Air Jurkowscy - Architekci, Museum of the Home Army, Kraków
Three architectural projects across Poland have been awarded for best architectural structures making use of ceramic materials in their construction. The Polish edition of the international competition founded in the U.K. is organised by the Wienerberger company, with the honourary patronage of the SARP Union of Polish Architects
Of 48 projects constructed in 2011, three were awarded prizes on the 18th of April 2013. The three winners are eligible for the international edition of the Brick Awards 2014. Awards are held every two years.
The Małopolska Garden of Arts in Kraków, designed by Ingarden & Ewý, won the award for Public Building. The ergonomically designed cultural centre joins two cultural institutions, the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre and the Malopolska Voivodeship Library, on Karmelicka Street in the centre of Kraków. It has also been nominated for the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Award this year, and it was awarded first prize in the cultural-project category by Archdaily, as well as the Popular Choice award by Architizer. The building incorporates the century-old brick walls of the existing soda-processing plant and roof them with glass in a fully contemporary structure.
In the category of Multi-family Residential, Lewicki Łatak's eyecatching geometric housing complex in Wrocław won the prize, while the Museum of the Home Army in Kraków, designed by AiR Jurkowscy Architects, won for Best Renovation/Adaptation/Reconstruction.
The International Brick Award distinguishes the best architectural structures built of ceramic materials, and is one of the most important and prestigious awards in the field of British architecture. As emphasised by Associate Professor and Architect Eva Kuryłowicz, jury president of the Brick Award's Polish edition, the innovative aspects of these recent projects maintain the material's durable, traditional aspects, while finding within them "elegance and timeless flexibility in the application and the human aspects of the scale achieved." Kuryłowicz continued:
Ceramics is one of the oldest materials the world knows, and as demonstrated by its current use - it is always insightful and surprising. In the hands of the Polish architects who bring its modern look and combine it with its tradition across generations, giving a sense of continuity in the development of culture and at the same time emphasising the driving force of development.
Other buildings recognised in the competition include Renovation/Adaptation/Reconstruction is the modernisation of School No. 15 in Wrocław and the City Hall and the Administration and Service Center in Siechnice,.both designed by the Maćków Design Studio. The Unrealised Projects category recognised the UBIQ Business Park office complex in Poznań and Agata Rogowska for her project on post-war architecture in Wrocław.
For more information on the International Brick Award, see: brick.org.uk/brick-awards
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: Original text on Culture.pl, wienerberger.pl/brick-award