Hits and kits of 2024
The year 2024 was full of significant events. One could even say that it was a kind of breakthrough or summation of long-standing processes. Several ongoing "forever" projects, such as Warsaw's MSN, were completed. Long-lasting activities were also symbolically recognized, such as the excellent "Georgian Rise" exhibition. Topics previously discussed only in niches, such as housing, were brought into the mainstream. Finally, the architectural community had a series of important discussions. The most tumultuous one accompanied the book "Gray Hour" by Filip Springer.
All of these are important. It was difficult to choose one highlight of 2024. However, if I have to point to one event, it would be the European Prize for Urban Public Space for the Storm Action Park. I appreciate virtually everything about the Archigrest and topoScape project. It's a project that respects context and nature. It's a narrative project that subtly tells the story of Warsaw. It's a fresh and recognizable aesthetic that combines architecture with semi-wild greenery. It's a great place to relax with a book and go for a walk. It's also, I think, a symbolic end of concretism, and at the same time the beginning of something new.
I will emphasize, however: for me the hit is not just the project itself (which is undoubtedly an Event with a capital "W"), but the fact that it won this particular award. Why is it important? For as long as I can remember, a huge source of frustration for me has been the focus of Polish architecture on creating "Western" designs. The drive to copy was so pervasive that it often even seemed to me that architects and architects simply looking for good solutions were in the minority. This manifested itself in various ways: as copying Western designs, as uncritical importation of terminology or design philosophies. When I studied at the Wrocław University of Technology, some instructors even encouraged us to imitate the Dutch or Austrians. They argued that "we won't do anything better in Poland anyway," so "it's better to copy proven patterns." This defeatism was contagious. Many investors, when they finally had the budget, invited foreign architects to design.
Well, so Poland officially has the best public space in Europe. Let's think about this for a moment. Let's let it get to us. Let's tick this item off the to-do list already and move on, creating our own architecture - without constantly looking at others.
I nominate the reaction to the opening of the Museum of Modern Art as the kit of the year 2024. I don't mean the routine criticism in the environment - this one is the norm and something positive (I myself admit that I like the MSN very much, although I remain skeptical about the urban design idea for Parade Square). What was very disappointing, however, was the wave of heckling on social media, especially the attempt to link simple modernist architecture, with its roots in the avant-garde, to leftist politics.
By a twist of fate, the massive heckling of the MSN coincided with a similar row in Germany, where the far-right AfD party proposed slashing subsidies for the Bauhaus centennial celebration. This caused a stir - the closure of the Bauhaus was also demanded by the Nazis in the 1930s, using similar language to the AfD.
In Poland, architecture has so far been seen as the domain of experts, removed from the current political struggle. This seems to be changing: architecture is becoming part of politics, and its more prominent manifestations may become the target of populist attacks. Gluing an abstract form with a specific political option in the discourse can have serious consequences - from self-censorship to ideologically motivated blocking of projects.
In conclusion, the most significant architectural events of 2024, in my opinion, took place not in the field of architecture, but in the area of its perception. Despite the progressive politicization of architecture, I consider the balance of the year to be positive. The number of absolute hits far outweighed the number of negative events. Which is what I wish you and myself in the coming year!
Kuba SNOPEK
Urban planner and author of books on 20th century architecture. A graduate of the Strelka Institute and the University of California, Berkeley, and the founder of Direction, a strategic design consultancy, where he currently works. From 2018 to 2021 he was program director of the Kharkiv School of Architecture.
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