A glass cube with stone "pilasters" of a fractious design. This is how the Poznan University of Technology's rectorate, which will be exposed by the river , will look like . Construction is underway. The building is to be "almost zero-energy" and this will probably be its greatest advantage. The project was again chosen without a competition - in a very strange way.
It's already a sad tradition: the Poznan University of Technology does not hold architectural competitions for new buildings on its campus. Meanwhile, the vast complex has been growing gradually for more than two decades based on a local plan that is a simplified derivative of Prof. Marian Fikus ' urban design concept from a quarter of a century ago. That project envisaged complementing the buildings of the communist-era Polytechnic (1950s-70s) with a spacious academic town, spatially and functionally united with the surrounding Warta River, Lake Malta and the historic Śródka district.
Modernist PP buildings from the first half of the 1970s on Piotrowo Street, view from under the lecture center
photo: Jakub Głaz
Fikus was also the author of the first edifice of the new campus: the Lecture Center with Technical Library. Today, in addition to this building, four other edifices stand on the right bank of the Warta River (PP faculties, a sports hall and the Poznan Super-Center). They form an exposed, though hardly thrilling, waterfront visible from Ostrów Tumski and the Old Town.
Construction of the new rectorate of Poznan University of Technology - view from Zagorze on Ostrow Tumski, on the right you can see the ramp under construction leading from the "Wartostrada" along the river to the level of the Berdychowski Bridge
photo: Jakub Głaz
square times two
Now the teaching and research facilities are being joined by an administrative one - the New Rectorate on Rychlewskiego Street, designed by Prof. Slawomir Rosolski (the new edifice will replace the historic headquarters in the Wilda district). The same architect is the author of the building standing next door (2 Rychlewskiego Street) housing two faculties - Architecture and Management Engineering (the so-called WAWIZ) - opening in early 2020.
The new rectorate of Poznan University of Technology, visualization, left - the building of the faculties: Architecture and Management Engineering, right: the Faculty of Chemical Technology and Rychlewskiego St.
© proj. Slawomir Rosolski
From the outside, both of Rosolski's projects are based on a similar premise. They are cuboidal buildings on a square plan with narrow rhythmic divisions of simple elevations. As a rule: sparing and timeless forms. Exposed on a slight rise, WAWIZ was likened by Rosolsky to a Greek temple. The white walls dissected by vertical windows were meant to resemble... the Parthenon. Inside, the sacred associations are lacking. The heart of the building is a hall the size of a sizable courtyard covered with a variation on the shed roof and surrounded by segments of halls and teaching rooms.
Construction of the new rectorate of Poznan University of Technology, on the left: the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Management Engineering, in the foreground Rychlewskiego Street
photo: Jakub Głaz
The whole thing is simple and seemingly legible. Seemingly, because - when you take a closer look - the functionality of the building is not among the best (we will present a broader analysis in one of the paper editions of A&B). Probably more important for the investor and designer was the fact that the Department is "almost zero-energy". This virtue was pronounced by all cases and - unfortunately - it outweighed other aspects of the building. The fact that the university's facility, which trains future architects, was not selected in a competition should be considered a curiosity - especially when the result of this decision is far from ideal.
On the left, the construction of the new rectorate of Poznan University of Technology, on the right - the southern elevation of WAWIZ, in the foreground, a temporary parking lot - the future investment field of PP; in the background, in the clearance - the cathedral
Photo: Jakub Głaz
emerged from resources
Will the same happen with the rectorate? It's not yet time to pass judgment on the whole thing. However, two things are clear: we know how the lump will look from the outside, and the fact that there was no competition for it. So how was the design chosen? Beata Czerkas of PP's Information and Promotion Department told us that it was
selected based on the staff resources of Poznan University of Technology.
What does this mean? We asked for clarification of this information and the reasons why there was no competition or even a tender. We are waiting for an answer. We have to guess that Professor Rosolski, who works at the PP Faculty of Architecture as director of the Institute of Architecture, Urbanism and Heritage Preservation, was selected from the "staff resource". It remains a mystery, however, why it was he and not another representative of the "resource" who was asked to do the project. Even if he has well-known and award-winning projects to his credit , such as the successful adaptation and expansion of a post-military building in Poznan on Ulanska Street (City Park, 2006). Similar questions also multiplied in the case of the Faculty of Architecture, except that the matter fell silent in the face of the pandemonium that erupted a few weeks after the edifice opened.
