The Department of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology, together with the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, have created an unusual exhibition "Things from the Underground City. Architectural visions around the commemoration of Mile 18". It was created as part of the commemoration of the 81st anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and could be viewed in the Faculty of Architecture building at the Warsaw University of Technology from April 18 to May 16, 2024 .
mound
© ARE Stiasny/Waclawek
excavations
Following the excavations conducted in 2022 by the Warsaw Ghetto Museum around the remains of the former "Bunker of the command of the Jewish Combat Organization" from the time of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 at 18 Miła Street in Warsaw, lecturers of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology: Grzegorz Stiasny and Jakub Waclawek , began studying and discussing the possibilities of perpetuating in the space of the city an important, though somewhat forgotten material witness to the tragic and heroic events of its 20th-century past. The architects invited master's degree studentsto create proposals for commemoration projects, which were discussed during the exhibition and the meeting: "Evoking Memory: Debating various forms of commemoration in public space." The debate took place on May 8 with the participation of Dr. Eleonora Bergman, Dr. Maria Ferenc, Prof. Zbigniew Kobylinski, Dr. Jolanta Miśkowiec of the Department of Cultural Heritage Abroad and Memorials, Prof. Małgorzata Rozbicka and Hanna Wróblewska - director of the Department of National Cultural Institutions.
exhibition space
© ARE Stiasny/Waclawek
idea of the exhibition
The uncovered fragments of the basements of tenements on Miła and Muranowska Streets are one of the most unique places in the space of contemporary Warsaw. Here you can physically touch the memory of a city that no longer exists and find out that still large fragments of it are directly under the feet of contemporary residents. Together with the Museum, Grzegorz Stiasny and Jakub Waclawek created a program and spatial study exploring the possibilities of a permanent exhibition of the excavations from the developing perspective of contemporary archaeology. The ideal starting point for shaping the program and function became a proposal written by archaeologist Prof. Anna Zalewska to discuss the possibility of commemorating the site more broadly and making it a space of active education and contemplation for the benefit of residents of contemporary Warsaw, as well as tourists, including pilgrims.
excavations
© ARE Stiasny/Waclawek
After the former residents, in addition to the memory of the people, there are things left behind that make possible the process of bringing closer and making present the vibrant pre-war and struggling Warsaw and its inhabitants, especially the Jewish population.
exhibition space
© ARE Stiasny/Waclawek
design exercises
In order to creatively expand the possibilities of evoking in the city space the memory of its former, annihilated inhabitants, together with a group of master's students of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology, the lecturers conducted design exercises as part of the course Architecture in the Downtown Context, concerning the formation of multifunctional objects, generating new spatial quality, and new aesthetic values, complementing existing buildings with complex characteristics.
visualization
© ARE Stiasny/Waclawek
The result of the work of the students and their instructors is ten diverse design concepts, which in an unconstrained way try to find a spatial and functional answer to the theme of commemoration, in the context of the uncovered relics of the largest bunker in the Warsaw Ghetto at 18 Miła St. During the exhibition, the architectural concepts were presented together with a programmatic and spatial study made for the Museum and sample materials excavated during the excavations.
model
© ARE Stiasny/Waclawek
