Brama Kombinatu – zwycięskie koncepcje projektów Centrum Administracyjnego w Nowej Hucie, ewolucja i realizacja

Abstract

THE STEEL PLANT GATEWAY – WINNING DESIGN CONCEPTIONS THE ADMINISTRATIVE CENTRE IN NOWA HUTA, EVOLUTION AND IMPLEMENTATION

With the establishment of the Steel Plant in the Nowa Hutadistrict of Kraków the plan was to construct the Administrative Centre, two buildings fronting the entrance to theplant. The first proposed design was sent from the USSR, along with a preliminary outline of the overall investment. A local design was rejected. In May 1951, a competition was announced, which resulted in a joint selection of two works: by Biuro Projektów NH and by Miastoprojekt NH. Eventually, the Miastoprojekt studio (Janusz Ballenstedt, and Janusz and Marta Ingarden) was entrusted with the execution. Groups of photographs depicting the winning conceptions have been preserved in the National Archives in Kraków. All proposals, constrained by the doctrine of socialist realism, drew on native art. The architects looked for inspiration in symbolic places, such as the Saski Palace in Warsaw, the National Museum in Kraków, or the Wawel Royal Castle. Significant places that expressed national content were chosen, and their forms were applied in a different context, giving them a new, socialist meaning. Thanks to the extant materials and comparative analysis, it was possible to assign articular conceptual drawings to architectural studios. The Archives of the New Administrative Centre store the complete detailed design, which also includes two successive variants of the façade solution. This allows us to trace the evolution of the conception, probably in a reaction to the criticism that was part of the creative process under Socialist Realism. Reaching back to the tradition of Polish architecture and simplifying the forms of architectural details was also common in the interwar period, especially in public buildings. Here, the form of the facade of office buildings conceals their function, disguises the material and construction, as well as the layout of the rooms and passageways. The architecture of the Administrative Centre had been criticised even before the complex was completed, which was connected with the downfall of the doctrine of Socialist Realism.