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Architectural recycled school. Good change!

24 of January '25

He once proudly greeted travelers leaving Poznan's train station. For years it has been a shadow of itself. For its centennial it gets a gift: it changes ownership and function. The administrative building of the Poznań Fair will be turned into a music school.

We wrote about plans to adapt the Poznań Fair building to house the Music School Complex a year and a half ago. The work was to start immediately, so that the former MTP administrative building on Glogowska Street would be ready this fall to receive students. However, the matter fell silent and only now has concrete action taken place. Late last year, the Fair sold the building to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (Treasury). In January, a ceremonial takeover of the building was held with the participation of all parties involved: the City of Poznań, the MTP Group and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Preliminary concepts for the renovation of the edifice were also shown . IOC Undersecretary Slawomir Rogowski also gave a timeline for the school's opening: autumn 2026. However, this is too optimistic an assumption, as there is still a lot to be done.

Gmach Administracyjny MTP przy ul. Głogowskiej 14 w Poznaniu

MTP Administration Building at 14 Głogowska Street in Poznań, 2023 - the future headquarters of the Music School Complex

photo: Jakub Głaz

as before the war

Sooner or later, however, an important building for the city will once again acquire its full value. It was erected exactly a century ago as one of two representative edifices for the then young Poznań Fair, launched in 1921. In addition to it, the so-called Fair Palace was also erected. Both buildings were designed by Stefan Cybichowski, reaching for neo-Baroque and neoclassical forms. The very conservative and decorative approach was surprising even in the 1920s, when references to history were common in Polish architecture, but rarely so literal.

Miejski Urząd Targu Poznańskiego, proj.: Stefan Cybichowski (1925)

Municipal Office of Poznań Market, designed by Stefan Cybichowski (1925) - view from Glogowska Street, as of 1926

© National Digital Archive, photo from the Illustrated Daily Courier

After significant damage from the war, the opportunity was taken and both edifices were significantly simplified. The Administration Building lost its attic and many details on the facades. The interiors also lost their former expression. The most changed was the "belvedere" with a ballroom at the rear, which lost its very rich neo-Baroque ornamentation. Transformed into an ordinary pavilion, it served as a studio for Poznan television from 1957 until the 1990s. The main building still housed offices until recently.

Gmach Administracyjny MTP, lata 70. XX wieku

MTP Administration Building, 1970s

© MTP Archives

How will the office building be turned into a school? The IOC website states that:

The revitalization project involves separating the functions of the various spaces in the building to meet both educational and cultural requirements. A spacious concert hall will be created in the main auditorium, which will host large events - from gala concerts to graduation exams to community events with the participation of Poznan residents. It will also serve as a space for co-organizing events with other entities. In turn, smaller concerts, performances or recitals will find their place in a representative chamber hall and several multi-purpose rooms, which will also serve teaching purposes.

The building is to resemble its pre-war form from the outside . During the handover of the building to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, a visualization by Studio ADS of Poznan was shown (vide: main photo of the text). It shows the edifice superadded by the lost attic, with a facade similar to the original (different first floor window divisions than before the war, richly decorated cornice). However, the roof slope features a contemporary motif of "crystal" glazing on the axis of the main entrance. However, this is not the final design. ZSM director Joanna Karpacz reports that several optional concepts for the building's transformation have been developed.

We are keen to have as many exercise rooms as possible. In one version of the project, the rebuilt attic was saturated with them. In another - a concert hall is also planned on this top floor. A second hall is to be built in the former belvedere.

Miejski Urząd Targu Poznańskiego, proj.: Stefan Cybichowski (1925)

Municipal Market Office, designed by Stefan Cybichowski (1925) - view of the belvedere from the side of the fairgrounds, as of 1926

© National Digital Archive, photo from the Illustrated Daily Courier

was to be all new

"Crystal" form would, in the latter case, provide illumination for the foyer leading to the hall. Director Karpacz adds that - in order to have as much space as possible - the school wants to preserve the post-war extension to the belvedere, which should be given a more interesting and lighter form and function, such as an orangery. In turn, one of the preliminary concepts envisaging only exercise rooms in the attic envisages the construction of a roof with a slightly more modern form and different geometry.

