The {tag:studenci} from the Cracow University of Technology has addressed the limited availability of cultural offerings and educational programs in smaller towns. His project for a Center for Local Community Activation in the village of Czarkowy, is an attempt to solve this problem.
Adrian Matuszewski's project is an engineering thesis prepared under the direction of Dr. Bartosz Dendura. The concept is an attempt to respond to the poor educational and cultural program in small towns and villages. The Center for Activation, designed by a student at the Cracow University of Technology, is to serve this purpose. The building would provide both a point for mutual interaction and a space where residents could develop their interests and broaden their horizons.
The center would fit in with the local development
© Adrian Matuszewski
You have just returned home from an art workshop. A spark flashed in your head - the thought of creating your own studio, through which you could deepen your new hobby (and maybe even show the world your skills). Everything seems within reach. Suddenly, however, you wake up and find that you are facing a several-hour trip to the nearest place where such workshops are organized, and the only bus going that way leaves at 6:30 a.m. Sound like an abstraction? Not necessarily. In today's world, it is hard to imagine that there are places whose residents face the problem of lack of direct access to the world of culture and art. An absolute lack of perspectives to develop interests. However, such a problem is faced by very many localities similar to the one that became the protagonist of my thesis," says Adrian Matuszewski.
The center was covered with wooden shingles
© Adrian Matuszewski
Activity center for everyone
The designed establishment is located in a strategic place in Czarkowa, and the proximity of the river flowing through the village provides opportunities for potential future investments, which could be initiated by the designed Center. The building is surrounded by multi-generational single-family houses with farm facilities. An unquestionable advantage of the site is the high density of tall greenery, which gives the establishment an intimate character and at the same time provides acoustic insulation for neighboring buildings.
The site has been divided into two parts: entrance and didactic
© Adrian Matuszewski
The concept was to create a place very versatile in its function. In order to facilitate spatial orientation in the interiors, the author decided to divide the building into two parts - the entrance part (representative, housing a two-story high hall with a multifunctional room) and the didactic part (a glazed single-story form housing administrative rooms and a set of teaching rooms, along with textbook storage, divided by mobile partition walls to increase functional flexibility).
The versatility of the design was a priority for the author
© Adrian Matuszewski
This kind of internal space management allows the space to be used almost freely, by appropriately dividing or enlarging the teaching/workshop space as needed. The aforementioned versatility was the keyword that hung over my head from the beginning to the end of work on the project. This is because I wanted to create a facility that is not only socially necessary, but can also open up new possibilities in terms of creating spaces that serve the region's residents," adds Adrian Matuszewski.
construction and care for the environment
Most of the buildings located in Czarkowa are made of wood. Wanting to refer to the local architectural style, not only at the level of forming the body of the building, the author decided to use prefabricated glulam elements (including frames, columns, beams, walls and ceilings in CLT technology). On the outside, he covered both the walls and the roof with wood shingles.
Prefabricated elements were used in the construction of the building
© Adrian Matuszewski
Adrian Matuszewski designed the building as a building that from start to finish should be made with care for the environment. After a thorough inspection of the existing condition of the plot, he decided, to preserve the existing stand of trees. He also determined that the greenery to be cut down, should be replanted. Given the principle of sustainable design, both the construction waste generated during implementation and some elements used in the construction of the facility (such as hard thermal insulation) should use the 3R(reduce, reuse, recycle) idea.
The elements used to construct the facility use the 3R idea
© Adrian Matuszewski
All movable interior elements are made of recycled materials. The project did not lack solutions for water recovery (underground installation for rainwater recycling and gray water recovery), or the use of renewable energy sources (photovoltaic panels located on the flat roof of the teaching part). The whole project is complemented by a park setting with designed terraces and unpaved spaces. All this among the preserved existing tree stand.
Adrian Matuszewski is this year's winner of the 11th edition of the SARP Krakow Creative Scholarship named after Professor Bohdan Lisowski. This is an award given to talented students of the Faculties of Architecture at Krakow universities who have successfully completed their third year of study, obtained an engineering degree and are continuing their master's studies.
