Issue 2(46)/2016

DOI: 10.5277/ARCHITECTUS

Download table of contents

Table of contents

Articles

Ewa Łużyniecka - Twenty years have passed…

doi:10.5277/arc160201

It is hard to believe that it has been twenty years since the decision to establish a scientific journal of the Faculty of Architecture of Wrocław University of Science and Technology was made. The project was initiated by then Dean Professor Stanisław Medeksza who in 1996 offered Ewa Łużyniecka to take the function of the editor-in-chief of the newly established periodical. At the same time the Scientific Council of the periodical was established which was composed of Prof. Zbigniew Bać, Prof. Edmund Małachowicz, Prof. Tadeusz Zipser and Prof. Stanisław Medeksza. Next Danuta Sowińska PhD – an editor of the Publishing House of Wrocław University of Technologywho has been cooperating with architects for years – gathered a team responsible for the editorial aspect of the project…

Keywords:

Ewa Łużyniecka, Paweł Konczewski - Cellarium from the 13th century in the enclosure of the former Cistercian Abbey in Trzebnica

doi:10.5277/arc160202

The article presents the results of the architectural and archaeological research which was conducted in 2015 in the basement with a fragment of the enclosure cellarium of the former Cistercian Abbey in Trzebnica. After presenting a general history of the object and the state of the research, the scope of architectural and archaeological works was described separately. The final part of the article constitutes an attempt to reconstruct and date transformations of the cellarium of the Trzebnica enclosure. The researched fragment is a remnant of the first enclosure building. Its western wall was at the same time a part of the facade of the western wing and its preserved fragment of the room is the only existing relic of the interior of the oldest convent in Trzebnica.     The cellarium was a two-aisle room covered with a cross vault supported by brick arches and a stone pillar. It performed the function of an everyday storage of the Cistercian convent. It was probably erected in the years 1203–1214. The first reconstruction of the cellarium took place in around 1706 and it was connected with the construction of the great Baroque building of the Cistercian enclosure. At that time a small cellar was created in the northern part of the cellarium. A change in the function of the cellar took place in about 1894 after the secularization of the Cistercian convent and was connected with the beginning of the functioning of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charles Borromeo. Then, on the ground floor of the northern cloister a monastic chapel was arranged and under it in the cellar a boiler room was probably placed. Another modernization of the cellar took place probably in about 1909 when a large boiler room was built in the east and concrete floor, a small pool with drainage tubes to collect ground water were built as well as a stove was put there to dry the interior.     In the post-war times of the 20th century the basement with a cellarium fragment served as a handy storage of the convent. This function was totally changed in 2015 following the described architectural research. At present its interiors house an exhibition of the revealed cellarium fragments.

Keywords:

    cellarium

    cistercian

    trzebnica

Janusz Nowiński - Lapides vivi, Deus est lux, ecclesia est paradisus – the Cistercian church in the Middle Ages as a carrier of symbolic meanings

doi:10.5277/arc160203

With its simple architectural solutions and furnishing, a Cistercian church shaped at the early stage of the Order’s formation, conveyed Cistercian spirituality and liturgy, its architecture and interior having been formed by the Order’s tradition and the spiritual contents it entailed. Based on the Cistercian sources, with a particular emphasis on the mystical elements present in the teaching of St Bernard of Clairvaux (especially in his homily series In Dedicatione Ecclesiae), symbolic meanings as expressed in the architecture and furnishing of mediaeval Cistercian churches are analyzed.     Liturgy performed by monks in the monastic tradition of the Cistercians was perceived in unity with heavenly liturgy, celebrated by angels before God’s throne. Such understanding of liturgy had an impact on the symbolic interpretation of a monastic church. The earthly Church built of “living stones” (lapides vivi): monks, who sanctified it with their holiness, constituted a mystical unity with God’s Church in Heaven and heavenly liturgy celebrated by angels (officium divinum in conspectu Dei et angelorum). God’s presence in a Cistercian church was symbolized by sunlight, particularly present within the space of the sanctuarium, while the window composition in the presbytery gable wall symbolically expressed the truth of the unity and the Trinitarian character of the persons of the Holy Trinity. The symbolism of a Cistercian church was richly expressed in the décor and furnishing of its interior interpreted as the Paradise (ecclesia est Paradisus). Mystical and symbolic meanings of a monastic church shaped, among others, the ideological and iconographic sense of an architectural detail, monumental crucifixes above the rood screen (arbor vitae), choir stalls’ decoration (e.g. vine motif), as well as high altar retables

