Saving the Building: How Residents Defend Their Cities
City dwellers are well aware of the value of architectural heritage and want to protect it. They are taking matters into their own hands more and more often and defending urban buildings against the plans of developers or the decisions of officials. And these actions can take very different forms.
In April 2023, construction machinery began demolishing one of the office buildings that make up the Atrium complex. Forming the frontage of Jana Pawła II Avenue in Warsaw, the complex of four buildings was constructed in the 1990s according to a design by the studio of Tomasz Kazimierski and Andrzej Ryba. This year, one of the buildings forming the spatial whole had to make way for a high-rise building designed in its place. A few months later, in October, the Warsaw Zodiak Architecture Pavilion hosted an exhibition and a series of events titled Benefis Atrium: Live Fast Die Young – Żyj szybko i umieraj młodo.
Photo from ‘Benefis Atrium: Live Fast Die Young – Żyj szybko i umieraj młodo’, 2023, photo: ZODIAK Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture
Conceptualised by curators Zuzanna Mielczarek and Mateusz Włodarek, the event was intended to commemorate yet another building that disappeared from the map of the capital city, to tell its story, to remind us that, at the time it was built, it was a long-awaited symbol of new times, capitalism and post-transformation modernity. But not only. The creators of the benefit wanted to comment in various ways on the fact that a sign of our times is the wasteful demolition of almost new (30-year-old) buildings and the passing of architectural fashions, but also to point to new ideas for making use of this phenomenon – the abandoned Atrium building became a shelter for refugees from Ukraine for many months. During the demolition, some of the recovered building materials were sent to Ukraine as an aid (this was handled by the BRDA Foundation). In the process, they initiated the beginnings of a collection intended to show how much of the material obtained from demolition can be reused.
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Photo from exhibition ‘Benefis Atrium: Live Fast Die Young – Żyj szybko i umieraj młodo’, 2023, photo: ZODIAK Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture
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When the decision to knock down the Atrium was announced, it did not become the subject of public action. However, many of the buildings that were planned for demolition were defended by residents and users. The most popular way of doing this is through petitions: the more people sign an appeal to preserve a building, the greater the chance that decision-makers will reconsider their resolution, taking public opinion into account. It has to be said that such actions rarely prove successful. However, this is due not to the inadequacy of this form of communication but rather to the fact that the needs and opinions of residents are ignored – all the more so because much more spectacular actions in defence of buildings do not guarantee success either. Fortunately, this does not discourage activists, artists, community workers and ordinary citizens from getting involved in protecting their architectural heritage.
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Katowice railway station, 2010, photo: Andrzej Grygiel / PAP
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One of the first ventures to defend a building that was important for the city in the days of social media (which do a great deal to promote such projects) was an action called Brutal of Katowice. Its object was the edifice of the main railway station in the capital of Upper Silesia, dating from 1972 and designed by a partnership of Wacław Kłyszewski, Jerzy Mokrzyński and Eugeniusz Wierzbicki, known as the Tigers. Considered (not only in Poland) to be one of the most interesting examples of brutalism, which in Poland did not bring many quality realisations, it served passengers for several decades. Never renovated, overgrown with booths, stalls and extensions during the period of ‘young capitalism’, it had deteriorated and needed renovation. Among the many voices of protest, a profile of Brutal of Katowice appeared on social media (run by Katowice-based architecture critic Tomasz Malkowski). Photographer Michał Łuczak photographed the building and the people in it; famous architects (including Bernard Tschumi) were ‘captivated’ by the concrete goblets which made up the station’s structure; Silesian architects volunteered to help in creating a design in which the station’s unique hall would be preserved; there was an expert conference devoted to the building and a traditional demonstration in front of its entrance. It was even proved that the survey attesting to the building’s bad state of repair was manipulated. However, the station’s owner, the partnership of Polish State Railways (PKP) and the private investor cooperating with it, disregarded these numerous voices of protest and decided that the building should be demolished. This happened at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. The icon of brutalist architecture was replaced by a shopping centre whose entrance is ‘decorated’ with concrete goblets, utterly devoid of their context and incompatible with the new glass structure.
