Different things can be said about the Malopolski Garden of Arts complex on the street with the beautiful name Rayskaya. For example, that this building is just a box decorated with sticks, and that there is nothing new in such a project, and in general it is not a building, but one continuous corridor. But let's try to figure out what's what for ourselves.
There used to be an equestrian arena on this site. Then - the library and the Juliusz Slowacki Theater, which for a long time were used not for their intended purpose, but for holding seminars. At the theater, by the way, despite its half-abandoned state, actors and teachers of dramatic art continued to live. They were subsequently given new apartments, and it was decided to combine the library and the theater into a complex with an auditorium, a cinema and a multimedia center. At the initiative of the theater director Krzysztof Ozhechowski, a competition was announced, which won the bureau
Ingarden & Ewý Architekci.
It is always difficult to work in the established context, but it is interesting. The architects Krzysztof Ingarden and Jacek Evi combined the existing buildings into a T-shaped complex surrounded by a glass curtain wall with "clay shutters". Ingarden describes the concept of the project as "a game of mimesis and abstraction." Mimesis is imitation, as a person imitates a swallow or a spider in construction. Abstraction is a simplification of the insignificant qualities of an object in order to reveal its basic properties. Thus, as conceived by the authors, the "striped" shell has specially received an uneven profile, reflecting the shapes of the surrounding buildings.
The Juliusz Slowacki Theater stretches from north to south, including a large indoor garden with benches, flower beds and beautiful maple trees. This garden overlooks Rayskaya Street and, as you might guess, creating a “Garden of Eden” there was initially a tempting idea for the architects. This move not only beat the onomastics of the place, but also attracts visitors to the new complex. Protected by a frame roof, the garden is open to all comers and represents the transition from stage space to city space. The backdrop for it is a wall made of restored bricks of the old buildings of the complex.
A library with three floors of reading rooms and classrooms occupies the western wing of the T-shaped complex. She received a separate entrance, facing the pedestrian zone, which stretches along the side facade of the building.
The Malopolska Art Garden is indeed a very simple structure, reminiscent of a long corridor between the library and the theater. The "sticks" on the facade are like scaffolding, and the "Garden of Eden" is just a well-designed entrance. But it is much more important that the complex is visited every day by many residents and guests of Krakow, that the main city international events take place here, that the library and theater, almost forgotten for many years, are now working in full force.
The architects are very pleased with the result: their approach was appreciated not only by compatriots, but also by foreign experts. Ingarden and Evie say they were inspired by the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Red Sten Art Center in Gothenburg. Philosophy was important in the project - places, surroundings, interconnections, mimesis and abstraction, and also Krakow itself. And the resulting building is not a corridor at all, but rather a bridge thrown over the gaps in the history of the city.
