In the heart of Kraków, in the picturesque Zwierzyniec district right next to the Rudawa River, the Norbertine Sisters monastery, the Vistula embankment and the road leading to the Kosciuszko Mound is the SALWATOR Private School of the {tag:pracownie} project. Its construction is still in progress and involves many staggered stages.
The school is located in the center of historic Krakow
© Biuro Architektoniczne Barycz i Saramowicz
obliging neighborhood
SALWATOR Private School is located in the heart of historic Krakow, at 39 Senatorska Street, in a place of particular importance for cultural, historical and urban planning reasons. It is adjacent to the Baroque church of St. Augustine and St. John the Baptist and the monastery of the Norbertine Sisters, whose history dates back to the second half of the 12th century. Slightly farther away on the eastern end of the massif of St. Bronislava Hill is the Romanesque Church of the Blessed Salvator, and opposite it is the Baroque chapel of St. Margaret and St. Judith, made on an octagonal plan of wood in a log structure, dated 1690.
In our intention, and that of the entire design team, the architecture created in such an obliging neighborhood must be characterized by masterful restraint and proper placement in the context," say architects Rafal Barycz and Pawel Saramowicz.
The construction of the school is proceeding in stages and has been going on since 2006
© Barycz and Saramowicz Architectural Office
multi-stage construction
The construction of the building proceeded in stages and can be cited as an example of architectural never-ending-story. The architects designed the school as early as 2006 for the Complex of Social Schools No. VI of the Social Educational Society in Cracow - one of the city's most renowned non-public educational institutions. In 2010, the body that runs the school changed. The investor of the building, ASCO Joint Stock Company, became the owner of Salwator Private School.
The exceptional quality of teaching and upbringing, excellent location and state-of-the-art educational building mean that enrollment in the school is made years in advance, right after the birth of a child, and sometimes even before. To meet the needs, the new owner decided to expand the school and create double divisions for each age group, the architects say.
In 2012, the next stage of the project, consisting of its superstructure, was realized according to the design of Barycz and Saramowicz.
The horizontal architecture of the building refers to the line of the river
© Barycz and Saramowicz Architectural Office
Completed in the first stage, the building contained basic functions appropriate for modern education. On the first floor was located the main hall with a separate reception and school store, as well as the adjacent common room. Functional zoning of the first floor included: a complex of elementary school premises for younger children with classrooms 1-3 and a zero class; a sports complex with a gymnasium along with changing rooms, showers, toilets, a coach's room and a handy store; locker rooms and technical and economic facilities.
On the first floor were the areas of: a complex of rooms of the elementary school of older children with classrooms 4-6; an administrative and social complex with two offices of the director and deputy, a teacher's room and a psychologist's office; a complex of rooms of the then middle school (including classrooms with facilities adapted for teaching biol-chem-fiz subjects); a computer lab and a library with a mediatheque. In addition, housekeeping rooms, a warehouse for school resources and a handy workshop. A gymnasium auditorium was located on the gallery.
The facade of the school is shaped, among other things, by lisens
© Biuro Architektoniczne Barycz i Saramowicz
The superstructure of the building, realized in the next stage, was a repetition of the functions from the existing second floor with two exceptions: above the gymnasium were designed two classrooms and an exercise room (rhythmics, etc.) for students of younger grades.) for the students of the younger grades, provided with changing rooms, separately for boys and girls; in addition, in the southeastern part, the volume was reduced compared to the lower floor and a secretariat and management room with a terrace were planned. More classrooms, a school canteen, as well as a multimedia laboratory were created.
New wing for high school students
The school is expanding all the time, and the high school is currently scheduled to open.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficulties it is generating for national education, construction of the new wing of the SALWATOR Private School, designed by our architectural office, is progressing from spring 2020. In the as yet undeveloped part of the investment property on the side of Salwatorska Street, further classrooms, including multimedia labs, will be built, making it possible to open a high school branch. It is strictly enforced here that no more than 18 children should be taught in a single classroom. Full completion of the project is planned for next year, the architects say.
The new wing of the building will house 22 classrooms, some with technical facilities, computer rooms, as well as another school checkroom, teachers' rooms, a psychologist and a school counselor, and storage rooms for school resources.
The architects used varied facing materials and lisps of steel tendons
© Barycz and Saramowicz Architectural Office
horizontal architecture
The linear projection of the building was determined by its location on the banks of the Ore River. The spatial layout of the school building constitutes a new development quarter in Cracow, between Kasztelańska, Senatorska and Salwatorska streets.
It will be the longest façade of modern Krakow. Located at the junction of the Ore Mountains with Salwator and Zwierzyniec, with their modernist pre-war tradition, the building is to be a synthesis of the cultural landscape with the natural one. Hence, it is an appropriate idea to create a green facade. It is shaped by modern lisens made of steel tendons, acting as screens on which five-lobed grapevine climbs, the project authors add.
The horizontal architecture of the building refers to the line of the river. In addition, it gains a vertical division, through the use of different facing materials. It is a kind of "sandwich architecture". Special rustication made of hand-treated silicate bricks gains a counterpoint in the form of elegant cladding made of highly processed Prodema brand wood, in mocca color. The building's rear elevation, with its multiply articulated window openings, is a contemporary interpretation of the archetypal fortified walls surrounding the nearby Norbertine monastery.
Different facing materials introduce vertical division
© Biuro Architektoniczne Barycz i Saramowicz
Designed by Rafal Barycz and Pawel Saramowicz, the SALWATOR Private School headquarters develops and grows in stages, exemplifying thoughtful spatial planning. Neighboring from the east with the buildings of the former Ks. Jozef Poniatowski Gymnasium, Dr. Henryk Jordan High School and the Local Government Kindergarten, it forms a quarter of development intended for the education and upbringing of the young generation.
Read also about other realizations of the Barycz and Saramowicz Architectural Office: the Forest Villa in Izabelin and the shingle and concrete villa awarded first place in the residential architecture category in the 6th edition of the competition for the Stanislaw Witkiewicz Małopolski Voivodeship Award.
