From the series "Meeting with the Master" - Oskar Grąbczewski (OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci)
[ A&B 11'2019 original material]
Oskar Grąbczewski of the OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci studio - a guest at one of this year's sarp's "Meetings with the Master," co-author of, among others, the Fire Museum in Żory, the Paleontological Pavilion in Krasiejów and the Administrative Center of the Wielka Wieś Municipality - is interviewed by Marek Kaszyński.
Oskar Grąbczewski
Photo: Natalia Pośnik © OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci
Marek Kaszynski: Daniel Libeskind said of the Fire Museum in Zory: "It's amazing that here, among the roads and turnpikes, you can find such a magnificent building. Its architecture is world-class." I guess it's hard to dream of a better review for your business?
Oskar Grąbczewski: We regard the very visit to Zory by Daniel Libeskind, who is a great star of architecture, as an honor. Indeed, we had the opportunity to realize an unconventional building and the opportunity to show it to Libeskind was a very important moment for us.
Marek: You have been running the OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci studio together with your wife Barbara Grąbczewska since 2002. Before that, you also worked together at another Katowice-based master, Ryszard Jurkowski. What does your cooperation look like, how do you share responsibilities?
Oskar: Basia's talents and skills arouse my admiration, and I always say that if I do something myself, I'm sure it's done well, but if Basia does it, I'm sure it's done better. We work on themes together, especially at the concept stage. Designing is a difficult process, so being able to confront opinions with another person is priceless and always enriching. For the past few years, our son Marek has been working with us, and he finds the system great and has a very strong influence on our joint projects. We try to brainstorm, with the whole team coming up with ideas and discussing the concept, and we guide this process. In subsequent design phases, Basia usually takes the lead on the construction project, we coordinate the team's work together, and I perform site supervision. This division used to be due to the fact that the world of construction was very "male", but now fortunately this is changing - both in architecture and construction more and more women are working, which has a very positive effect on both the atmosphere and the substantive level of the meetings.
Fire Museum in Zory
proj.: OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci - Barbara Grąbczewska, Oskar Grąbczewski; cooperation: Beata Kosok, Marta Musiał, Agnieszka Krzysztonek, Martyna Wojtuszek, 2015
Photo: Tomasz Zakrzewski/archifolio
Marek: Let's go back to the Fire Museum in Zory, which is perhaps the most recognizable of your buildings. The building has won numerous awards at home and abroad, and was also nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award. There is a fascinating story behind it, starting with the fact that it was not always intended to be the Fire Museum.
Oskar: The commission we received was to design a promotional pavilion for the city of Zory. I originally imagined that it would be a minimalist building along the lines of Mrs. Farnsworth's House (design: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1950 - note: MK) or the Glass House (design: Philip Johnson, 1949 - note: MK). So I had such a beautiful vision, when Basia joined the project and it turned out that, firstly, the concept doesn't fit the place, and secondly, it doesn't fit on a plot of land, through which trunk mains run in different directions... We started from the beginning. Zory takes its name from fire and forest burning, but fires are also part of the city's history. In memory of one of them, a festival - the Festival of Fire - has been held for three hundred years. We also drew attention to the mascot of the city of Zory, which is the Zorek flame (designed by Marzena Sternal, selected in a competition in 2000 - note MK). We noted that the part of the plot to be developed could be interpreted as an expressionist or cubic impression of fire. The concept of the building is to incorporate copper-finished walls into this shape and realize a multifunctional space inside. The pavilion thus had strong connotations of fire from the beginning, although the idea that it would house a multimedia Fire Museum came later. Unsurprisingly, the building has become an international sensation that has been published many times and a showcase for the city of Zory. We are very pleased that through architecture we have created a spatial event that goes beyond architecture and becomes a value in itself, that people identify the city with this building.
Administrative Center of the Municipality of Wielka Wieś
proj.: OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci - Barbara Grąbczewska, Oskar Grąbczewski; cooperation: Magdalena Kaiser, Agnieszka Krzysztonek, 2016
photo: Tomasz Zakrzewski/archifolio
Marek: You also designed an important building - the Administrative Center - for the municipality of Wielka Wieś near Krakow. It is completely different from the Museum of Fire, instead of expressive forms it has cuboid blocks, instead of fiery sheet metal - stone. What is the history of this building?
Oskar: I'm in favor of architecture that has an author's feature, but I don't think the same formal idea should be repeated in several buildings. There are many recognizable architects. The realizations of Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind or Tadao Ando are outstanding, but I prefer architects such as Herzog and de Meuron, Rem Koolhaas or Peter Zumthor, who approach each project quite differently. We, too, try not to return to tried-and-true calques. The Administrative Center of the Great Village is the result of a competition won, as we found out later won because we designed the simplest and most economical building. We wanted it to fit into the local tradition and landscape, and since the Wielka Wieś municipality is associated with limestone, we decided that it would be the facade material. We wanted it to be laid on the facade in a "wild" way, and we even drew patterns for the construction crews doing the various parts of the walls. The charm of the building is that it shimmers when the light falling on it glides across the facade. The shadows complement the plasticity of the light limestone building very well, and that's the effect we wanted.
