The new Polish Army Museum, designed by WXCA architects in collaboration with Buro Happold, is the first stage of the museum complex of three architectural structures – the headquarters of the Polish History Museum and two buildings of the Polish Army Museum. The South Building is the first to be completed.

This great complex situated at the Warsaw Citadel, only a 15-minute ride from the city center, is a unique place on the map of Poland's capital city.

The Warsaw Citadel was a Tsarist fortification that dates back to the 19th century and remembers the times of Polish independence struggles hiding both extraordinary symbolic as well as material and architectural value. However, for the last 200 years, the Citadel has remained closed and separated from the urban fabric metropolis and from its dynamic growth.
The proposal by WXCA was the winning of the international architecture and urban design competition for the new headquarters of the Polish Army Museum at the Warsaw Citadel in 2009.

One of the aspects for which the concept by WXCA was awarded included reaching back to the history of the place before the erection of the tsarist fortifications. The authors proposed an urban layout that draws from the 18th-century spatial composition of the Polish Royal Foot Guard barracks and centrally positioned square.

An urban space configured on both sides by the North and South Buildings of the Polish Army Museum and between them the headquarters of the Polish History Museum.

The look of the Polish Army Museum is determined by the physical and malleable properties of the materials used. The architects opted for colored concrete, which has a similar color to the brick walls of the Warsaw Citadel. The monumentality of the geometrized body of the museum under construction was softened by a special 3D pattern imprinted on the plane of the massive blocks. The chevron pattern was intended to bring military motifs to mind generating a sculptural surface, that plays of light and shadow that changes depending on the time of day.


Polish Army Museum South Building by WXCA. Photograph by Marcin Czechowicz.


Polish Army Museum South Building by WXCA. Photograph by Marcin Czechowicz.


The interior of the museum is a play of spatial tensions between the blocks and the space between them.

It comprises eight functional blocks. Four of them are intended to house the permanent exhibition. The three largest blocks are dedicated to the history of Polish Arms, from the beginnings of Poland’s statehood right up to the end of the Second World War. The fourth is devoted to the oriental weaponry collection. The fifth block considered the heart of the museum, houses the Temporary Exhibition Hall – a space meant for special events and commemorative exhibitions. The variability of this hall will be a reason to keep returning to the Polish Army Museum.

Close to 6,000 m² of exhibition space will be complemented by three blocks: one for visitor services and facilities including office and administrative facilities, an audiovisual block with a capacity of up to 100 people, and a warehouse and technical office block.


Polish Army Museum South Building by WXCA. Photograph by Marcin Czechowicz.


Polish Army Museum South Building by WXCA. Photograph by Marcin Czechowicz.


Although the Polish Army Museum was established back in 1920 by a decree of Marshall Józef Piłsudski, the institution never had its own headquarters where it could present its unique collection, now amounting to over 300,000 exhibits. Today, after more than 100 years of existence, the museum opens the public to its modern headquarters, which also includes a permanent exhibition as well as a hall for temporary exhibitions and cultural events.

The complex along with the X Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel and the Katyń Museum already located on the site of the historic fortress, will together form one of the largest and most modern museum complexes in Europe.

Additionally, behind the fortress's high brick walls, a remarkable green area of over 30 hectares has been preserved, (now, will be made available to Warsawians.) now surrounded by a modern residential district built before the Second World War.

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Architects
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WXCA. Lead Architect.- Marta Sękulska-Wrońska.
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Project team
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Szczepan Wroński, Marta Sękulska Wrońska, Paweł Grodzicki, Krzysztof Budzisz, Paweł Wolanin, Krystian Tomczyk, Katarzyna Billik, Ewelina Szeląg, Anna Dobek, Kajetan Szostok, Małgorzata Gilarska, Michał Grabowski, Barbara Płonczyńska, Marcin Jurusik, Marcin Bieńka, Adrianna Nowak, Małgorzata Dębowska, Andrzej Bulanda.
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Collaborators
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Structural Engineering.- Buro Happold Poland.
Energy consulting, Facade engineering, MEP site wide infrastructure services design.- Buro Happold Poland.
Acoustics.- PAK Pracownia Akustyczna.
Museum technology.- Janczarski Studio.
Concrete technology.- Bartłomiej Niesłuchowski, Krzysztof Kuniczuk, Karol Chilmon.
Landscape architecture.- Studio Krajobraz.
Road design.- M&T Usługi projektowo-wykonawcze, Civil Transport Designers.
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Client
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Polish Army Museum. Ministry of National Defence, Poland.
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Builder
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IDS-BUD, MAR-BUD.
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Area
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12,750.00m².
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Dates
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Competition.- 2009.
Design.- 2015-2017.
Works - completion.- 2018 - 2023.
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Location
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Warsaw Citadel, Warsaw, Poland.
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Photography
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WXCA is an architecture practice founded in Warsaw in 2007 by Szczepan Wroński, Marta Sękulska-Wrońska and Paweł Grodzicki. It is one of the most prestigious and well-known Polish architecture studios, they were the authors of the Polish Pavilion project at the 2020 World Expo in Dubai. The office continuously participates in urban and architectural projects with a unique, innovative, and sustainable approach, within the framework of private commissions and international competitions.

The studio has won numerous competitions, including the museum complex at the Warsaw Citadel housing the Museum of Polish History and the Museum of the Polish Army (Warsaw, Poland), the European Center for Geological Education (Chęciny, Poland), the boulevards of the Vistula river (Warsaw, Poland), the streets of the New Praga district (Warsaw, Poland). ), the Jozef Pilsudski Museum Exhibition (Sulejowek, Poland), and the “Arsenal” Art Gallery (Bialystok, Poland), WXCA's main focus is complex and multifunctional buildings such as museums, performance halls, and other public functions.

The office is currently working on several public and private projects, including the Museum of Polish History (Warsaw, Poland), Stefan Zeromski Theater (Kielce, Poland), the main city square and the city museum (Radom, Poland ), the Museum of the Lubomirski Prines (Wroclaw, Poland). The studio was nominated twice for the prestigious EU Mies van der Rohe Award.
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