Non-existent monuments and architectural icons have great potential to drive lively and meaningful discussion. Recent examples: the case of Solpol and the so-called Saxon Palace. The debates and petitions devoted to them have even begun to be accompanied by Facebook profile picture overlays. Worse with background architecture. Here it is no longer so simple. Meanwhile, we desperately need action for decent housing.
Two important discussions are currently underway. Each concerns a building with spectacular qualities: one is destined to die, the other, on the contrary, is to be born for, not in a pinch, two and a half billion zlotys. We're talking about Wrocław's Solpol and a dummy of the former Saxon Palace, or rather, as Grzegorz Piątek astutely notes, Ivan Skwarcov's profit house. Both debates are important, their currents sometimes merging, only to flow separately again captivating successive publicists, architects or historians. Most of the active debaters call for preserving Solpol and abandoning the Warsaw investment. I think the same, even if the colors of the facade will always weaken my understanding of the Solpol block and make me nauseous, and the emptiness at Pilsudski Square - a sadness caused by more than just the commemoration of a tragedy, as rightly highlighted a few days agoBlażejCiarkowski.
From the point of view of interest in architecture, both debates are a benefit in themselves. Seemingly, it's the cucumber season, and here we are quite seriously enriched by a meager architectural education. In gratis: a reflection on recent and post-war history. And since it's all about vivid examples, a wide audience is enlivened. A plus, but also a minus, because we still remain in the sphere of icons , few objects of not only spatial, but also symbolic significance. Prisms through which we cleave Polish identity. And then we examine it, element by element, with narcissism and masochism at the same time.
The superhero and the fight against evil
There has already been a bit of this type of important action and debate - in defense of objects of modernism that are important to Polish DNA. Most of them went under the pick anyway, but at least there was an increased awareness of what we were losing. A poor consolation, but always. Such discussions are easy to ignite: the main character is one and distinct, behind him is a more or less romantic story intertwined with sentiment. There is also the struggle between good and evil, which destroys valuable objects or assumptions. Contrary to appearances, Saski is the same fairy tale, because, as architecture researcher Kuba Snopek observed on Facebook, the plans for Pilsudski Square can also be called "the destruction of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier."
However, it is much more difficult to launch an action in favor of a collective hero, with a less spectacular character and not entangled in the simple opposition of evil and good. No longer "icing" - to recall the title of the book's conversation with Grzegorz Piątek and Jaroslaw Trybus, but "meat" - in this case: decent living conditions. After all, the most violent housing diarrhea in the Third Republic is underway. The production of houses and apartments is breaking records, real estate prices have long exceeded the limits of absurdity - if you relate them to the purchasing capacity of the average citizen. Speculation is booming.
The inferior quality of housing is therefore becoming more and more strongly inversely proportional to its prices. It is no coincidence that the term "patodeweloperka" has recently entered circulation, the projections of the worst apartments are becoming an object of derision on the Internet, the term "Polish housing camps" coined from the name of one of the Facebook profiles is breaking through into heads. Real estate agents report that only recently (!) some apartment buyers have begun topay attention to the functionality of apartment floor plans and their hygienic conditions, where by hygienic we mean not only access to sunlight and ventilation, but also, for example, a view from the window that will not lead tenants to depression. Several factual books have also come out in recent years: "A System for Housing" by Agata Twardoch or "Beyond Property" by Joanna Erbel. The New Żerniki housing project in Wroclaw has also been built - the only (!) project of this scale in the whole country, and even that is not without its shortcomings. Yes, there is a small flame of discussion smoldering in the housing issue, but it is nothing in the face of the blazing fire of developer investments.
meter for 42 days
So something has stirred in the consciousness, but it is far too little if we imagine the totality of the damage that horrendously expensive, non-functional and poorly located housing developments can do to society . The effects will torment us for decades. Every day and tangibly. Unlike the absence of Solpol, or the presence of "Saski" (or vice versa). Willingly, unwillingly, the architectural community puts its hand to it, often being an economic hostage to its principals. The best evidence is the production of "micro-apartments," a sub-standard that enjoys success (the uncut hand of the market!) only because it does not cost 150 average net salaries. "Rzeczpospolita" has just reported that for a square meter of apartment, a Varsovian, earning an average net salary of 5100 PLN, has to work non-stop for 42 days. It's no wonder that cramped square meters still reign supreme, and the latest figures show 29 square meters of housing per Polish head, which puts us at the tail end of Europe.
Suffering above all are young people in their thirties who intend to finally settle down. In "Wysokie Obcasy" (High Heels), Marta Olcoń-Kubicka, PhD, interviewed by Natalia Mazur, reports on the results of the latest research: the young rely on buying - often with the efforts of the whole family, although even this is not enough. Because, despite the hyped era of sharing and renting, conditions have not emerged in which these phenomena would be a sensible alternative to ownership.
A job for NIAiU
If one were to indulge in conspiracy theories, one might think that the hype surrounding "Saski" and the demolition of Solpol is meant to divert attention from much broader and more complicated problems. To channel emotions. Even if there was no premeditation in this, the stuffiness speaks for itself. No one is taking a realistic, long-term and systemic approach to raising the quality of new, but also old housing - even in the spirit of the simple and award-winning Bordeaux development by Lacaton &Vassal.
A balance is therefore needed. Debates about "icing" must be accompanied by action for "meat." In doing so, it should have as strong a resonance as the discussions about Solpol and the Skwarcow house. "Micro-apartments," as a case taken to the point of absurdity, have great potential to become the driver of such a debate, but - at the same time - can divert attention from less glaring, but more numerous harmful investments. It is necessary to look for another load-bearing symbol around which to rally the ranks.
What can architects do in this case? Not much, because in general an architect can't do much, but - still. SARP and the Chamber of Architects can't do much, because they gather active architects who are monetizing the construction boom at the moment. However, there is a serious player on the scene almost created for this kind of task: The National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism. Despite sparse budgets, it has probably already solidified enough to arrange and brand a wide-ranging educational campaign that will meet with an appreciative response from citizens. And by the way - it will raise awareness of such terms as "urbanism" and "architecture".
Because if we paste an overlay on our Facebook profile that reads "stop stalking me Solpol," it's time to come up with a similarly catchy and light-hearted slogan about housing, which will adorn numerous profile pictures and brand the new action. A venture that, to travesty a new, widely read author of school readings, will descend from the NIAiU and change the face of subways.
