The Mieczyslaw Karlowicz Philharmonic building in Szczecin has already made architectural history. It turns out that the winner of the 2015 Mies van der Rohe European Union Prize, designed by Alberto Veiga and Fabrizio Barozzi of the Barcelona-based Barozzi Veiga studio, will be expanded to include an outdoor stage.
For quite some time now, Philharmonic Director Dorota Serwa has been looking very closely at the plot of land just behind the Philharmonic, on the side of Zygmunt Stare Street. A concept emerged to use this space in a natural way. Dedicate it to open-air concert activities," Joanna Leszczynska, director of the Culture Department at the City Hall, said for wszczecinie.pl.
View of the Philharmonic from the side of Żeromski Park
Photo credit: Aerialphotography
An open-air stage is to be erected in the area behind the Philharmonic building, on the plot of land on the side of Zygmunta Starego Street, i.e. near the St. Nicholas Church and the border of Żeromski Park. What will it look like? We don't know yet, for now councilors have agreed to allocate 50 thousand zlotys for the preparation of a functional-utility program for the facility, but the final agreement has not yet been concluded.
So far, the details of the actions and decisions are not known. As reported by the aforementioned wszczecinie.pl portal, the task of developing the program is to be entrusted to the authors of the Philharmonic building, architects from the Barozzi Veiga studio, who should complete it by the end of the year. On the basis of the program, the next steps will be taken - the Philharmonic may begin efforts to obtain external funds for the realization of the concept.
In order to move forward with applying for any external funds, and this is the director's idea, it is necessary to have a functional-utility program drawn up. This program will probably be best drawn up by the very designers of the Philharmonic building, i.e. the Spanish studio from Barcelona Barozzi Veiga," Joanna Leszczyńska told Radio Szczecin.
Will the Philharmonic's open-air stage become another architectural pearl on the map of Szczecin? What will the designers from the Barcelona studio surprise us with? We are impatiently waiting for the results!