Gmach Administracyjny MTP przy ul. Głogowskiej 14 w Poznaniu

The future headquarters of the Music School Complex, one of the concepts for the adaptation of the administrative building, design: Studio ADS

design: Studio ADS, source: ZSM Poznań

The fight for space comes as no surprise, since just nine years ago the ZSM was to be housed in a much more impressive headquarters in the Wilda district, built from scratch. There were even two architectural competitions. The second had to be arranged after it became clear that there was not enough money to build the school on the scale intended. However, thisinvestment alsofailed to materialize (more on this in the A&B article mentioned at the beginning of the text).

The ZSM therefore continued to occupy the building of the modernist teachers' seminary from before the war (designed by Adolf Piller, 1931) - also on Glogowska Street, but further from the center, the Fair and the train station. More than two years ago, the musicians had to move out of there, because the church to which the building belongs did not renew its lease. The school therefore moved temporarily to the outskirts, to the office buildings of the former metal works on Nieszawska Street.

hala nr 2 MTP i Gmach Administracyjny MTP przy ul. Głogowskiej w Poznaniu

MTP Hall No. 2 and the MTP Administration Building on Glogowska Street in Poznań - view of the entrance to PeWuki Square and the "Green River" from the West Railway Station, with the former Fair Palace in the background

photo: Jakub Głaz

city-forming ferment

Locating in the city center, in a well-connected place, will therefore be a return from exile for the facility . At the same time, the transformation of part of the fairgrounds into a place dedicated to music centered around the square of the General National Exhibition (PeWuKi) created in 2022, which has been announced for several years, will finally begin. For the past year, it has been part of the part of MTP that is finally open to the public on a daily basis, with a pedestrian walkway running through the Fair called the "Green River" (more on this in our April 2024 text). Opposite the conference center standing next to it, the Poznan Philharmonic building is to be built. However, these are still announcements. The competition for the new headquarters was announced three years ago. To date, the City has not announced any decisions on the matter.

The School of Music - an investment led by the MKIDN - could be the leaven of a musical center, and at the same time, as we read on the Ministry's website:

"it has a chance to become the cultural heart of the city, combining educational functions with artistic activities for the benefit of the local community.

ZSM students are also likely toenliven the part of the PeWuKi square adjacent to the school, which has yet to see the conversion of pavilion No. 2 into a catering-event hall. The building forms a major part of the square's eastern frontage and is expected to become an invigorating functional link between Glogowska Street and the MTP grounds. The fair has already announced the start of work on the adaptation several times. Without result.

plac Powszechnej Wystawy Krajowej

General National Exhibition Square - far right - belvedere of the Administration Building - future school

photo: Jakub Glaz

one must act!

What are the next steps for the adaptation of the former administrative building? The building is after an energy audit. Decisions on money for the investment will be made soon. Director Karpacz informs:

We are thinking about EU funding, next week I will discuss the subject at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

At the same time, he admits that the approximate cost of adapting the facility has not yet been estimated. Decisions must also be made on the selection of a concept and further work on construction and detailed designs. Will their author also be Studio ADS?

The target designer will most likely be selected in a tender, under a public procurement procedure.

Gmach Administracyjny MTP przy ul. Głogowskiej 14 w Poznaniu

The MTP Administration Building at 14 Głogowska Street in Poznań on the left, on the right - Hall No. 2, in front, behind the gate, the amorphous space between the Western Railway Station and the Trade Fair

photo: Jakub Głaz

Thus, the realistic completion date for the investment is more likely to be 2027. It would be good if, by then, the City authorities would have taken care of civilizing the space between the future school and the West Railway Station (this is something that community activist Tomasz Hejna, who runs the Gemela Poznaśka profile on FB, has been striving for for years). Today it is a rather chaotically developed space with low-quality parking. Meanwhile, it should be an attractive foreground for both the restored school building and the West Railway Station.

Jakub Głaz

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