Issue 1(29)/2011

DOI: 10.5277/ARCHITECTUS

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Articles

Ewa Łużyniecka - Architectural examinations of the parish church in Dobrzyki

The church in Dobrzyki is a structure which reflects the history of the terrain on which it was built. The idea of its construction should be connected with the times of the village location in about 1304. However, it is difficult to define unambiguously when building of the chancel started. Its simple forms may indicate that it might have started soon after the village had been settled. Analogously arranged chancels also appear in four earlier village churches in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship (Fig. 6). The church in Grutta has no tower and it has a two-bay chancel closed straight and dates from the years 1290–1295. The church chancel in Papów is also closed straight and dates from the years 1295–1298. It is thought that the church chancel in Niedźwiedź and the church in Grzywno were built some time later, i.e. at the turn of the 14th century.

Therefore, the chancel might have been built at the beginning of the 14th century. We can also assume that the break between building the chancel and the nave was not long. The eastern part was erected while designing the western part. Approximately, the time of building the nave dates from the first half of the 14th century. Perhaps, it will possible to specify this date more accurately in the future by using absolute dating methods, e.g. by means of a still improved method of dating mortar by a C14 carbon dating method.

An interesting technological feature is worth noticing as well. The Vedic arrangement of bricks, which in particular often appears in southern Poland, is considered to be earlier than the gothic one. In the case of the church in Dobrzyki both techniques of placing the building material were used at the same time. The top, which separates the nave attics from the chancel, constitutes the proof of this. The eastern face of the top was built of bricks with the gothic arrangement, while the western front – with the Vedic arrangement (Fig. 7).

During the architectural research in 2010 it was possible to reconstruct partially the stages of building the church. However, we still do not know the original appearance of the western part of the church and whether there was a brick tower at that time. The question whether the sacristy had one floor and if there were stairs inside is still waiting for an answer. We do not know the original colour of the interior and recently discovered polychromy may indicate the existence of preserved painting.

All these issues can be addressed during future exploration and research to be carried out, for example, along with future reconstruction works and maintenance of the church.

Keywords:

    architecture

    church

    community

    dobrzyki

Dalia Klajumienė, Ewa Święcka - The wall painting in the Franciscan Church of St. John the Baptist in Holszany: history and conservation works

Holszany is a town located on the territory of today’s Belarus which was originally known as the estates of Lithuanian Dukes of Holszany, and since the 16th century – the Sapieha family. Initially, it belonged to Bogdan Sapieha who granted the local Catholic church to Evangelicals but when he got converted to Catholicism he took it back.

In 1618, the Great Deputy Chancellor of Lithuania Paweł Stefan Sapieha granted the foundation to the Franciscans in Holszany; he also built the Church of St. John the Baptist and a residential building for them. In 1774, the church was remodeled for the Franciscans’ money. Its main facade was decorated with paintings of scenes from the life of its patron – St. John the Baptist, and new altars were added in about 1790.

Keywords:

    painting

    church

    holszany

    conservation

Zygmunt Świechowski - “The ladder of virtue” in Bath Cathedral

Among about thirty English cathedrals the cathedral in Bath is in every respect outstanding. It was founded by John of Tours in 1090 in violation of applicable legal regulations. That newly consecrated bishop from Normandy moved the headquarters of the diocese from its traditional seat in Wells to the Benedictine abbey in Bath. It was possible only because of an insolent act of simony “anointing the king’s hand with silver” [1, p. 261]. This was the beginning of a few-decade-long dispute over the cathedral status between the main chapters of both cities, which was over only after the Salomon’s decision was made to grant them both a status of cathedral governed by the same bishop. It can be assumed that the motivation of translocation to Bath was not so much the prestige of a city with Roman roots as the intent to take over the hot water springs which possessed healing qualities and were a source of significant revenues. The fact that the resort created by the Romans was the favorite meeting place for British high society in the Middle Ages was equally important for the resourceful bishop, and it remained popular until the beginning of the 20th century. During the times of John of Tours, King William II was one of the visitors of Bath who listened to the medical advice of the prelate.

