The installation "HAUZ07 Christmas Tree 2025/2026" is the next stage of the experimental activities of the students of the Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski University in Krakow, associated in the HAUZ07 Study Group. The project is a creative continuation of the earlier realization of The GATE Pavilion and is at the same time a practical manifesto of the idea of RETHINK - REUSE - REDONE, entering the discussion about design responsibility, circularity and the sense of reusing materials in architecture. The installation was realized under the direction of Prof. Krzysztof Ingarden and Piotr Urbanowicz, and was based on a workshop covering the full design cycle - from ideation to prototyping to realization on a 1:1 scale.
© HAUZ07 Scientific Circle of UAMF
from experiment to realization
Work on the project began in April 2025 in Krakow, Poland. A key moment of the workshop was a meeting with Yasunori Harano, an architect from Shigeru Ban's studio, during which the students had the opportunity to learn about a design philosophy based on simplicity, structural logic and the conscious use of materials - including paper tubes, the main component of an earlier installation of The GATE Pavilion.
The result of this process was the realization of the pavilion-gate, which became the starting point for further creative and material activities.
© HAUZ07 Academic Circle of UAMF
The GATE as an idea and experience
The symbolism of The GATE project was deepened by referring to the Japanese idea of "KI" - understood as the energy of life, the flow of vital forces and the harmony of man with the surrounding world. The installation was therefore not just an architectural object, but a spatial experience of transition, encounter and dialogue.
As the creators emphasize, GATE is not a form in itself, but a process and a relationship - between people, cultures and ideas. The minimalism of the design was meant to enhance the message, not dominate it.
© HAUZ07 Academic Circle of UAMF
REUSE as a creative act
In keeping with the HAUZ07 Study Circle's motto - "Experimentation is our duty " - the structural elements of The GATE pavilion were not treated as disposable. On the contrary: the wooden connectors, inspired by the tradition of European and Japanese carpentry, became the basis for the next realization.
This is how the "HAUZ07 Christmas Tree 2025" was created. - a Christmas installation that is not a decoration in the classical sense, but an architectural commentary on the idea of reuse, continuity of the design process and material responsibility.
© HAUZ07 Academic Circle of UAMF
The HAUZ07 Christmas tree does not close the story of The GATE, but develops it. It is an example of thinking about architecture as an open-ended process, in which matter does not end its life with one realization, but gains new meanings, functions and forms.
It also proves that a temporary installation can have a lasting ideological dimension, and that academic design can realistically participate in the debate about the future of architecture - one that is conscious, experimental and responsible.
© HAUZ07 Academic Circle of UAMF
The GATE and CHOINKA HAUZ07 2025 project involved students:
Rafał Burtan (author of the conceptual design), Jan Skałka, Dawid Danikiewicz, Tetiana Borovkova, Wiktoria Bryl, Joanna Mikolajec, Darja Linchyk-Khvei, Magdalena Lenko, Szymon Tomala, Magdalena Marasik, Ola Maslenkowa, Bartlomiej Kosinski, Kateryna Karpovka, Julia Urbanowicz, Parkhoma Kyrylo, Milosz Dutkiewicz, Anna Cury
