When it was alleged that Rem Koolhaas, by designing the CCTV headquarters in Beijing, was supporting an authoritarian regime that tramples on human rights, the architect countered that by doing so he was aiding change in the Middle Kingdom. It is hard to believe that the brilliant designer and publicist believes his own words. "We have to be pragmatic," he confessed. Do Koolhaas' ethical dilemmas (or lack thereof) have a common denominator with the everyday reality of architecture in Poland?
Architects like to discuss imponderables. About beauty and goodness. About the humanistic dimension of architecture and the culture of continuity. This always looks better than talks about PUMs(PUM - Residential Usable Area) devoid of any loftiness. "Iksinski did the concept of residential housing. Then I took over the subject and squeezed 40 percent more PUMout of it," he said. - an architect working in a Polish provincial city once told me. Perhaps he didn't even notice the inappropriateness of his own words and boasted of his workshop proficiency. After all, such a designer is a real treasure for a developer! 40 percent more space to sell is a real profit calculated in multi-digit amounts.
patoapartments
The result is new apartments where the corridor is more than 1/3 of the total area. Rooms are little more than brush lockers. More developments are being built, which Jan Spiewak accurately described in one word: patoapartment. A kitchenette has become the standard, which not so much provides contact between the person preparing the meal and the rest of the household or guests, but bypasses the problem of the minimum width of the kitchen specified in the "Technical conditions to be met by buildings and their location." When a design for a building was created in one of the offices in Lodz, in which some of the two-room apartments had only windows on the north side, it was decided... to call one of the rooms a "dressing room". Fortunately, the concept was not implemented and remained immortalized on paper as evidence of the "ingenuity" of the chief designer.
Apartments, the layout of which is not based on the logic of function, but the pursuit of falsely understood optimization, is not the only problem. In the documentary "Blocks," one of the representatives of the development company proudly praises the new housing development, emphasizing that the individual buildings are separated from each other "as much as 12 meters." To anyone who thinks such a distance is optimal, I recommend comparing a satellite photo of today's housing complexes and any housing development from the 1960s. What do we see? The space between the blocks seems to have shrunk. Lawns have replaced parking lots. This is an obvious result of the policy of using every possible piece of land so that it generates profits. Of course, one should also take into account the fact that some of the new developments are located within the inner city, where the allowable development ratio is relatively high. Awareness of the compliance of the entire development with regulations does not improve the comfort of the apartment.
"Central Park Apartments" in Lodz. The nature of the space between the buildings and its dimensions make one doubt,
whether the new housing development will green up over the years to a degree comparable to the realizations of the 1960s.
photo: Błażej Ciarkowski
When did idealists become cynics?
But since the project complies with the regulations, can we talk about any problem at all? No harm is done to the one who wants it, and if someone buys an apartment consisting mostly of traffic space or with north-facing windows, then apparently such conditions suit him... Besides, if I don't take on this assignment, someone else will. He will propose the same solutions or even worse... An excuse will always be found. Architect Y outraged by the idea of public consultation argued that the city should develop based on good old principles - people will vote with their money. Who has more, has better. All within the framework of the law, existing regulations and a clear conscience.
Vines have replaced trees. Ideas that were considered irrational in the era of Gomulka's "obsession with austerity,"
have gained a raison d'etre in the era of capitalism.
Photo: Blazej Ciarkowski
Has cynicism become so entrenched in architecture that we have stopped noticing it? When did the profession of idealists become the profession of cynics? Did it happen with the advent of postmodernism, when Charles Moore, when asked by Jakub Wujek about the genesis of the new trend, answered that it was about differentiation from the competition and "business"? Or did it happen much earlier... At a time when modernists were creating pro-social concepts without paying attention to people's real expectations? When William Morris designed "for all" products that few could afford?
