What qualities does a "creative city" have? And what qualities must architecture have to support and stimulate creativity in an urban environment? These questions, posed by the organizers of the competition entitled "Adelaide Creative Community Hub," are sought to be answered by a project by architects Marcin Kitala and Zygmunt Maniaczyk.
The project titled. "Unit of Freedom" took part in the international competition "Adelaide Creative Community Hub" organized by the Bee Breeders platform and the SA Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects. The task was to create an urban creative hub with a temporary pavilion or permanent landmark in the recently redeveloped Victoria Square - a popular park and public square in the Australian city of Adelaide.
An analysis of Adelaide's towers and "Freedom Unit"
© Marcin Kitala, Zygmunt Maniaczyk
Adelaide stretches from the sea to the highlands, from local cultural roots to the latest global trends. The city's unusual shape is a set of past urban interventions, carried out as new challenges arise. It has also influenced the character of the community and placed emphasis on thinking about the future.
This is how the authors talk about their project in:
We start the thinking process from the end. With simple models of space organization, we present an architectural object that does not dominate others. However, it has two faces. One - looking towards simplification, the other looking above the city, towards the hills visible on the horizon. Since the scope of activities is visible here and now, and is best manifested in the field of interaction with other people, therefore we do not fill the space with full outlines of various architectures. We present the building as an intermediary that does not go beyond the neighborhood, but adds a new quality to existing spatial interactions.
Community balconies can turn into grandstands
© Marcin Kitala, Zygmunt Maniaczyk
Freedom and creativity in Adelaide
The brick wall of the nearby General Post Office creates an atmosphere that the designers did not want to overshadow or alter. Their proposed building offers a refuge from the shimmering skyscrapers and alludes to the importance of an alley - a place that belongs to every street user. Difficult spatial conditions forced the architects to reach for hybrid methods of shaping. The building's form gently transitions from a jittery structure of single-family houses on the first floor to high-end high-rises on the following floors. Users can use the building in a free, unrestricted way, thus becoming a symbol of freedom.
Single-level floors integrate users
© Marcin Kitala, Zygmunt Maniaczyk
Through openwork forms, space and street culture enter the building. Users get closer when experiencing entertainment together, when the facade acts as vertical stands, or when individual neighbors work on their projects. The single-level floors integrate users. The formalized division of the building has been negated by the architects, and the free flow of information between floors and the plaza influences communication and collaboration throughout Adelaide.
