Work submitted for the competition
"Best Interior Diploma 2021/2023".
The goal of the Deaf Meeting Place project at the ruins of the castle of the Bishops of Wroclaw in Ujazd is to enable Deaf people to nurture their own culture. The Deaf form their own environment, as well as a cultural and linguistic minority. They are distinguished from the rest of society by their dialect in the form of sign language.
It is considered inappropriate to call a deaf person "deaf", because of the member "mute". It signals that the person has no language. Deaf people can communicate and have their own sign language. The phrase "Shout in silence" refers to the expression of oneself and one's thoughts by deaf people being in silence all the time.
Deaf Meeting Places project, sketches
© Natalia Hudzik
As in any culture, it is essential to nurture Deaf culture. Culture must be alive in order to survive. That's why it's important to maintain mutual relations by having conversations and exchanging experiences. One aspect of culture is artistic creativity expressed in painting, sculpture and artistic activities, such as performance.
The Deaf Meeting Place consists of six facilities
© Natalia Hudzik
The space I designed is intended to serve creative participation in Deaf culture, bringing together Deaf people from different parts of the world in one place. Visual communication through paintings, sculptures and multimedia projections is an excellent means of conveying information. Using colors, lines, symbols, contrasts and compositions, it is possible to express thoughts that deaf people cannot express with their mouths. It is enough to use art, which will be a kind of common language.
Deaf Meeting Place project, map and visual identity
© Natalia Hudzik
The spatial identification emphasizes the visual aspect. Signs have been designed for individual places to make it easier to navigate the complex, such as illuminated LED strips in the floor showing the way to the studios. Information is conveyed through imagery. Symbols associated with silence - the color turquoise and distinctive hand arrangements - were used. The Deaf Meeting Place logo itself shows the activity and the word "paint."
point of group creative work
© Natalia Hudzik
The Deaf Meeting Place includes universal points of creative work, whose function depends on the artistic activities undertaken. In addition to the studios, there are temporary apartments, a conversation bistro, a visual arts gallery and a gallery on the water. Access to the various facilities is via a path raised above the ground. The spaces created are meant to encourage connections with deaf people, with art as the common language; it is also meant to be a keystone between the hearing and deaf worlds.
Visual arts gallery
© Natalia Hudzik
In the design I wanted a lightness and gentleness, contrasting with the ruins of the castle. The form of the solids had to be barely noticeable. The resulting architecture is synthetic, as the castle ruins are a strong point in the local space. The sense of sight is strongly influenced by the color and texture of the walls. The new forms were designed as a "fog" that does not distract from the castle.
interior of the Bistro Conversation
© Natalia Hudzik
Making many sketches, I obtained truncated cylinders on the plan of ellipses and ovals. What is important is their interaction and relationship with the surroundings. The shape of the path and the distances between the volumes resulted from the shape of the surroundings. The projection of the path transforming into a terrace took the form of a branch, and the structure of the balustrade (accentuating and interweaving the form of the terrace) refers to the weave of baskets of vittles. The form of an ellipse is preferable to a circle, since the projection of the path is also an elongated form.
The interior of the gallery on the water and one of the temporary apartments
© Natalia Hudzik
The roofs of the buildings are made of polished sheet metal and are a mirror of the castle, just as the mirror of the deaf is art. By creating art, the deaf have a conversation with the viewers of the painting. It is a visual communication. In the project, I cite paintings by members of the "Lajkonik" Painting Circle, located at the Krakow branch of the Polish Deaf Association, which unites Deaf artists, and a painting by Italian-born Prof. Ludovic Graziani.
Natalia HUDZIK
Illustrations: © Author
