The architecture and spatial disposition of 19th- and 20th-century military building complexes in Silesia. Typology, design, regeneration – preliminary study

Marta Rudnicka-Bogusz

doi:10.5277/arc150203

Abstract

Architecture is the form of art most receptive to outer influences, because it is created entirely as a response to a specific demand. It fills the space not only with shapes but at the same time with ideas. This applies particularly to state-funded investments – administrative and government buildings – which by nature reflect social and political changes. In the researched area military installations were constructed in two main phases associated with the increase in militarism in the internal politics of Prussia and the German Reich – the second half of the 19th century and the 1930s – when multiple military facilities were built. The design was devised to emphasize their majesty and importance and so that they radiated the sense of unity and might of the state. At the same time they represented stylistic and functional characteristics of their times (Werkbund; expressionism), modified in accordance with the then-current ideology. These complexes represented the so called Herrschaftsarchitektur – the architecture of power – and they had important influence in shaping local identity communities on the verge of military conflict.     After 1945, due to their function, the military installations were immediately inhabited by the Polish or Soviet army. As strategic objects, they were unavailable for research and analysis for many years, nevertheless in most cases, were properly maintained. When the Russian troops were withdrawn and the Polish Army was restructured, many installations were abandoned. Unused or else sold to private investors, they start to degrade, are demolished or remodeled, which in either case makes it difficult to study them. In order to save them, it is necessary to reintroduce them into the urban space, so that they do not share the fate of post-industrial edifices and engineering heritage of the same era, which were irreversibly lost. The article discusses the issues of construction, typology and stylistics and the state of preservation of the barracks in Silesia. It constitutes a preliminary study that aims to determine the benefits and possibility of restoration of these facilities.