Keywords:

    cistercians

    church

    symbols

    middle-ages

    light

    paradise

Bogna Ludwig - The modern forms of towns in Lower Silesia

doi:10.5277/arc160204

The article presents and compares the plan solutions of modern towns located in Lower Silesia after the Thirty Years’ War. It shows a few urban designs of Renaissance and Baroque forms. The aim was to find inspiration and models, and to indicate probable imitations, as well as the assessment of the value of urban projects and their relevance to the perpetuation or change of the used concepts.     The area of Lower Silesia after the Thirty Years’ War had an organized and fairly complete settlement grid. One of the few reasons of founding new towns was the development of mining of metal ores. The other motive was prestigious considerations. In this case, an appropriate choice of spatial forms was much more important. Among the mining towns two obtained a clearly Renaissance shape – Bolesławów (1581) and Złotniki Lubańskie (1677). These small towns of the Renaissance arrangement are typical for this region (Saxony, Kingdom of Bohemia, especially the Sudetenland) and belong to later implementations (though still used throughout Europe in the 17th century, or even the 18th century). Due to their small size, similarly as other towns of the mining region, they are formed of only a large square market with four streets surrounded by a building frontage. The Austrian courtiers and the new nobles during the Baroque period created a few new towns with the aim of nobilitation. The most important urban initiatives are related to the activities of members of the family of Württemberg-Oels, who organizing their new residences decided to found or to develop a neighboring town. On the initiative of Silvius Nimrod, the first of the duces, Dobroszyce (1663) were founded. Eleonora Charlotta, widow of Silvius II Frederick, contributed to the construction of a new Baroque city enclave in Twardogóra (circa 1685).     Brzeg Dolny of Abraham Dyhrn (1662) became another example of Baroque arrangement. Apart from conservative Renaissance solutions in the genesis of applied in most cases of founding mining and craft towns, in the 2nd half of the 17th century there came into being, also in Lower Silesia, very innovatory urban foundations. They were created at the same time or even earlier than many analogous foundation from adjacent areas.

Keywords:

    modern-town-planning

    lower-silesia

    renaissance

    baroque

    württemberg-oels

Katarzyna Foljanty - Transformation of historic stations and railway areas into ­multi-purpose structures

doi:10.5277/arc160205

The railway station has played a significant role in urban development of European Cities in the 19th and early 20th century. After World War II many of the original historic structures were demolished. Railways had to give way to cars and terminus stations in the city centers became impractical and too expensive to maintain. With the development of high-speed rail, a renaissance of railway stations can be observed, in which the stations are adapted to the changing needs of passengers and transportation. A new planning approach focuses not on the station building alone, but also the surrounding areas are transformed. This article presents and analyzes selected examples of modernization projects of railway stations and adjacent downtown areas carried out in the European Union.

Keywords:

    train-station

    railway-areas

    megaprojects

Joanna Majczyk - Projects by Professor Andrzej Frydecki for universities in Wrocław

doi:10.5277/arc160206

Andrzej Frydecki (1903–1989), an architect and one of the founders of the Faculty of Architecture at Wrocław University of Technology, began his career in the late 1920s in Lviv. During several years of professional activity he designed dozens of single- and multi-family houses, public buildings, churches, cultural and health care objects. After the end of the Second World War he became associated with the capital of Lower Silesia, where he educated young architects and prepared many projects, e.g. for Wrocław universities. The article presents architectural designs of Frydecki of the late 1940s and 1950s – erected buildings such as the new headquarters and laboratory halls of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Wrocław University of Technology, as well as not so well known concepts, which were not realized (student dormitories, concepts of the technical university campus development, seats of the Faculties of Electrical Engineering and Aviation). All the shown buildings were designed in the style close to modernism; their realization was impossible for ideological reasons as in 1949 in Poland there was implemented a new method of architectural design – the socialist realism.

Keywords:

    andrzej-frydecki

    wrocław

    universities

    wrocław-university-of-technology

Halyna Petryshyn, Tetyana Kazantseva - Architectural sketches as a method of stylistic and composition research of villa housing in the city of Lviv

doi:10.5277/arc160207

The aim and task of the architectural and urban planning workshops of sketches of villa housing in Lviv were formulated as a component of urban studies at the Lviv Polytechnic. The techniques and methods of quick urban sketches were described. The structure of the programme of the workshops is determined in accordance with the objectives of the designing course. On the basis of the workshops results, a systematic catalogue of the drawings of Lviv villas was created, the compositional and stylistic features of villa development were analyzed and the problems of their conservation were specified.