Keywords:

    cathedral

    bath

    anglia

Stanisław Kowalski, Czesław Lasota, Andrzej Legendziewicz - The late-gothic Town Hall in Zielona Góra and its remodelings in the 16th and 17th centuries

The town hall in Zielona Góra is located in the middle of the elongated market square. Its present shape is defined by of a few buildings of different sizes erected at different times; it has a dominant tower topped by a neoclassical spire and its elevations indicate its Gothic origin. The town hall has three wings of which the middle single-storied one, whose façade features neoclassical decorations, is its oldest and main part (Figs 1, 2).

Until the 19th century, one of the characteristic features of Silesian towns was concentration of commerce and administration in the buildings around the market square which created structures divided by passages. At first, different products were sold from wooden sheds and benches grouped in rows. In bigger towns, the first masonry buildings were the town hall and the merchants’ house – the cloth hall.

Keywords:

    architecture

    śląsk

    middle-ages

    town-hall

    zielona-góra

Ewa Cisek - Archetype and community character of the nest residential building development

Nest arrangements of the residential building development constitute one of the possible concepts of a habitat, which in its deepest layer takes into account psychology, sociology as well as history. One of the reasons why people in the past focused on central arrangements was their archetype and community character. This form with the emphasized centre – sacrum, a community forum, ensured the feeling of safety and stimulated social bonds. A round and archetypal shape of the structure expressed one of the most significant symbols – the image of the world – Imago mundi, which exposed the place by separating the internal ordered micro-cosmos from the external, chaotic and amorphous surroundings.

Carl Gustaw Jung – a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst finds origins of the concentric form of an arrangement in the mandalic archetype (circle and centre) – a supra-personal image which has a strong ordering impact and is independent of external factors.

Keywords:

    archetype

    residential-development

Magdalena Baborska-Narożny - Exposed or disguised? The hierarchy of form and function in case study analysis of recent industrial architecture in Lower Silesia

The gradation of architectonic setting, i.e. formal hierarchy according to representative or utilitarian character of a space is quite common for all architecture. In the architecture of manufacturing plants and warehouses such hierarchy does not always exist. The whole build-up area of a site can be regarded as strictly utilitarian and receives most pragmatic standard form with no will to seek for Venustas (beauty), one of three factors constituting architectural work according to Vitruvius. What is more there are many reasons for locating large scale industrial buildings in bigger clusters. Most of new industrial premises in Poland are located in special economic zones. If deprived of any individual character and functional diversity they create insipid, inanimate zones – a backup alienated of urban context. In Poland it is quite unique to set in a master-plan and than enforce any challenging requirements as to the appearance of buildings in special economic zones. Local authorities searching to acquire investors who would provide employment to local communities tend to avoid discouraging obstacles. In some cases however enterprises themselves show the will to achieve some aesthetic value in their buildings. Only then an architect may strive for difficult to define but obvious to observe quality within specific constrains of industrial architecture.

The article presents typology of industrial layouts in terms of hierarchy of their form and function. The hierarchy in question is a gradation of external form of different functional parts and their exposed or disguised location on site in terms of visibility from the main road or the entrance zone. It is based on the analysis of selected recently built factories and warehouses in Lower Silesia. It encompasses layouts of new greenfield investments and expansions to existing factories.

Keywords:

    industrial-architecture

    industrial-architecture-typology

Marek Konopka - About the quality of the Prudnik and Gogolin railway landscape

One of the definitions of the landscape says that landscape is a physiognomy of the world that surrounds us. Using a comparison we can say that the landscape can be modified by means of different stylising activities in the same way in which the face is decorated with make-up.

When the railway entered the panorama of the world, nobody expected that it was going to become a significant element of the landscape within the next forty years. Today we can agree that it constitutes an indispensable part of the cultural landscape. At the place where there was an intensified man’s activity, sooner or later iron horses arrived at that terrain on the iron railways. Unfortunately, when we observe the regression of the railway which has lasted on the Polish land, we cannot resist the impression that the face of the railway world is getting deep wrinkles. Thus, the question arises what next? Does this face have to die in the course of the natural cycle development?

Keywords:

    railways

    station

    landscape

    restoration

Monika Wolting - Hellerau – a road to the future or a model of urban planning from the beginning of the 20th century?

