What do we know about contemporary Polish architecture? Very little. Personally, I started to take an interest in it because of my Polish friends-architects and my innate love for this country. Friends did not become them right away: at first they timidly tried to prove to me that Russians did not like Poles, and kept a polite distance. Maybe someone didn't like it, but definitely not me. It so happened that as a child I often visited Poland, and it has always been a very interesting place for me, and I generally adored Polish literature. As for the architecture … It seems that everything, except for the "native" historical buildings, was "acquired" through Poland's belonging to the socialist camp. Over time, of course, interesting modern architecture began to appear - as they say, more "European". Behind the Stalinist skyscraper of the Palace of Culture and Science in the center of Warsaw, a gift from the Soviet Union, a shopping center with a wave-shaped glass roof, which then seemed to be a truly innovative project, gradually grew up. With what eyes I will look at it today - I cannot say, but a lot in contemporary architecture in Poland seems to me worthy of discussion.
Poles are proud of many of their compatriots, but especially of Nicolaus Copernicus. Museums, shopping centers and even city clocks are named after this scientist of the Renaissance, his portrait is placed on cups, posters, gingerbread and so on. And now a scientific center named after him has appeared in the center of Warsaw.
Warsaw hosts two major popular science events: the Science Festival and the Science Picnic. In 1997, the organizers of these festivals received the Hugo Steinhaus Prize and decided to create an institution combining the functions of a museum and an educational center, where natural science processes could be explained in an accessible way. As a result, in 2005 a competition was announced for a research center project. Unexpectedly for everyone, RAr2 Laboratorium Architektury, a bureau from the city of Ruda Slaska, which was practically unknown in Poland, but already famous abroad, won.
At that time, these architects already had many interesting projects, but few realizations, so winning the competition for an object in the center of Warsaw, on the banks of the Vistula, was a great success for them. The jury justified its unanimous choice as follows: "The concept proposed by the studio RAr2 fits perfectly into the landscape and meets the urban planning context of this part of Warsaw."
From the outside, the scientific center, as the architects intended, resembles a volcano. This is facilitated by fiber cement slabs of different shades of red and brown selected by landscape architects, engineers, artists and geologists, glass with sputtering in the form of red dots resembling perforations from afar, window-lights, evoking associations with volcanic craters. The building continues in the landscape: around it is the "Explorers' Park", very beloved by the townspeople, and the "Geology Park" is laid out on the roof.
In the very center, you can view and participate in many interactive scientific expositions for adults and children, as well as visit the planetarium located in the allocated volume. Thematic expositions are called "The World in Motion", "Man and the Environment", "The Roots of Civilization", "Zone of Light", and for the smallest, just starting to learn the world, the exhibition "Bzzz!" All exhibits can and even need to be touched, as well as compete with other visitors to the center in moving balls across the table with the power of thought, register in a laboratory for chemical experiments and wear special goggles to feel like a real researcher. There is no need to be afraid of experiments - after all, no one can give a two for an incorrect answer, on the contrary: the center's staff will help you in every possible way in obtaining knowledge. For those who are hungry, there is a cafe with earthy sandwiches, coffee and a relaxation corner.
I must say that the time that has passed since the opening of the center in November 2010, the Vistula periodically overflowed its banks and tested the Copernicus Center for strength. However, he successfully stood and was nominated for the main architectural award of the European Union - the Mies van der Rohe Prize.
My friends, Polish architects, unanimously recommended the Copernicus Center building as an excellent example of modern Polish architecture. The question of the attitude of the Russians towards them eventually disappeared by itself, and they gladly came to Moscow, where they really liked the Stalinist Empire style and Russian girls who so skillfully moved in high heels.
