Warsaw's postmodernism will soon have its own map. The ARCHIwum Warszawy 1990s project has been launched, which aims to be a nostalgic-critical journey through the years of transformation in the capital.
taming controversial heritage
A postcard from the 1990s.
photo: ARCHIwum Warszawy lat 90.
Inaugurated in August, the project is an initiative of the association My City and in It, which can currently be followed on Facebook and Instagram (@archiwumlat90). The project aims to tame the architecture of the 1990s and take stock of this important period in the history of Warsaw. The dissemination of knowledge about the difficult, often controversial heritage is to be done through an online platform with a map of the buildings, but also to provide a field for discussion and discovery of the non-aesthetic aspects of architecture. As the authors of the project admit, the idea is not to convince that behind a layer of colorful plaster and reflective glass are hidden the forgotten masterpieces themselves, but to ensure that the narrative of the architecture of the political transformation is not lost with the "short expiration date" that is inscribed in the DNA of these buildings.
need for education
City Center / Andrzej Gołota in the background of the Zelazna Estate
photo FB ARCHIwum of Warsaw in the 1990s.
Its creators, including architecture historians Aleksandra Stępień-Dąbrowska and Alicja Gzowska, working with architecture photographer Maciej Leszczełowski, thus pose questions about the identity of the city and its residents in the context of the architecture being built during the transformation. What tasks did their designers face, what needs did they respond to, what was the reception of their buildings, but also the cultural context? Although the nineties have been reached by the ennobling power of nostalgia, and music, fashion or design from this period are experiencing their second youth, Polish architecture of this decade still generates rather extreme feelings. The need for research and education in this area of architectural history is evidenced, for example, by the high-profile discussion surrounding plans to demolish Wroclaw's Solpol.
sea of buildings
Curtis Plaza
Photo: Maciej Leszczełowski
Warsaw's postmodernism is commonly associated with iconic buildings like the Sobieski Hotel or the TVP building, which was only completed in 2008. And Warsaw in the 1990s was the city with the most rapid development nationwide. According to a study presented in 1997 in the pages of Architektura-murator , 90 percent of all office buildings, 60 percent of warehouse and industrial investments and 40 percent of residences were being built here at the time. This gives at least several hundred buildings and complexes about which today we know almost nothing or our knowledge is superficial. The most important result of the project will be a website with a map of objects of Warsaw architecture of the 1990s, inventorying at least 300 examples of realizations from this period and disseminating knowledge that has not yet been developed.
trails of postmodernism
A similar project, Pomoszlak, is also in operation in Krakow. Run since 2018 by the Architecture Institute Foundation, it provides a knowledge base on the architecture of postmodernism in the Malopolska capital. The Warsaw ARCHIwum is part of the "Map of Warsaw architecture of the 1990s" project, funded by the National Heritage Institute in the "Together for Heritage 2021" program.
Seminar of the Dead in Krakow
Photo: Pawel Mazur / Pomoszlak