At the beginning of the 20th century, an important project of reforms was born in Germany and Switzerland which originated from a profound intellectual and cultural movement that affected the conservative elites as well as the artistic avant-garde and groups of workers inspired by socialism. What united them all was the idea of creating a different and better society, even though to many the roads leading to a goal formulated in such a way seemed controversial. The modern design released the social potential of energy and the will to renew, modernize and improve social relations which were a legacy of the 19th century. An attempt was made to resolve the growing conflicts which were brought about by modern currents and to connect the emerging systems with the uncompromising nature of the experience of the traditional world. The idea, utopias, and designs as well as implemented projects whose origins date back to the early 20th century can provide a variety of answers to the questions arising also today which regard the social future of the community, the forms of concentrating in urban centers, the form of educating the youth for the future global village, the social responsibility for transforming the natural environment, the care for solidary human coexistence and maintaining physical health. These collective hopes which were voiced out loud at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries create the topos of a “new man” and it seems that also today the desires and needs of social individuals are the same and that today the life reform movement can give the world a lot of impulses and solutions for a better future life in a world threatened by urbanization and alternative forms of organization of social life.

Keywords:

    urbanization

    garden-city

    life-reform

    hellerau

    green-town

    restructuring-of-post-industrial-cities

Lucjan Kamionka - The problem of defining standards in the sustainable architecture design

In the period of the threat to the environment and energetic crises the sustainable development has become the main strategy in the land management. Architecture and building industry constitute the biggest sections of economy in the economic aspect and in relation to the flow of raw materials. Most of the capital both financial and natural is invested in buildings. The role of architecture and construction in creating the sustainable development is very significant.

Sustainable development was defined in 1987 in the Report ‘Our Common Future’ worked out by The World Commission on Environment and Development also called the Brundtland Report. The Report contains the list of threats to the future proper development of mankind. A central category of the Report became the notion of the sustainable development as well as the problem of satisfying people’s needs at the expense of nature, the needs of the rich at the expense of the poor and the needs of today’s generation at the expense of the future generations.

Keywords:

    standards-of-architecture

    environment-friendly-programs

    sustainable-architecture

Ewa Cisek, Roman Czajka, Wojciech Januszewski, Michał Pelczarski - Sustainable development of residential environment (Presentations)

On 21–23 October 2010 at the Faculty of Architecture of Wrocław University of Technology there was an Architectural Workshop devoted to Sustainable Habitats organized by the Scientific School Habitat which operates at the Institute of Residential Architecture Designing. The workshop was preceded by the scientific conference: Habitat – sustainable development of residential environment, which is part of the works of the International Discussion Forum: Man, Space, Culture.

The founder of the Scientific School Habitat and the initiator of Architectural Workshops which have been organized periodically since 1987 is Professor Zbigniew Bać. The whole event is under the scientific supervision of Ada Kwiatkowska PhD. Architectural Workshop is always an interdisciplinary event, therefore, the final elaborations are enriched with comprehensive knowledge of architects, constructors, sociologists and psychologists.

Keywords:

    habitat

    sustainable-development

    residential-environment

Ewa Święcka - Professor Andrzej Tomaszewski – the end of the journey (Our Masters)

Andrzej Tomaszewski was born in Warsaw on January 26, 1934. He was the only child of Eugenia and Stanisław Antoni Tomaszewski. His father was a Polish Army officer. His happy childhood was short and when the war broke out the family was in Jarosław. His mother took him to some relatives, first to Puławy, then to Starachowice, and finally they returned near Warsaw. After the fall of Warsaw Uprising they went to the camp in Pruszków and then to the manor in Rybno. They spent the end of war and the first few years after the war in Chodzież where the young boy went to primary school. He was an active pupil and a scout. He had a great artistic talent and kept some of the school newsletters with his own drawings.

After his father returned to Poland from England in 1947, they all went back to their relatives near Warsaw, and then to their reclaimed family home in Rembertów. After attending a few schools during the war, Andrzej passed an exam to the famous Wladyslaw IV Secondary School in Praga in Warsaw. He was a very good student and in May 1951 at the age of 17 he passed the school final exams. He was very proud of the school’s tradition and of a number of his schoolmates who later became famous. He participated in the school’s graduates’ meetings and reunions until the end. Unfortunately, his father’s war engagement (he was a major in the Polish Army) was a political obstacle and prevented his dream studies. For a year, he worked as a drawer in the Commission on Research of Old Warsaw where he improved his artistic skills.