We know the results of the 22nd edition of the KOŁO competition for the conceptual design of a building with a public toilet function for Warsaw' s Royal Baths Park. From among more than 300 very diversified works submitted, the jury selected a design characterized by simplicity, made by Dominika Bugajska and Marcin Trzaska. Congratulations!
The KOŁO competition has been encouraging young architects to design micro objects with a public toilet function in Polish cities for 22 years. This year's edition set the participants a unique task. The partner of the competition was the Royal Baths Park, which is visited every year by more than three million tourists from all over the world. The unusual place forced an unusual approach to design - a combination of tradition and respect for the value of monuments with modernity and creativity of young architects. Designers approached the task very seriously this year as many as 330 projects competed for the Grand Prix award. The works were judged by a jury consisting of:
- Prof. Ewa Kuryłowicz - Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology, Kuryłowicz & Associates,
- Robert Konieczny - KWK Promes,
- Marta Sękulska Wrońska - WXCA, president of the Warsaw Branch of SARP,
- Aleksandra Kozłowska - winner of the KOŁO competition,
- Przemysław Powalacz - CEO of Geberit Sp. z o.o.,
- Kamilla Pereta - chief conservator, Royal Łazienki Museum,
- Dorota Knopp - deputy head of the Investment Department, Royal Łazienki Museum,
- Marzena Jasczak - deputy head of the Public Service Department, Royal Łazienki Museum.
Grand Prix - the relationship of new architecture with historical buildings
The Competition Jury decided to award the Grand Prix to the project entitled. "Linkort" by Dominika Bugajska and Marcin Trzaska. The bathroom concepts were appreciated for their discretion, elegance and respect for nature. The proposal refers in an unobvious way to the historical buildings on the grounds of the Bathroom garden - it is characterized by a simple, cubic body and a courtyard with a living tree. The winning proposal perfectly fit the task of this year's competition of combining history with contemporary architectural thought. The concept takes into account the appropriate discretion due to the restroom, as well as a unique elegance befitting a historic royal park in a European capital.
Grand Prix for the project titled "Linkort".
© Dominika Bugajska, Marcin Trzaska
As Prof. Ewa Kurylowicz points out:
The object that the contestants came to design was theoretically simple and small, but at the same time extremely difficult, in a sophisticated way. The authors of the winning project called "Linkort" aptly defined the relationship of the new architecture with the historic buildings of the Baths, avoiding quotations or a literal interpretation of their specific style. Instead, they proposed a continuation of the narrative with a clear 21st century provenance, identifying the most basic features of the existing buildings - their relationship with the greenery and spaces of the composed avenues, the relationship with water, light, the way of viewing and feeling the park architecture formed by chiaroscuro, occurring against the background of greenery. Proposing a compact body, in light color, they introduce the semi-private interior of the pavilion formed as a patio, with the soft gesture of a curved wall.
First degree honorable mention and special award
© Klaudia Walaszek-Wieczorek, Mikolaj Wieczorek
distinguished toilet designs
Among the works submitted to the competition, the jury decided to award honorable mentions:
- 1st degree + special award for design in the spirit of sustainable development for Klaudia Walaszek-Wieczorek and Mikolaj Wieczorek,
- II degree for Marcin Gierbienis,
- Third degree (three equal prizes) for teams composed of Iwona Golik and Katarzyna Pyczek; Klaudia Golaszewska, Marek Grodzicki, Kinga Grzybowska, Michal Hondo, Jakub Wójtowicz and Filip Zieliński; and Kuba Kozachenko, Lukasz Modrzejewski, Apolonia Slesarow and Konrad Zaborski.
All the works entered in the competition could be voted for by Internet users, who awarded the prize to the project by Jacek Czudak and Dominik Kowalski.
The organizers of the KOŁO Competition do not stop at just projects. In the most important Polish cities, we can see buildings resulting from this initiative: the Beach Pavilion on the Vistula, which attracts Varsovians, a toilet in Kazimierz Dolny hidden under a wooden structure, or a bathroom hidden under a green hill in Plock. Will this also be the future of the winning project in the Royal Łazienki Park?
You can read more about the competition's assumptions here.
compiled by: Dobrawa Bies
illustrations courtesy of the organizers.
