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The architecture of transformation - a review of the book "Eternal training ground" by Olek Gadomskiy

28 of January '25

How do you apply grand architectural theories to the experience of everyday life? A unique example of such thinking is offered by Olek Gadomski in his book "Eternal Training Ground." The premiere of the edition created as part of the award in the "THEORY" competition Stefan Kurylowicz Foundation already on January 29 this year, in the meantime we invite you to read a short review.

Olek Gadomski's book "Eternal Polygon" is a short story about the history of the house that his grandfather, Ryszard Gadomski, began building in the 1970s. Like the book's author and his father, Ryszard Gadomski was an architect - he received his education just after the war, in Gdansk. Starting his narrative, Olek Gadomski creates a historical background, adopting the optics of both macro- (describing the historical processes and social conditions characterizing the village of Wymój, located near Olsztyn) and micro-scale (depicting the events leading to the creation of the Gadomskis' house in Wymój, and then the endless history of its transformations, alterations and renovations).

The author takes the reader through the decades during which the house grew, changed, and continued to slowly fall into disrepair, finally creating an excuse for its re-birth. Following Heraclitus of Ephesus, one can conclude that the only constancy in its existence was change. Its driving force, in turn, was the figure of his grandfather, who was constantly tinkering with something, repairing or rebuilding something. His actions and their effects, aptly screened by the author, reveal the deep relationship that was formed between the house and its users through work and communing with the space.

theory

Keeping the space around you in a constant state of flux means that there is always somewhere to turn a screwdriver, replace a valve, paint boards. I juxtapose this in my mind with the approach that is necessary in the professional practice of architecture - finished is passed on, forgotten. Not even out of desire, more out of necessity. Somewhere you have to pass the baton, put the dot, tighten the screw to the end. Hand over the responsibility.

The story described in "Eternal Polygon" (or perhaps the way it is told) is actually a veiled lecture and illustration of Oskar Hansen's Open Form Theory. Olek Gadomski, by the way, invoking the name of the famous theoretician and architect several times, reveals how a space evolves and achieves optimal form not thanks to architectural concepts thought out from A to Z, but rather the indefatigable creative energy of its inhabitants. In this narrative, the original design, judged, by the way, by the author to be excellent, is only (or as much as) a frame on which subsequent ideas, stories and changing circumstances are piled.

Olek Gadomski,

Olek Gadomski, "Eternal Training Ground".

© Stefan Kurylowicz Foundation

substance

Olek Gadomski's book is also a beautiful story about matter - both the living one, ruled by mother nature, and the anthropogenic one, continually transformed by the power and precision of human hands. Describing the treatments to which the architect's cottage near Olsztyn has been subjected over the years, the author evokes the need to take matters "into one's own hands." It should not be forgotten here that the approach shown by Ryszard Gadomski is still relevant today. For the author's grandfather, the philosophy we now refer to as the 3xR principle(reduce, reuse, recycle) seemed to be something natural, inherent in both the design of the house itself and any activities carried out on it. Nowadays, the ideas of circularity, adaptation or revitalization, which after all fit into this rhetoric, are presented as worthy of emulation, although still rarely practiced.

practice

At one point, it wasn't even a question of financial capability, but of attitude - why buy ready-made things when with the help of a saw, a drill and a little imagination you can have any toys you want?

"Eternal Polygon" is not an item just for architects. Learning about the successive transformations that the book's author's grandfather made to the Wymoya cottage, I began to think about how my parents' apartment, where I myself grew up, changed over the years. Some of the renovations were carried out by a crew hired for the purpose (consisting, nomen omen, of my uncle and his best friend), but much of the work and improvements were done by my dad, shuttling constantly between the basement, the garage and the DIY store located on the outskirts of town.

Our living spaces, although created according to a finite design, are really a process that lasts as long as we live in them. Applying the measure of Olek Gadomski's narrative to them, we can discover that they are in fact a record of our invention, problems that arise over the years, and new opportunities. That's why, inspired by the reading, this evening, instead of spending an hour with my favorite TV series, I will lug the cabinet from the balcony, which has been deteriorating there since autumn, clean it properly, varnish it, tighten the screws and put it in the place that has been waiting for it for a long time.

The book was published as part of the award for the winner of the 11th edition of the "THEORY" contest organized by the Stefan Kurylowicz Foundation since 2013.

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