honorable mention - DRDH Architects | Atelier Starzak Strebicki - Pracownia Architektury
Authors: Daniel Rosbottom, David Howarth, Jolanta Starzak, Dawid Strębicki
honorable mention - DRDH Architects | Atelier Starzak Strebicki - Pracownia Architektury;
View from the exit of Bukowska Street
vision: DRDH Architects | Atelier Starzak Strebicki - Pracownia Architektury
AUTHOR'S DESCRIPTION [excerpts].
Treating the newly designed Musical Theater building as a Temple of Theatrical Art, its body resembles a ziggurat and has the shape of a several-story, stepped tapering form, topped by a "chapel" housing the stage chimney. Thanks to this, the object, despite its volume, does not overwhelm its surroundings, fits coherently into the existing urban fabric, and the high chimney of the stage does not dominate the historical panorama of this part of the city. The receding upward mass positively influences the relationship between the scale of the building and the human scale. From a pedestrian's perspective, it gives the impression of being smaller and quieter. The terraced layout of the mass also allows the creation of outdoor spaces accessible to different groups of users. This shape of the building is a response to two different building typologies of the context: the Imperial Quarter buildings and the Baltic building. Theater audiences need to feel comfortable in the designed space, be happy to stay in it and want to return to it. It is also necessary to ensure the daily comfort of artists and technical staff. In response to these two issues, the building was designed to be open and friendly; additionally, from the perspective of the employees, the building offers comfortable workspaces, providing daylight in the back rooms, a view of the outdoors and privacy in the backstage functions.
jury's opinion
An honorable mention was awarded for attempting to shape the massing of the building so as to reduce its scale and, consequently, achieve a better relationship in the cityscape.
