The end of December - because that's when we finished preparing the January issue - is the best time for all kinds of summaries. And like every year, we ask practitioners and architecture critics to write what they consider a success and what they consider a failure in a given year. We do it in the convention of Kits and Hits. We give our Authors and Authors total freedom of expression and exceptionally we do not moderate this discussion. We are simply very curious about it.
Jakub Glaz on hits and putts in 2021
FromA&B issue 01|2022
KIT
moloch and cottages
There is probably no better candidate for kitty 2021 than the law on houses up to 70 meters without a permit. Instead of regulations and restrictions that could raise the poor quality of Polish space, we got another tool to spoil it. To no avail was the protest by the Chamber of Architects, which, by the way, was easily downplayed with the remark that designers are afraid of losing god-knows-what profits. What is striking, however, is the silence of the National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning, which is less entangled in business realities - not the first, by the way, as the NIAiU did not speak out on lex developer either.
In the face of similar comments, it is not uncommon to hear nervous and informal admonitions that the Institute does not deal with such matters, and that it serves primarily architectural education, which is clearly stated in its charter. That's fine, but in that case, let NIAiU change its name to the National Institute for Architectural and Urban Planning Education. Longer, but more to the point. You won't have to read the statute to get rid of the illusion that NIAiU has ambitions to shape spatial and architectural policy on an ongoing basis (rather than in a distant and vague perspective).
But even after such a treatment, silence on issues crucial to spatial governance will be hard to justify. Rulers and parliamentarians should also be educated, and even above all, since it is in their hands that the responsibility for what conditions we create for ourselves and future generations rests. NIAiU's educational activities and publications are of a high standard. This makes it all the more worthwhile to direct them strongly toward a small but significant group of politically ignorant people.
In a slightly longer perspective, houses without permits also mean further depreciation of the architectural profession, although it is hard not to notice that the environment has also earned it. It is not out of the question to ask how much the catalog of typical houses from the competition announced by the government will differ from the folders of architectural monstrosities reproduced throughout the country. Nor is building or at least maintaining an architect's position helped by individual kits, but on a much larger scale, such as the just-completed hotel in Pobierowo, whose authorship is shrouded in a thick fog of official and investor secrecy. Sure, the construction of this monstrosity is the result of the investor's business decisions and the political and personal calculations of local authorities. However, it will be nice to live to see the time when there will not be a single architect who will take it upon himself to build something equally harmful to the landscape and space.
HIT
debetonation
Like every year, there have been more than a dozen good architectural developments in Poland. The number of design raisins in the mighty crush of the national landscape is growing all the time, but even so, no raisin pleases as much as the turn to greenery and nature. Of course, we are very far from an ideal situation, invariably a tree happens to be one of the main enemies in Poland, but in 2021 we saw a significant change in the approach to nature in the city. In circulation was no longer only the slogan "concretosis", conquered by the realization of a ghastly parking lot on the square in Kutno (another putty of the year), but also - novelty! - "de-concretization" or "de-paving."
The most dynamic and noticeable progress is being made by Warsaw, which has finally, after years of going around in circles, taken more decisively to greening and transforming the city center as part of the "New Center of Warsaw" project. Partial effects can already be seen along Marszalkowska Street, trees have appeared on the rebuilt Five Corners Square, announcements of greening Jerozolimskie Avenue as well as limiting car traffic, facilitating pedestrians and declarations that more actions of this type will follow. Let's add to this the spot and linear unpaving along the streets, not only in the capital, but also in other cities, the announcements of the greening of squares paved in the lastof the last two decades (vide Skierniewice or Łódź), the author's correction of Szczecin's Breakthroughs, and timid hints that even within newly commissioned spaces it will be possible to correct and replace concrete with greenery (the case of Poznań). From educational activities, let us also note the successful exhibition in the capital's Wola Museum, dedicated to the achievements of the outstanding green and landscape architect Alina Scholtz.
Finally, great thanks are due to the General Conservator of Monuments Prof. Magdalena Gawin, who firmly informed that - let us quote in extenso - among other things:
...removing healthy trees that were planted decades ago with the hope of improving city life, and using the argument of restoring markets and squares to their original function created in the Middle Ages is a false action, if the end result remains a concrete square.
Who knows if there have been fainting spells in the offices of city and provincial preservationists over such heresy, but there is hope that the preservation services will finally not be one of the main inhibitors of the greening of downtowns, on a par with the already mythical "network managers." The authorities, on the other hand, should be encouraged to take even firmer steps. The example of Paris and the uncompromising pro-nature measures of the city hall there under Anne Hidalgo shows that consistency, persistence and momentum are yielding better and better results.