The railway would not listen
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Częstochowa railway station, photo: Anna Cymer
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The Katowice railway station was not the only one defended by residents. Various measures were taken for several years to preserve the Olsztyn railway station. It met a similar fate to that of the one in Katowice: the dilapidated architecture of the early 1970s was to give way to a shopping centre. Forum Rozwoju Olsztyna [Forum for the Development of Olsztyn], many other organisations and residents argued that the well-thought-out, coherent composition of the blocks (the building was actually a complex of buildings, two horizontal pavilions for the train and bus stations, a vertical skyscraper, and impressive canopies for the platforms) designed by Zygmunt Kłopocki was not only valuable in itself but also tailored to the needs of the town, fitted into its context and functional. It only needed renovation. Although the idea to build a shopping centre here eventually changed, the old buildings were demolished, and a new station building is now in their place. The residents of Częstochowa are defending their city’s railway station as well. This building was constructed in the 1990s (according to a design that was created a decade earlier), and while not everyone likes its architecture, ecology is also an argument in its defence. The Częstochowa railway station is fairly new and very large, and an idea needs to be found for its utilisation (a large part of it today stands empty). Demolishing such a huge building in good condition in order to build a new one with exactly the same function is not only wasteful but also extremely harmful to the environment.
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Auditorium of the Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław, photo: Tomasz Pietrzyk / Agencja Wyborcza
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At the beginning of 2011, a social initiative called Save the Chemistry Auditorium was formed. It comprised architects, scholars from various fields, art historians, urban theorists, experts and architecture enthusiasts. Their aim was to protect the modernist gem of the Wrocław University campus from destruction. Built between 1970 and 1971 according to a design by Krystyna Barska and Marian Barski, the building has retained to this day not only its fine architecture but also – and this is particularly rare – the interior design and furnishings created by the same architects. The building was the centre of much activity – in addition to the traditional petitions, cultural and artistic events were organised here, and a social media profile was active. In 2013, on the occasion of an architectural workshop organised by the Polish Association of Architecture Students (OSSA) in collaboration with the Student Government of the Faculty of Architecture at Wrocław University of Technology, the Architecture Unit, and a foundation under the patronage of Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak, students created designs for a new incarnation of the Auditorium of the Faculty of Chemistry, looking for an idea on how to breathe new life into this unique building while preserving it. Thanks to all their efforts, the building was successfully entered into the register of historic monuments. However, the building to this day remains unused, unutilised and in decay since 2007.
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Elements of Emilia Furniture Store, Warsaw, photo: Anna Cymer
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The example of Wrocław’s Auditorium of the Faculty of Chemistry shows that a mere entry into the register of historic monuments is not enough to make the defence of a building successful. A building with no function, closed and abandoned, falls into disrepair anyway. This was not the case for the capital city’s Emilia Furniture Store, as the investor who bought the valuable plot of land in the very centre of Warsaw wanted to demolish it straight away. The history of the modernist pavilion was tumultuous: intervention was made – it fell under conservation protection and was later removed from the register. To save the well-liked and architecturally valuable building, the Warsaw Conservator of Monuments proposed dismantling the structure, preserving the original elements of its construction, and rebuilding it elsewhere. And so it was: in 2017, Emilia disappeared from the centre of Warsaw; its parts were moved to one of the municipal car parks, where, protected and secured, they were to await a move to Świętokrzyski Park. It was there, on the axis of the Palace of Culture and Science, that the pavilion was to stand; its function was to be changed into that of a winter garden and a venue for meetings or cultural events (the design for the adaptation of the former furniture pavilion was created by BBGK Architects). Unfortunately, various factors have postponed the realisation of the project – Emilia is still waiting in pieces in the car park for better times.