Keywords:

    workshops-of-urban-sketches

    villa-development

    lviv

    style

    stylistics

    composition

Lubow Smirnowa - An attempt at applying 123D Catch to survey selected elements of architecture of the Cistercian Abbey in Rudy

doi:10.5277/arc160208

This article is a result of the work of the research program of transformation conservation research in architecture Cistercian abbeys in Silesia using modern digital technology. Gathered as part of trip to the palace of the former abbot and Cistercian monastery in Rudy Raciborskie materials inventory were developed using computer software 123D Catch. The object of the study were elements of the above-mentioned band, including fence post, elevation north-western band abbey and the palace courtyard facades of that palace. The aim of the work is an attempt to find suitable photogrammetric methods, which do not require specialized equipment and check the effectiveness of the chosen one in terms of ability to perform an inventory. The study contains as positive and also negative results. Selected software requires further investigation for the possibility of some use it in photogrammetric surveys.

Keywords:

    photogrammetry

    inventory-methods-of-architectural-conservation

    123d-catch

Jacek Wiszniowski - Factors forming public spaces

doi:10.5277/arc160209

By definition, public spaces meet the needs of society. Any transformations within them often result in a reduction of their primary role and importance. What is more, the degradation of their most important functions goes hand in hand with the social disintegration. The transformations are caused by several factors, which, when diagnosed well, will help to find appropriate solutions adapting the properties of public space to the current social conditions. Places designed for integrational purposes should be considered in two terms: social and material. In community terms, these places act as the main spaces for communication. Therefore, what must be considered in the material terms are, in particular, those physical properties which are friendly to the social interaction.     The paper discusses the main problems posing today a threat to the primary function of public spaces. They include: inadequate location, privatization and building on the public land, the pressure of functions other than social ones, lack of spatial policy which takes into account the social needs as well as the weakness of local and supra-local communities.

Keywords:

    public-space

    spatial-policy

    environmental-psychology

Justyna Kleszcz - Education through nature. Ecological playgrounds – the genesis

doi:10.5277/arc160210

Ecological playgrounds for children were being erected as another stage of development of organized form of children recreation, playground, playfields or city gardens accessible to common society. Its genesis is bound with creating and evolving the term of sustainable development, ecology and all the other ideas, considering education and basing on the original term. However the statement that ecological playgrounds take their origin from no more than the “eco” design concept, social-conscious design would be indisputably shallowing the problem to its basic conditions. There were a few more elements which influenced the process of creating a new form of sustainable, the so called – ecological playgrounds, older than the WHO agenda from Rio de Janeiro conference itself. Among them, there was the experience of World War II and the so called “architecture of war time”, but also development of cognitive psychology and consciousness of human development as a psychological process.     The article presents an analysis of the current state of research on the evolution of formal and essential formation of playgrounds for children in the global and Polish scale, which has resulted in developing nowadays a form of ecological playgrounds. It also shows a series of events that contributed to the creation of some global trends in the formal formation of space for children associated with the pro-ecological design.

Keywords:

    functional-fixedness

    natural-playscape

    educational-playground

Bartosz Adamiczka - Looking at the River – Wrocław’s waterfront

doi:10.5277/arc160211

The presented project and its established solutions may constitute a pretext for a broader discussion on the role of the river in the city – in the past, nowadays and in the future. The article presents the main aims of the project. The purpose of the design is to create a concept of urban planning strategy that would enable the highest possible degree of interaction between the city and the river. This goal could be achieved, among others, by the components of the designed structure. The paper presents the concept of an urban network which consists of facilities having complementary functions with respect to each other, as well as a detailed design of one such facility, starting from placing it within the city’s structure and concluding with the description of architectural detail. The entire strategy is supposed to work analogously to a cardiovascular system: the main arteries in this case being the systems of water routes. The remaining transportation systems are to be treated as supplementary – allowing to get to the network hubs, where the journey could be continued by means of water transportation. Designed buildings are to play the role of “clips” between the city and river. Moreover, they might be treated as a sort of power plants, based on renewable energy sources. They are designed to supply electric vehicles – bicycles, boats and cars. For this purpose buildings were equipped with numerous ecological solutions – both architectural and installation.

Keywords:

    river

    transportation

    human

    city

    structure

Janusz Rębielak - Brief information about activities of the Committee for Architecture and Town Planning of Wrocław Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences

doi:10.5277/arc160212

Paper presents outline of history of scientific activity of the Committee for Architecture and Town Planning of the Wroclaw Branch of Polish Academy of Sciences since the time of its forming in 1974 until the end of 2015. There are presented the compositions of Committee’s authorities in particular terms and there are described the main ranges of research works carried out in the spoken periods. There are also given themes of the most important scientific conferences, symposiums, seminars and workshops organized by the Committee together with list of lectures given by lecturers particularly in the last decade.

Keywords:

    committee-for-architecture-and-town-planning

    wrocław-branch-of-polish-academy-of-sciences

    scientific-activity

    lecture