Amidst the Socialist-Realist buildings of the Theater Estate in Nowa Huta, Krakow, an interesting change has imperceptibly taken place, both from the point of view of architecture and the city's cultural offer. The building of the Theater Institute of Youth at the People's Theater has a modern form, though it is not shocking, and both the past and the present are inscribed in its walls. Atelier Loegler Architects is responsible for the design of the modernization and expansion of the former carpentry shop.
For years, the People's Theater has been active in promoting performing arts among younger audiences. With the assumption of the directorship by Małgorzata Bogajewska in 2016, the idea emerged to institutionalize the activities that the institution was undertaking to promote theater among young people. For this, however, appropriate infrastructure was needed, which Ludowy lacked for these purposes.
Theater Institute of the Young in Cracow
photo: Przemyslaw Ciępka
The building of the former carpenter's shop, located right next to the main building of the theater, was chosen as the seat of the new branch. Located at its rear, the building has so far been used as a warehouse and backroom, and since 2004 it has also housed the Carpentry Stage, owing its name to the theatrical carpentry shop that the building housed. In September 2023, with the start of the Theater Institute for Young People, the carpentry building regained new life - but this was not without extensive renovation and expansion, which was carried out according to the concept of a prominent Krakow architect. What does the Theater Institute of Youth look like now?
Theater Institute of Youth in Krakow
photo: Jeremi Astashov
expansion with a social mission
We heard about the first work on the adaptation of the Carpenter's Shop into the Theater Institute of Youth building back in October 2018, when the documents providing EU funding for the project were signed. At the same time, an architectural concept was also developed by the Cracow studio Atelier Loegler Architekci, led by Prof. Romuald Loegler, an architect awarded the SARP "Bene Merentibus" medal. The cost of the investment amounted to 32 million zlotys - 5 million was obtained from EU funds, the rest of the construction was sponsored by the city.
Theater Institute of the Young in Cracow
photo: Przemyslaw Ciępka
The Theater Institute for Young People opened on September 9, 2023; since then, a number of performances have been staged within its walls, several theater festivals have been held, and cultural and educational events for the youngest and slightly older audiences are organized on an ongoing basis. What were the ideological assumptions behind the reconstruction of the Carpentry Shop?
Not only reconstruction, but also a small expansion in terms of the physical dimension of this building. The former Carpenter's Shop, which served as a base for the People's Theater, was to be turned into a facility strictly for the staging of plays, for culture and for educating young people in the spirit of interest in theater and related disciplines. Most importantly, the building is intended for audiences of a wide age range, from children to "young adults" who, infected by the bug of contact with the theatrical arts, will later become audiences in theaters already for adults. Such a social message seems to me ideologically very necessary at the moment, so that upbringing through culture and the participation of the youngest in cultural events creates a generation of future mature audiences, shapes social and moral attitudes.
- notes Prof. Romuald Loegler, author of the project to expand the Theater Institute of the Young.
Theater Institute of the Young in Cracow
photo: Przemyslaw Ciępka
institute within the walls of the carpenter's shop
The building, built in the 1960s, has been modernized and expanded. The building, with four floors above ground, previously used as a backroom of the People's Theater, offering, among other things, paint shops, storage spaces or a carpenter's shop, in which a small theater stage was arranged in 2004, underwent a major renovation with changes in interior layout . An additional module was added on the south side, which included a glazed foyer and a representative staircase.
The expansion consisted of expanding the capacity of the former carpenter's shop building occupied by administrative facilities of the People's Theater. As a result, the building became home to three theatrical halls for different youth groups and for different types of theater practice. Along with the halls, we designed a glazed entrance area with a café, which were to be an inviting element inside the building, a kind of exhauster, absorbing the youth into the Institute's spaces. We developed a formula that deviates from the archetype of the official and pompous theater building, which can arouse embarrassment among potential audiences from the younger generation. The Theater Institute for Young People is a building that is open to the audience, whose interiors become public spaces of the city.
- Prof. Romuald Loegler explains.
Theater Institute of the Young in Krakow
photo: Jeremi Astashov
In addition to new stages and a glass foyer, the building also provided space for the infrastructure necessary for the Institute's operation. Thus, there are theater and educational rooms, dressing rooms and dressing rooms, warehouses, archives and office spaces, as well as a theater store. The building has been adapted for use by people with disabilities, and the visual identity, based on the People's Theater's lettering and inspired by neon aesthetics, has been designed by Studio Open. The building also uses environmentally friendly solutions, including heat pumps and thermal energy recovery systems.
