In Strzelecki Park in Nowy Sącz, construction of a new amphitheater designed by the Architecture Laboratory studio has been completed. The new building will serve a cultural and recreational function - creating comfortable conditions for the events held in it.
The park environment was important in the process of designing the building
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construction
The new building stood on the site of a demolished 1960s concert shell and auditorium, which consisted of simple wooden benches on a small uplift of the site. It was important for the architects to fit in with the surroundings in such a way as not to lead to degradation and chaos of the Sagittarius Park landscape. The wall shaped along the perimeter of the amphitheater is covered with stone cladding, but is ultimately to be overgrown with lush vegetation blending into the park's greenery.
The basic design idea was to delineate the boundary of the amphitheater with a double wall more than four meters high. The facility has a simple, functional layout in a trapezoidal shape, which resulted from the proportions of the shape of the stage along with the audience. In addition to the representative part, the facility has a backstage area with a storage and technical area and a toilet block.
On the walls of the amphitheater will be climbing plants
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auditorium and stage
The layout of the auditorium was designed in the form of one central V-shaped stand, which was inscribed in the trapezoidal space. The auditorium was divided into smaller sectors. Depending on the location, they can accommodate from a minimum of eighty to as many as four hundred and forty-two seats. Rows of the auditorium occur at intervals of ninety centimeters wide and fifteen centimeters high, which gives them an amphitheatrical character. The part of the auditorium located in the lowering was laid out on a ramp, which allows free communication.
The stage, twelve meters deep, is based on a trapezoidal plan, which expands in the direction of the audience to thirty meters. On both sides are side curtains with storage and technical space, dressing room segments and space for artists. The back of the stage is finished with a wooden cladding composed of vertical fins.
The auditorium is designed to accommodate three thousand people
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canopy
The roofing of the amphitheater has been designed in the form of a trapezoidal single-pitched roof. The structure of this part consists of nine main girders, each of which has a variable cross section. The girders are supported in an articulated manner on reinforced concrete frames extending from the monolithic walls. This structural arrangement allows the structure's visibility to be kept to a minimum.
The stage was finished with wooden fins
© Laboratory of Architecture
Anna Malek of the Architecture Laboratory studio will talk about the creation of the project, implementation and the role of the new amphitheater.
Wiktor Bochenek: The amphitheater was built on the site of a demolished building from the 1960s. When the design began, were there voices about the need to refer to the old form? There were sentimental voices from the city and residents, or did you have a rather free hand?
Anna Malek: The 1960s amphitheater consisted of a typical concert shell and rows of benches on a small uplift of land. It constituted a largely degraded space that had not been invested in for years. We did not hear any voices regarding the desire to preserve or relate to the existing amphitheater complex. Rather, we got the impression that the residents had long been anticipating changes in the space of Sagittarius Park, including the realization of an amphitheater for modern times. We were given a free hand in this matter.
The complex has room for technical rooms, as well as public toilets
© Laboratory of Architecture
Wiktor Bochenek: The amphitheater has a trapezoidal shape, what did it result from?
Anna Malek: The investor's new guidelines envisaged full roofing of both the stage and the auditorium for more than 3,000 seats and the creation of a massive forecourt to accommodate such a number of users. The priority for us was to shape the body of the building in such a way that the interference with the surrounding landscape of the park was as small as possible. We made use of the area after the demolished amphitheater, without entering the wooded park area. The area was shaped like a trapezoid.
In addition, the guidelines set forth in the Decision on the Location of the Public Purpose, including the determination of the maximum height of the amphitheater building to fourteen meters, were an important constraint. From the analyses we carried out at the concept stage, the optimal shape for visibility was just such a trapezoidal shape of the audience stands on a slight uplift.
The canopy of the amphitheater following the form of the auditorium is flattened, which is in principle a deviation when shaping the canopies of amphitheaters. This has a positive effect on the acoustics of the building and closes it, making the amphitheater more like a closed block than an open outdoor stage.
the shape of the amphitheater in the landscape
© Laboratory of Architecture
Wiktor Bochenek: Theenvironment, the Strzelecki Park in Nowy Sącz, is important. How did it influence the shape of the building?
Anna Malek: The amphitheater is lower than the surrounding tall trees, and despite its dimensions it blends in with the park.
Its non-literal shape results in a refraction of perspective, and the human level can be seen surrounding it by an undersized, four-meter-high stone wall. Plant quarters designed along this wall will soon cause the amphitheater to overgrow and disappear into the greenery. This was our intention - to create a non-obvious architecture that will change over time, evolve in close connection with the surrounding nature.
Wiktor Bochenek: What was the most difficult part of designing the amphitheater, and what are you most proud of?
Anna Malek: The most difficult task turned out to be avoiding a situation where the park space was dominated by a structure that has more than three and a half thousand square meters of built-up area.
From a structural point of view, there were many issues that were difficult at the design stage: the proximity of the Dunajec River, and thus the poor bearing capacity of the soil and the need to base the building on piles, the roofing of the auditorium in a structure consisting of girders of variable geometry without intermediate supports, and finally the spanning of the spatial membrane shell in such a way as to avoid the accumulation of snow in winter.
We are proud of the enthusiastic reception of the realization by the residents of Nowy Sącz and of the fact that we managed to design a facility that is turned into a full-scale public space integrated with the surrounding Strzelecki Park.
Wiktor Bochenek: Thank you for the interview!
