Miedzianka shaft

19 of September '23

Miedzianka shaft (design: KWK Promes)

Photo: Juliusz Sokolowski © KWK Promes

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The article is from A&B issue 7-8|23

Recently, I have been keenly observing the discussion in which views are being expressed that single-family houses should no longer be designed. In my opinion, this opinion is greatly exaggerated, although I understand its genesis. After all, after the 2019 UN climate report, everyone started wondering how we should build now.

Miedzianka shaft (proj.: KWK Promes)

However, the authors of the aforementioned report themselves do not write to stop building single-family houses. They only say that the emphasis should be shifted from single-family to multi-family development. After all, moving the accent in a word does not mean that the half of the word from which the accent was moved disappears. It just means that something sounds stronger and something else sounds weaker.

photo of site visit:

There seems to be no doubt in anyone's mind that cities should be naturally densified with multifamily housing. However, the landscape of our country is composed not only of cities, but also of towns and small villages. The communist period already left its mark in them, when block housing began to appear in these areas, brutally pressed into this landscape. Today we can see that this was not a good idea.

Miedzianka shaft (design: KWK Promes)

photo: Juliusz Sokolowski © KWK Promes

Many people say that beauty, spatial order and harmony no longer matter and that nowadays only energy efficiency matters. In my opinion, this is nonsense and more aspects should be taken into account, including precisely spatial order and harmony. When we travel, for example, in Lower Silesia, full of post-German buildings, we can see that houses can be designed wisely and rationally. Small towns there appear to our eyes, most often centered around a church and a small market square. Most of the buildings there are single-family houses in a dense, compact development, not spilling out into the countryside, because there is usually only one "reach" from the national road that leads us to that town. Now imagine someone putting up these energy-efficient ten-story blocks in this space. After the experience of communist Poland, we already know that this is not the way to go. The example is so obvious that discussions about stopping the construction of single-family houses are simplistic and we should shelve them.

Returning to the design of single-family homes themselves and the contemporary challenges associated with them - we often discuss this at the KWK Promes office. Although most of the buildings we design are public buildings and multifamily architecture, we have not given up on single-family homes. There are several reasons for this.

We recently finished converting a former slaughterhouse into the PLATO Gallery of Contemporary Art in Ostrava. In addition to saving the old fabric and greening the space around it, we introduced movable walls into this building, which make art more democratic and accessible to everyone. But this realization wouldn't have happened if it weren't for our previous experience with mobile architecture, which was sparked by the Safe House, one of the more misunderstood projects of all the ones we created. It made me realize that with mobility, the space around a building can change. The mobile elements change the configuration of the plot, giving completely new temporal scenarios.

Miedzianka Shaft (design: KWK Promes)

Photo: Juliusz Sokolowski © KWK Promes

The Safe House project made me fascinated by this mobility in architecture. More projects followed, such as my Ark, the Quadrant House, the Breakthroughs Dialogue Center and the unrealized Bunkier Sztuki in Krakow. Ultimately, they led us to the dissolution of PLATO Gallery. That's why I treat these single-family houses, often designed for wealthy people, as a testing ground where completely new solutions can be tested. We are not limited by regulations, no one requires specialized certifications. All potential risk is taken by the architect with the investor. In the back of our minds, however, there is always the thought that what we do should serve the many.

Our design of the aforementioned Quadrant House is also sometimes misunderstood. There were claims that the movable element used there was just a gadget. In practice, however, it made a natural improvement in the quality of life of the residents, and in the process, artificial cooling and ventilation systems for the building became completely unnecessary. This reflection led us to another idea, which we called Sunlite Building. This is our proposal of how to build on the hot areas of the Earth, which, after all, are constantly increasing. I hope that we will be able to put this idea into practice and will soon build the first prototype, which will show how interesting this solution is.

Miedzianka shaft (design: KWK Promes)

photo: Juliusz Sokołowski © KWK Promes

What also comes to mind is our idea of the Living Garden House, a house that connects to nature in its interior in an unprecedented way. The thought flows from it that such solutions can be used not only in single-family houses. They will also work well in multi-family or public buildings, such as schools, kindergartens or offices. Man's natural desire to be in nature and to get as much as possible from this nature is thus satisfied in the interior where he lives, works or learns.

Who knows, perhaps in the future the climate will change even more and get hot enough that theseLiving Garden buildings will become the only refuge for greenery. They may then be a much friendlier environment for it to grow, function or vegetate than the conditions outside these buildings. I believe this idea will be the solution to the challenges of the near future. We are currently waiting for the realization of the first Living Garden project to be built near Kassel, Germany, as part of the Ways of Life program. We have been invited by German architect Christoph Hesse, along with other nineteen progressive studios from around the world, such as Anna Heringer, noa* and Penda-Chris Precht.

Miedzianka Shaft (proj.: KWK Promes)

Finally, I would like to talk about the Miedzianka Shaft, in my opinion a very interesting project, which is difficult for us to classify, but is certainly also a single-family home. It started with the fact that after reading Filip Springer's book, the current owners became interested in the history of Miedzianka, a town that literally sank into the ground as a result of looted uranium mining. Although many advised them against it, they decided to buy a tiny piece of land there and build three independent small modules on it. One was to house a bookstore, another their own home, and the third a creative work house where artists could live.

When we arrived at the site, we saw large boulders that were associated with Däniken's novels. They looked a bit like the remains of a UFO. It wasn't until we found an old mining map with tunnels that went there that our attention was drawn to the fact that these tunnels came right up to these stones and ended there. We then realized that these boulders were foundations. When a shaft was being built at the top, deposits were already being searched for at the bottom. However, it turned out that at some point these deposits ran out and the construction of the shaft was stopped. Only these foundations remained, and since the 1950s they had been waiting for someone to find them and pull the story further.

Miedzianka Shaft (design: KWK Promes)

Then the idea came to me to set these three modules, which the clients wanted, one above the other and thus refer to the shaft that was to be built here. Hence the name "Miedzianka Shaft," instead of the originally planned name "Miedzianka Warehouse." The project was realized in an industrial character, just like the former mining shafts standing between the buildings where people lived. At the moment, the facility functions as a public space. Great books and art can be found there, and regular meetings with artists are held. A place has been created that combines the past with the future. Interestingly, it is difficult to find it in Miedzianka, as it is practically invisible.

Themost important thing, however, are the observations and experiences we have gained from the functioning facility. The owners' house itself, located on the two top levels, is less than 60 square meters - it turns out that it is possible to live there normally and function comfortably. Large square meters are therefore not necessary if the space is well and rationally designed.

Miedzianka shaft (design: KWK Promes)

The small area of the development and piling it up on several levels means that we do not take away a lot of biologically active area, and at the same time we can get a rational amount of residential and usable space. In this way, we can interestingly densify suburbs or areas where single-family housing reigns.
We recently did a project in one of Katowice's districts, where only houses stand. The owner had subdivided a plot of land and gave us the task of densifying the area. I was very pleased to approach this project, because it seemed interesting to me ideologically. A solution similar to that of Miedzianka Shaft was created, and we piled up all the living spaces in a small area.

It seems to me that such a small area condensed in the right way can be a direction for building in the future. It allows you to densify those spaces that seem like just a garden or a place where no one will be able to live anymore. It turns out that it can, after all, and it is possible to share one's piece of the garden with someone else.