The new rectorate of Poznan University of Technology, visualization, view from Rychlewskiego Street from the southwest; on the left - WAWIZ, on the right - the Faculty of Chemical Technology, the riverside area on the left behind the frame
© proj.: Slawomir Rosolski
What the buildings have in common, therefore, are: similar solid design principles and the choice of designer. However, there are also significant differences. The Faculty is a white plastered cube, while the Rectorate - as we read in its description:
"will be a five-story building (one underground and four above ground) in the form of a glass cuboid with stone facade pilasters. The vertical divisions of the pilasters will give the Rectorate monumentality and emphasize the importance of the designed building against the background of the entire Campus. The material of the glass façade will emphasize the modern character of Poznan University of Technology, while the use of stone will refer to its rich history and tradition.
fortified authority
The main entrance to the Rector's Office will be located to the north by a triangular square open to the riverside area, also adjacent to the WAWIZ building. Additional entrances and the entrance to the underground parking lot are planned for the south. In addition, the Rectorate:
(...) will have 5966 sq. m. of usable space.(...) A pedestrian and vehicular walkway has been designed around the building . (...) The interior is designed to provide comfortable and casual use. The focal point of the building's interior is the main hall. Two staircases, elevators and technology shafts form a communication riser, to which sanitary, social and technical rooms are adjacent.
In contrast to the bright body of the WAWIZ, the Rector's Office is to be kept in darker tones. In addition, a striking geometric ornamentation can be seen on the "pilasters." First impression: turn-of-the-century architecture, when some designers, abandoning the forms of postmodernism, tried to be modern. To some extent (keeping all proportions) the idea with pilasters extending in front of the face of the glass cube may be associated with the Warsaw Supreme Court by Marek Budzyński (realization:1999). The second impression: this is old-style power architecture - fortified and closed to the surroundings.
Poznan University of Technology's new rectorate
© Slawomir Rosolski
The glass wall, in addition to inducing nostalgia for the 1990s, which we deduced, has another justification - incidentally, dating back to the same era. The description informs us that:
images of the surroundings will be reflected in the glass, making the building fit into the context.
Only that this way of dialogue with the context has long since become obsolete, and some architects have learned that such walls are the cause of death for many birds of a spatial barrier. Anyway: up-to-date or not, the facades of the rectorate simply look bleak and may evoke unwanted associations with an exclusive funeral home.
Poznan University of Technology's new rectorate, visualization, view from the riverside area, left - WAWIZ
© proj. Slawomir Rosolski
zero-bulwark tract?
So it seems that this time, too, the "almost zero-energy" nature of the project prevailed over other qualities. Especially since in the description the architect informs that WAWIZ
has achieved above-average low-energy results after four years of use , so it can be expected that similar - equally impressive - results will also be achieved by the new building. (...) Architectural solutions will ensure the proper compactness of the body and air tightness of the building. Thermal insulation with a higher heat transfer coefficient, glass with a high heat transfer coefficient (...), warm installation of the glass facade or thermal breaks minimizing thermal bridges will be used. A mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery fed from the intake chamber of the WAWIZ building will be used (...).
So many technical details. The description gives even more, but it's time to move on to the last issue: the development of the land between the PP buildings and the river. The boulevard once drawn by Prof. Fikus is not visible. Instead, there are the asphalt roadways of Rychlewskiego Street and the chaotic greenery between the river and the campus.
Rychlewskiego Street between the PP campus and the Warta River and its relief canal - on the left: the Department of Chemical Technology, in the background the entrance to the Berdychowski Bridge under construction
Photo: Jakub Głaz
Beata Czerkas, asked about plans to develop this space, told us that the
the university has started discussions with the city. This is because the mentioned area belongs to the city.
The magistrate has not yet presented such plans. Instead, the city is currently focusing on building a pedestrian and bicycle connection between the campus and Ostrow Tumski and the Old Town. We are talking about the Berdych Bridges, which we have described many times , i.e. two crossings (over the Warta River and its relief trough).
Poznan University of Technology campus, general view from St. Roch Bridge - from left: Berdychowski Bridge under construction, Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center, Faculty of Architecture and Management Engineering building, Rector's Office under construction, Faculty of Chemical Technology, Lecture Center with Technical Library, in the foreground the Warta River
photo: Jakub Glaz
Next spring, they will significantly change the use of the Polytechnic's surroundings and "bring it closer" to the center. They will also provide completely new views. The new rectorate, funeral in spirit, will be located exactly on the axis of the longer bridge. It remains to be hoped , therefore, that when completed it will look better than in the visualizations, and that the interiors will turn out to be extremely functional.
