Two visualizations are far too few to write about the project. Enough, however, to draw attention to the emerging concept. The medusa group studio has shown its idea for a school building, the body of which draws from the archetypal shape of a house.
In Klecza Dolna, a small town in the vicinity of Wadowice, the first Pallottine house in Poland was built in the early 20th century in the buildings of the former brewery on Kopec, serving the Catholic clerical community founded by St. Vincent Pallotti, and the Collegium Marianum gymnasium. The building has been expanded and repurposed over the years, and today a monastery with a retreat house and a school are operating there, and right next door an investment is being built to support the education and development of children, young people, and the local community - the Bemke Campus. The name of the campus was inspired by the figure of a former student and later director of the aforementioned Collegium - Father Leon Bemke, chaplain of the Westerplatte crew.
TheCollegium Marianum will become the heart of the establishment, but will require extensive renovation under the supervision of a conservationist. Thus, the new campus development will be built in a setting of historic monastery architecture that is more than a century old, as well as the picturesque landscape of the Beskid Maly Mountains.
This is a new adventure for our studio, this is the first time we have the opportunity to create an important educational space in a historic setting, which is expected to serve young people for decades to come," says Przemo Lukasik of the medusa group studio.
interior, visualization
© medusa group
This is the first time the architects will face this type of context, but the task may be made easier by their experience in designing educational institutions - Warsaw's Akademeia High School by Silesian architects, nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award among others, awarded in the competition for the Architectural Award of the Mayor of Warsaw and honored in the competition for the SARP Award of the Year has already made its mark on the map of contemporary Polish architecture. The most important accent in the high school building is a huge grandstand, a universal meeting place. We can see a similar solution in the visualization of the school in Klecza Dolna - between the small modules in a shape reminiscent of a house covered with a gabled roof, the architects placed large steps - a solution for both communication and relaxation.
Several small objects are connected to form a whole like, as the designers explain, a small farm.
Here we reach back to the tradition of simple country cottages, arranged in a spatial composition, as well as the archetype of the house, which is defined by closeness and a sense of community. The building material - ceramic molding - also refers to tradition," explains Przemo Lukasik. - We separated the zones of learning, laboratory work, rest and communication, and then spatially united them by the plane of an intimate courtyard with stairs. The schoolyard like a blanket connects the seemingly scattered buildings. This modern form is meant to stimulate the imagination of students and teachers, to mobilize them for creative activities, the architect stresses.
An important aspect is also to be the openness of the campus, its area will not be fenced off so that everyone can use this space.
The building of an elementary school for grades IV-VIII has received a building permit, and is scheduled to welcome its first students as early as next school year, in September 2024.
