of the details,” the architect explained.
For the second floor, the architect applied a functional system including a bathroom, a wardrobe and a sleeping room. The effect is a perfect private space for the young couple.
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