Theater Institute of the Young in Cracow
photo: Przemyslaw Ciępka
colorful, workshop and intimate
Three stages have been located in the expanded carpenter 's shop - the ColorfulStage, intended for the youngest audiences, as well as the Workshop Stage and the Chamber Stage, where plays intended for teenagers and young adults will be staged. The stages offer, in the above order, up to 130, 147 and 80 seats.
Theater Institute of the Young in Cracow - Color Stage
photo: Jeremi Astashov
The interior of each stage has been visually adapted to the audience it is aimed at. Thus, in keeping with its name, the Colorful Stage is full of a variety of colors, which have found their way into the wall coverings and seats in the auditorium. The Workshop Stage presents a slightly more subdued color scheme, the walls here are lined primarily with wood, while the Chamber Stage has been arranged as a small space with dark-colored decor, building an atmosphere of contact between the audience and the actors performing on stage.
Theater Institute of Youth in Cracow - Staircase
photo: Jeremi Astashov
A contemporary cloak for a postwar building
The aesthetic expression of the outer parts of the building has also undergone a far-reaching metamorphosis. The body of the Theater Institute of Youth operates with geometrized forms, characteristic of the work of Prof. Romuald Loegler. Thus, the skeleton of the former carpenter's shop was "overgrown" with a contemporary facade, which allowed it to stand out among the surrounding residential buildings. Each elevation has a slightly different form.
Theater Institute of the Young in Cracow
photo: Przemyslaw Ciępka
The most distinctive element of the Theater Institute of Youth is its southeastern corner, which was included in a module added to the building. It was realized in the form ofa glazed, geometrized block, which rises almost the entire height of the building. Its gently concave profile, ending in an overhang, gives dynamism to this part of the building.
Theater Institute of the Young in Cracow
photo: Przemyslaw Ciępka
The eastern elevation was solved in a similarly "dynamic" way , where diagonally topped glazing in the ground floor seems to emerge from the ground level. Above them are strips of vertical window openings of varying heights. The western façade has been solved in the form of a wall interspersed with small square windows - the rows of windows in each story have been shifted in relation to each other, once again introducing a dynamic accent in the cuboidal body of the building. As before the modernization, no window openings were decided in the southern elevation.
Theater Institute of the Young in Cracow
photo: Przemyslaw Ciępka
theater on the sidelines
Designing appropriate forms for the building's facade was a difficulty due to the location of the Theater Institute of Youth, as the building is located on the outskirts of the Theater Estate in Krakow's Nowa Huta.
Theater Institute of Youth in Cracow
photo: Przemyslaw Ciępka
The exposition of the Theater Institute of Youth is unusual for a building with such a function - while theaters are usually placed in city squares, street frontages, or other representative places, the modernized building is located at the back of the People's Theater, between the building of the 11th Maria Dabrowska High School and the buildings of the Theater Estate.
Due to the unusual location, we decided to introduce an element that would make the building noticeable among the buildings of the Theater Estate. Hence the form, whose partially glazed corner, most prominently exposed from the street, took on a rather unusual character for such a small object. It was intended to mark with its peculiarity the presence of something intriguing from the architectural point of view of the event. The rear, western facade, on the other hand, is an example of how the form of the old building was drawn into the new structure by preserving and multiplying the existing architectural threads in the form of small, square windows scattered across the surface of the facade. In this way, it was possible to preserve a certain memory of the architectural history of the site - residents of the neighborhood behind the Theater Youth Institute building look out of their windows at the familiar architectural landscape.
- explains the architect.
Theater Institute of the Young in Krakow
photo: Przemyslaw Ciępka
investment in future generations
The Theater Institute of the Young is an example of a building that, thanks to an apt modernization and expansion concept, has gained new life in the midst of a historic, difficult urban development. The new building of the People's Theater is a building that is modern in its expression, which, thanks to its architectural citations, finds a perfect fit in the spaces of the Socialist Realist housing establishment. The most important thing about it, however, is its mission - to promote culture among the youngest audience. Thanks to the activities of the Theater Institute for Young People, the community of Nowa Huta gained not only new architecture and cultural space, but also another chance to bring up future generations in, much needed, contact with art.