Wieslaw Lisowski, author of more than 80 various buildings and a long-time City Architect of Lodz, became the hero of the exhibition and conference "Wieslaw Lisowski. Artist Architect. Projects and Realizations. Yesterday, today, tomorrow".
Wieslaw Lisowski was born in 1884 in Ząbki near Warsaw. He completed his studies in St. Petersburg, at the Faculty of Architecture of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. There, with a gold medal, he earned the title of architect-artist in 1918. A year later he was already in Lodz, where he held the position of city architect for a decade. Over the years, he designed nearly ninety buildings, mainly in Lodz, including hospitals (for example, the Ignacy Moscicki Hospital, then the largest in the city, today the Norbert Barlicki University Clinical Hospital No. 1), educational facilities (in Lodz he designed 11, and completed eight school buildings), churches (including the St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church) or the adaptation of the American YMCA project on Moniuszki Street. He died in Lodz, at the age of 70.
YMCA Lodz(1935-1939) in 2007
Photo: HuBar | Wikimedia Commons © CC BY-SA 2.5
On February 27 an exhibition and conference on the achievements of this outstanding architect and artist will be held at the Architecture Stop in Lodz.
The exhibition shows the full creative path of the architect from the first idea, recorded in sketches and models, through technical drawings attached to the building permit, to the drawings on the basis of which the investments were realized. Archival photographs from the stages of construction, show how the architectural idea, contained in the sketch and design, materializes in space: how the finished work of architecture is created as a result. The presented buildings were built and began their "life" in the first half of the 20th century. Some of them still function according to their original purpose, others have changed their users and roles. The exhibition also shows their contemporary appearance and current status
- say the organizers.
Lodz House of Culture (1929-1939) in 2009
photo: Marmale | © Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The event's program also includes a conference, during which Prof. Krzysztof Stefanski will talk about the architecture of interwar Lodz as a background for Wieslaw Lisowski's work, Justyna Brodzka will outline his character in the years of his activity as a city architect, Kamil Pluta will introduce Wieslaw Lisowski's photographic archive available in the State Archive's collection, Maria Nowakowska will look at the architectural details designed by Lisowski, Karolina Taczalska will spin an unfinished tale of the Lodz House of Culture designed by the architect, and Pawel Filipowicz will talk about the prospects for survival.
The event is open to architects, urban planners, researchers, students and anyone interested in architecture and the culture of space. A detailed program of the event is available on the organizers' website.
