We continue with more proposals for the Museum of Polish History Competition, this time with the proposal by kOnyk architecture (more projects by the firm previously featured at AD). One of the key feature’s of their proposal is to construct a parking structure over the Trasa Lazienkowska Highway that will serve as a “land bridge” that will unify the park as well as be a platform for observation of the Wilsa River below.
More images and architect’s description after the break.
Zamek Ujazdowski
Zamek Ujazdowski captures key moments in the National History of Poland, having been the residence of Queen Bona in 1548 to its proposed use as the Residence for the President of the Polish Republic in 1926, to its near total destruction under the Communist government in 1954. As such Ujazdow Castle becomes the perfect symbolic structure for the Museum of Polish History (MPH). After study of the research report “Study on Historic and Landscape Conditions and Conservation Guidelines for the Investment Project “The Construction of the Museum of Polish History in Warsaw” presented to the competitors by Art. Arch. I Dr. Arch. Aleksander Chylak, Arch. Maciej Czeredys and Hist. Szt. Ewa Kalnoj-Ziajkowska, we are recommending that the new Museum of Polish History be located within the Zamek Ujazdowski. To accommodate the necessary additional program of this modern museum, two wings, one north, one south are to be added to the Ujazdow Castle. Drawing our inspiration from the urban plan for the castle of D. Merlini under the commission of King Stanislow August Poniatowski, these two wings, each two stories high (their height below the roof line of the Ujazdow Castle) would satisfy the additional programmatic needs of the new Museum of Polish History. We feel that this strategy reinforces the historic and symbolic significance of the Zamek Ujazdowski and the fact that the Castle currently houses a Art Museum allows for a less dramatic transition for the public.
Trasa Lazienkowska
The division of the previous continuous landscape of the Skarpa Warszawska by the construction in 1972 of the ring highway system, which included the Trasa Lazienkowska, created strong discontinuity of the park elements on the site. By reconnecting the Skarpa, not only will there be opportunity to create an enhanced “culturepark” for Warsaw, but this also reinforces the idea of a cultural zone that connects most of Warsaw’a major cultural institutions both north and south of the site, such as the new Museum to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Parliament Building. Our proposal creates a renewed continuous landscape over the Trasa Lazienkowska. Our proposal accommodates 372 automotive parking spaces in a “land-bridge” parking structure built over the Trasa Lazienkowska, which is accessed by the existing on and off ramp system at Aleje Ujazdowskie. Access to the new Museum of Polish History would be by a loop road connecting Johna Lennona and Jazdow Streets. Off loaded buses, once discharging their passengers at the museum on the Skarpa, can idle under the “flyover” of the Trasa Lazienkowska (Aleja Armii Ludowej) near the Wojska Polskiego Sports Stadium. A new system of vertical circulation (not unlike Subway Stations) connect parking to Park Jazdow, and Park Lazienkowska to Park Jazdow allowing renewed access to this new “culturepark” for all.
culturepark
By relocating the Center of Contemporary Art into a new kunsthalle constructed from the “land-bridge” Lazienkowska cover structure, which is sited to the west of the Ujazdow Castle on the former site of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel. Views into the gallery are possible from the highway, and a series of steps create a place to sit to enjoy contemporary open-air performance and connect to the new landscape that connects the Botanical Gardens to the Park Ujazdowski. to the north. Thus the entire landscape is animated and able to be populated with cultural affairs, both inside the museums and outside. To the east of the site, at the edge of the Skarpa, an overlook of the Lazienkowska Park is provided by the end of the parking “land-bridge” and an enclosed café/restaurant for use by visitors gives a panorama view of the Wilsa River beyond.