Łaźnia Łańcuszkowa in Zabrze
proj.: Konior Studio & OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci - Barbara Grąbczewska, Oskar Grąbczewski, Tomasz Konior; cooperation: Katarzyna Kunsdorff, Marta Musiał, Ewa Stelmach, 2017
Photo: Tomasz Zakrzewski/archifolio
Marek: The individual approach you speak of also required the Łaźnia Łańcuszkowa of the Królowa Luiza mine in Zabrze. The realization, which you led together with Konior Studio and about which Anna Cymer wrote that it was a "model revitalization," did not provide opportunities to go wild.
Oskar: The most difficult thing about this project was seeing the value in the existing ruin. The building is simple and noble, with very nice proportions, beautiful framing and detailing. We decided not to go crazy with it. From the outside it was only cleaned up, the entrance area was added, the interior was insulated and painted white, which allowed us to reveal all the qualities of the space. Restraint and conservation measures, while limiting their own design ambitions, allowed the building to shine.
Competition design for the Planeta Lem Center for Literature and Language in Krakow
proj.: OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci - Barbara Grąbczewska, Oskar Grąbczewski, Marek Grąbczewski, 2019
© OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci
Marek: In addition to completed projects, you have a rich portfolio of competition projects, often distinctive, bold - don't you have the impression of going against fashion? Nowadays, the choice often falls on a simple cuboid.
Oskar: I have nothing against cuboid, but I don't like banal boxes. I have been competing in contests since forever, already in college I started winning realization contests. I really like this form of architectural competition, it seems fair and democratic to me. The competition also provides this opportunity that any work submitted can be a manifesto, which is not possible in the commercial market.
When we were younger, we won more competitions because we made simpler buildings - we didn't know how to do otherwise. On the other hand, architecture in the world is developing, and if I see the spaces of Stanislaw Niemczyk's churches, if I look at the buildings of Herzog and de Meuron, SANAA or Sou Fujimoto, I can't then pretend that nothing more complex than a box can be realized, and I don't want to design it just because the jury will like it. It seems to me that as architects we have an obligation to show through architecture the complexity of the world and space as we feel and understand it. This is the kind of projects we do and... we lose competitions. The jury often chooses "safe" works, although in fact it is possible to build almost anything within the same budget. I respect these verdicts, but in my opinion, in this way we limit ourselves, and then we wail that our architecture is secondary and backward....
In the past, even among the deluge of prefabricated housing estates, there were buildings that still arouse admiration, which, I'm afraid, would not be built today: Spodek in Katowice (designed by Maciej Gintowt, Maciej Krasinski, Jerzy Hryniewiecki, 1971 - note MK), Warsaw's Supersam (designed by Jerzy Hryniewiecki, Maciej and Ewa Krasinski, 1962 - note MK) or the Kapelusz hall in Chorzow (designed by Jerzy Gottfried, 1968 - note MK). And the most important architectural awards - the World Architecture Festival, the European Prize for Urban Public Space or the Mies van der Rohe Prize? After all, they were won for Poland by the Breakthroughs Dialogue Center (design: KWK Promes, 2015 - note: MK) and the Szczecin Philharmonic (design: Barozzi Veiga, 2014 - note: MK), which are sculptural, sophisticated, spatially rich. I think there are places and situations where we can't set the bar low for ourselves. Of course, there are beautiful buildings that are perpendicular, such as the museums in Bregenz (design : Peter Zumthor, 1997 - note MK) or in Chur (design.: Barozzi Veiga, 2016), but their simplicity delights because of the ingeniously elaborate and often very expensive details that have no chance to exist in a standard boxy building, chosen by the jury for the economy of solutions and ease of implementation.... If someone is convinced that one should design boxes, let him not force himself to go crazy, but if someone, like me, believes that there is something more - rich spaces and great possibilities, then he must design as he feels.
Honorable mention in the competition for the Twarda Cultural Center in Warsaw
proj.: OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci - Barbara Grąbczewska, Oskar Grąbczewski, Marek Grąbczewski, 2018
© OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci
Marek: You were guests in our Krakow series "Meeting with a Master". Do you have your own masters, architecture that inspires you?
Oskar: I am very fortunate to have met many outstanding architects on my professional path. Certainly the masters from the student period were Andrzej Duda and Henryk Zubel, who showed us that architecture is a kind of intellectual adventure. Later we worked under Ryszard Jurkowski, under whom we learned building, responsibility, respect for space and for the users of our buildings - what constitutes the essence of the profession.
Another person is Stanislaw Niemczyk, who fascinated with his great personality, wisdom, unusual way of working.
A great inspiration for me is also working with young people - architects, students. Like our son Marek, they are full of passion, talent and faith that architecture can change the world for the better - if only you design with heart and honesty with yourself.
Marek: Thank you for the interview!
interviewed by Marek KASZYŃSKI
Illustrations courtesy of OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci.
See also Oskar Gr ąbczewski through the prism of the series "10 questions to...".