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Railway bridge over Lake Pilchowickie, photo: Robert Neuman / Forum
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In 2020, it was reported in the media that the historic railway bridge in Pilchowice in Lower Silesia would become the set of the next part of the Hollywood blockbuster Mission: Impossible 7. This seemed like good news: appearing in a blockbuster film is an advertisement attracting tourists to visit a town or historic site. The bridge in Pilchowice has ‘appeared’ in films before; its stone, concrete, steel and timber construction, built between 1905 and 1906, is picturesque and striking. However, it turned out that the producers of the American film Mission: Impossible 7 wanted to … blow it up. And even the fact that Tom Cruise himself would fall off it did not stop the protests: experts and residents alike were appalled by such a plan for the historic structure. Resistance to the filmmakers’ plans proved effective – not only did the bridge survive (the film was eventually shot in the United Kingdom using purpose-built sets), but the Lower Silesian Regional Monument Conservator entered it in the register of historic monuments.
In the case of Pilchowice, the explosion was supposed to destroy the monument; in the case of Bytom’s Krystyna Shaft, a light and sound installation arranged to resemble the explosion was to help save a relic of Upper Silesia’s industrial heritage. In 2022, Jan Wichrowski, Michał Sokołowski, Rafał Dziedzic and Przemo Łukasik, architects from the Bytom-based Medusa Group, conceived a project called sos-szybkrystyna.pl to emphasise that one of the town’s most characteristic buildings, a reminder of its mining past, was under threat.
Krystyna Shaft, Bytom, photo: Marcin Tomalka / Agencja Wyborcza
Smoke, sound and red light pulsing in the rhythm of a beating heart emanating from the top of the shaft was an event that could not be missed. This was not the first such undertaking by the studio’s architects, who have been working for years to preserve the post-industrial heritage of Upper Silesia (Przemo Łukasik turned the mine’s lamp room into his home). On the occasion of the event, the Medusa Group presented their idea for developing the shaft (a vertical garden could be created there). In the summer of 2023, the Krystyna Shaft, listed in the register of historic monuments, was bought, together with the neighbouring buildings, by a private investor; the new owner has secured the monument but has not specified what would be located in the tower.
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Protest against decision to demolish Solpol department store in Wrocław, photo: Krzysztof Kaniewski / Reporter / East News
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Defensive actions usually have to be organised to protect buildings that are not obviously valuable and are sometimes controversial. That was the case with the events surrounding the Solpol department store in Wrocław, over which the spectre of demolition had hung for many years. The final decision to liquidate what was undoubtedly the most interesting example of postmodernism in Polish architecture was made in 2021. Once again, the building was defended by crowds of people – from researchers and scholars, to Wrocław’s youth inspired by the purple and pink building, which was unlike anything else in the city, to joyful actions bordering on performance. Picnics and discos were organised under Solpol, and the colourful architecture served as a model for costumes, banners and posters. However, the joyful, energetic gatherings came to nought. Today, there is no trace of Solpol, and an exclusive apartment building is to be built in its place.
The most successful action in defence of a historic building was conducted in Kraków. In 2014, the artist Cecylia Malik, a team from the Institute of Architecture and a large number of artists, activists and committed residents prepared a spectacular demonstration in defence of the modernist Hotel Cracovia building. The event was held under the slogan ‘A City’s Greed’ and was full of symbols associated with it (golden calves, money, shopping baskets, gold costumes and gadgets); it was intended to force decision-makers to realise that residents also have the right to decide the fate of buildings important to the city and that the desire for profit cannot be the only factor in deciding whether or not to preserve architectural heritage. The crowded parade through the city, dripping with gold, was not the only action in defence of Hotel Cracovia; negotiations and persuasive talks with city authorities (who had previously sold the building to a developer) and the Ministry of Culture that the edifice designed by Witold Cęckiewicz was worthy of preservation continued for several years. They brought about the desired result: in 2016, the building was repurchased from the developer (who wanted to build a shopping centre or office building in its place) and became the property of the National Museum in Kraków. It will become its branch for presenting collections and exhibitions related to design and architecture.
Written by Anna Cymer, 9 November 2023
Translated by Agnieszka Mistur
