small is beautiful
So there was plenty to choose from at this year's Karkonosze Meetings for the "Mister KASA" award. Unfortunately, we were not able to visit all the nominated objects in person, there were simply too many of them. For example, we missed two single-family houses - in Karpacz (designed by Karolina Rogóż, Ewa Łysiak) and Komarno (designed by Karolina Rogóż), very interestingly presented in the photos. Modern and simple, but skillfully continuing the heritage of the mountain hut. Not for the first time, it turned out that smaller, modern forms are better suited to the Sudeten landscape, and local designers are also better at dealing with them.
In the end, the competition was also won by a small new development, filling a gap in the development of Karpacz's main promenade. The "Kolorowa" service building, designed by Consulting-Project Robert Futerhendler , is a restaurant-bar for connoisseurs of fine food and good music. Several floors of open, glazed interiors, brilliantly, because simply arranged with designer details (for example, a lamp "snake" running through all the rooms) and filled with music. The idea of modern continuity, devoid of mimicry, instead maintaining a scale appropriate to the surroundings, won out.
"Mister KASA": service building "Kolorowa" in Karpacz, proj.: Consulting-Project Robert Futerhendler
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bohemian praise of moderation
We also had to deal with decidedly undersized buildings on the Czech side of the border. Our southern neighbors are able to exercise restraint both in shaping the landscape space and in the dimensions of the buildings erected in it. In the Czech Republic, buildings are realized that are not too large, often quite modest, but excellent in terms of form and technological solutions. Where do these differences between us in our approach to the same topics come from? This was well defined by Piotr Fokczynski, Director of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of the City Hall in Wroclaw, who during one of the evening debates on similarities and differences in the treatment of Karkonosze architecture said that Czechs design without the so-called tension, that is, at ease, without the burden of pressure of finances and prestige, which gives very good results. Their design freedom is probably due to a different way of education at architectural universities, greater openness to the world and modernity, great respect for individuality and widespread tolerance. Czechs are simply different from Poles and therefore have a different architecture as well.
We could see this firsthand during a tour of the Liberec district, where we were shown some recent developments. Among them were modernized old bridges, a hall with a new wooden roof truss, a small Krkonoše Center for Ecological Education covered with earth overgrown with plants (designed by Petr Hájek), the reconstruction of a large barn for use as a residential house, a coffee roasting plant with a café designed in a modernized warehouse in an industrial area. The buildings were charming in their naturalness, and so were their owners and designers. No one was ashamed of the lack of expensive equipment, rather, recycling was preferred and everything useful for healthy frugal living, efficient work, efficient communication. Nothing over the top and without exaggeration.
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Czech Krkonoše KRTEK Center for Ecological Education in Vrchlabi, proj.: Petr Hájek
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However, even with the Czechs, there was no shortage of surprise. A somewhat shocking solution was the addition of an entrance area to the old Baroque monastery in Vrchlabi in the form of fallen rocks (proj.: Petr Hájek). The realization, not yet completed, in a protective net and without a finishing layer, looked quite surprising as a spectacular solution in a subdued space filled with architectural moderation.
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entrance zone added to the Baroque monastery in Vrchlabi, proj.: Petr Hájek
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some history
Rounding out KASA was the aforementioned conference in Liberec. Like three years ago, it was prepared in cooperation between the Jelenia Góra branch of SARP and Czech architects. For the Polish participants of the conference, the lectures of our southern neighbors were very interesting, for them - the Polish presentations, although these did not always deal exclusively with issues related to the title region.
Among other topics, the Czechs touched on the architectural history of the Sudetenland district, from presenting achievements during the Third Reich's rule in the area ("Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Architektur - Nazi architecture in Liberec and Jablonec," Jaroslav Zeman, National Monuments Institute inLiberec), to an insightful, multi-level analysis of the ways of building in the rural landscape of the Western Giant Mountains from the 14th century to today ("The extinction of traditional buildings in the Western Giant Mountains," Tereza Konvalinkova and Martin Ouhrabka, National Monument Institute in Liberec). The presentation by the two young scientists made the audience aware that in this region, which was quite poor in the past, but distinctive in terms of construction, the first significant changes took place in the second half of the 19th century during the intensive development of industry and the establishment of large, more than two-story buildings - mills, factories, glassworks. Despite a significant architectural "revival" and subsequent changes caused by World War II - the displacement of the German population and the settlement of Czechs from other parts of the country - all modifications to the landscape were non-aggressive. More often, reconstruction was carried out than demolition and building from scratch. Efforts were made to take care of the existing buildings and expand them rather than ruin them and create a new architectural order in their place.
At this point it is impossible not to mention an excellent lecture by Ivo Laborevich from the State Archives in Jelenia Gora ("Destruction and reconstruction of Jelenia Gora's market square buildings 1950-1975"), who began his presentation of the post-war history of the central square inJelenia Gora by saying that in 1946, after the dead bodies of the war, we found ourselves in a refined city, but after ten years everything began to fall apart in it. This is a good example of another difference between us and our southern neighbors - a completely different approach to the treatment of foreign architectural legacy.
small subjects, momentous significance
Meanwhile, in the Czechs, it was only in the 21st century that a number of unfavorable phenomena emerged, resulting from the extinction of the last generation of craftsmen, a lack of understanding of original detail and local materials, and a desire to raise the standard of living, including for tourists. As Konvalinkova and Ouhrabka argued in their presentation, the apartment buildings that have been built (although there are at least ten times fewer of them than on the Polish side, and they are much more discreet) are having a bad effect on the hitherto respected landscape - next to them, the surrounding historic cottages look inconspicuous, or are almost unnoticeable. The conclusion of the lecture was - now everything old is being replaced by new. So since something new must be built, let it not pretend to be an old solution, because it will never have the atmosphere of the original. Instead of a clumsy copy, it is better to design a minimalist, modern and tasteful form, unobtrusive to its surroundings.
In confirmation of this approach to the subject, Vladimir Balda of the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Liberec, showed three projects for the renovation of old buildings and a historic palace park ("Renovation of public buildings in small towns and villages"). The projects were small in size, but of momentous importance, both for the residents of the towns in question and their administrators. Particularly interesting was the idea of reviving an old guesthouse-restaurant in the village of Bily Potok (design: Vladimir Balda). In 2015, the building fell into complete disrepair, and that's when the village authorities stepped in and bought the building with the land to furnish the offices of the municipality in its attic after renovation. Lower down, on the first floor, a hairdresser's shop and catering establishment were envisioned, and on the second floor a large occasional hall for various celebrations.
project for the expansion and modernization of the former guest house into the seat of the City Hall and other services for residents, Bily Potok, proj.: Vladimir Balda
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Unusual in all of this is not only the excellent architecture, designed by the small studio of architect Balda, but also the civic-mindedness of the officials who, when deciding to save the old building, took on the financial burden of its renovation and modernization, and additionally occupied the least representative rooms on the top floor. As it turns out, we also differ with the Czechs in another approach to the exercise of power.
