Architect or architect? In the program of this year's Architecture Weekend there was no shortage of topics and phenomena that for several years have been redefining or complementing the meaning and role of architecture, as well as the designers, researchers, sociologists or simply enthusiasts who create it.
exhibition dedicated to Gdynia's female architects
photo: Przemyslaw Kozlowski
One of the main exhibitions opening the festival showed silhouettes of female architects from Gdynia who created in the years 1926-1989, fitting in with the efforts to restore femininities in the context of architecture creators and the role of women in design initiated by the 2021 Women Architects Ball. In the discussion that arose during the opening between the protagonists of the exhibition and representatives of different generations, it was possible to capture the diversity of experiences - the role of women in the profession has changed and depended not only on social conditions, but also on individual experiences. Today, it can be seen that "female architect" is still being tamed. On the other hand, the main theme of this edition: Illusion, became a pretext to look not only at the issue of creating interiors in architecture, but also on a different scale - utopian, historical and contemporary, concepts of cities also putting them in the context of reflection on the environmental and social cost of architecture subordinated to rationality.
Exhibition "Female Architects of Gdynia 1926-1989".
photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
In the context of contemporary architecture, the presentation by the representatives of the BPP of the City of Gdynia, Iwona Markešić and Dr. Paulina Szewczyk, was not so much lacking in illusions, but simply visions of the future - a study-idea concept for, among others, the South Pier "Piers of the Future", but also the realization of new facilities in coastal areas (Gdynia Waterfront by JEMS Architekci), which Gdynia would certainly like to boast. In turn, the topic of searching for a new identity for post-port and waterfront areas was present. We could also look into the future during a presentation on the concept and construction of New Cairo.
The title illusion, illusion, mirage were each time verified by the organizers - there was no shortage of difficult questions. Bringing big ideas and huge investments down to earth, setting them in a context that is no longer only social, but also economic, so appropriate to the challenges of recent years, may be a harbinger of continuity and the seed of a new theme for the next edition.
cruise through the port
photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
(Gdynia) modernism, on which the city has been building its brand for many years, was also present in the walks and lectures that attracted great interest. Walks through modernist districts: Działki Leśne or Grabówek were an opportunity not only to look at the architectural form, the embedding of architecture in the landscape, but, especially in the case of the latter district, a pretext to raise the issue of social settlements and the typology of habitation in the 20th and 20th centuries.
Archi Walk in Grabówek
photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Modernism, juxtaposed with the title illusion, which also involves the question of reality, in some statements or speeches brought back the question of what of this idea, but also matter, we can preserve for our times. In the context of matter - in the presentation of Anna Kolasa 's diploma thesis on the adaptation and development of cold storage facilities, the grounds of the former Dalmor and Fisherman's Pier, the concept of a museum of modernism (Gdynia) appeared. From this concept, the question of a place for Gdynia modernism is indeed born. A place that will accommodate the potential and knowledge built around the Gdynia Modernism Route and by local researchers and enthusiasts as part of the Architecture Weekend, such as Weronika Szerle, Bartłomiej Ponikiewski, but also Prof. Maria Soltysik, Dr. Anna Orchowska-Smolinska, Justyna Borucka and Arkadiusz Brzęczek, among others. The concept also raises the question of the contemporary role and form of the museum.
debate with Prof. Ewa Kurylowicz, Marcin Sadowski, Dr. Anna Orchowska and Anna Kolasa;
the debate was moderated by Prof. Michal Stanglel
Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Finally, there was the issue of heritage preservation and restoration, for which the impetus was the war damage in Ukraine, but also the context of modernist architecture. In this case, too, the program offered more than one take. In the debate on urban reconstruction moderated by Dr. Małgorzata Jędrzejczyk, there was a theme of the Polish experience and the document developed in 2018 - the Warsaw Recommendation. Participants in the debate looked for relations between general guidelines and those relevant to the local context. On the other hand, in the presentation "Interrupted for a moment..." designers from the studio APA Wojciechowski Architects presented contemporary office and residential projects in Ukraine, placing them in the local context and historical moment.
The debate on urban reconstruction was moderated by Dr. Malgorzata Jedrzejczyk; the discussion was attended by Dr. Waldemar Affelt, Dr. Jakub Szczepanski, Dr. Kinga Nettmann-Multanowska, Dabrowka Lipska, Prof. Kazimierz Butelski and Michal Krasucki
Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
The organizers included in the rich program threads of local dimension, but also those that are present in the discussion on a global scale. One can see that they tried to reflect the diverse nature of the contemporary environment and discourse on architecture, inviting leaders, decision-makers, experts, as well as enthusiasts, activists or young architects entering the professional life.
The Underhill Experience, a museum at the foot of an Icelandic volcano, lecture by Veronika Plata and Wiktor Stankiewicz
Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Regardless of what field or generation one identifies with; whether one denies the established order, represents the constituted position of an architect (or architect), or in no way finds oneself in the environment of architecture creators, one could find something for oneself in the offer of the Architecture Weekend. The four-day festival is a place of dialogue for different attitudes or narratives shaping the contemporary architectural environment. Those who pay attention to the role of heritage in culture; to the costs of architecture, placing it in the context of a neoliberal economy; but also those who embrace these economic or social conditions have their say here. In keeping with last year's theme - humility is what this dialogue can foster.
Urban Dentist workshop
© organizers archive
In this context, the Archi Spot formula, which has continued since the 12th edition, is welcome, allowing not only to go out into the urban space through popular walks, cruises or workshops. It is also an opportunity to arouse creative, critical ferment around issues of local as well as global importance, involving not only designers or architecture scholars, but also urban planners, activists and other people working for good, quality living space in the circle of creators and audiences.
Archi Walk with Arch Deco, Fisherman's Pier
photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Last year, three meetings dealt with the following issues: architectural education, design for education and with a social dimension, as well as architecture in the context of climate challenges. During the current edition, the starting point became a specific place and concept for the area of land adjacent to the railroad tracks in Gdynia - the green 17 Grudnia Avenue, along with its potential extension towards PPNT. Participants of the Archi Spot, during a research walk and discussion, tested the possibility, but also the legitimacy of establishing a linear park laboriously named: Green Line Gdynia in the context of urban and social conditions. Conclusions from this workshop, according to the idea of the organizers, are to be an impulse for a broad discussion, and in the long run also for the creation of a strategy and design concept for this area. The conclusions will also be included in a post-festival publication - Archi Notebook.
Archi Spacer, Architecture with a view
photo: Arkadiusz Brzęczek
The Weekend of Architecture attracts a growing group of artists and audiences every year. Architectural photography is part of the festival's DNA, and there was no shortage of it this year either. We look forward to the next edition!
