For Example. New Polish House. Exhibition in Madrid

22/05/2014. [MAD] Spain 28.05 > 28.06.2014
metalocus, SARA REBOLLO

For Example. New Polish House is an exhibition that brings us closer to Polish familiy house architecture. New houses, well-thought-out, properly built with full awareness of the surroundings.

They belong with global architectural tendencies but each of them stands alone by virtue of a particular aspect which governs each project. It may be an emphasis on ecology, a quest for a particular typology or a dialogue with the location.

Double-faced house by Grzegorz Stiasny. Photography © Juliusz Sokołowski. Courtesy of COAM.

Double-faced house by Grzegorz Stiasny. Photography © Juliusz Sokołowski. Courtesy of COAM.

Ark-house by Robert Konieczny/Lukasz Marciniak. Photography © Juliusz Sokołowski

House detached semi-detached by Jojko+Nawrocki architects. Photography © Juliusz Sokołowski. Courtesy of COAM.

House on a coalmine by Medusa Group. Photography © Juliusz Sokołowski. Courtesy of COAM.

Meander-like house by hs99. Photography © Juliusz Sokołowski. Courtesy of COAM.

Inverted house by Piotr Brzoza y Marcin Kietowicz. Photography © Juliusz Sokołowski. Courtesy of COAM.

House apart by MAAS. Photography © Juliusz Sokołowski. Courtesy of COAM.

EcoLogical house by Piotr Kuczia. Photography © Juliusz Sokołowski. Courtesy of COAM.

The exhibition “For Example. The New Polish House” presents nine selected designs for Polish single-family houses. The show includes synthetical models, photographs taken especially for the exhibition by Juliusz Sokołowski, one of Poland’s best architecture photographers, as well as a catalogue with further photographs, drawings, and texts by architecture critic Paweł Kraus and sociologist Joanna Kusiak.

The designs presented were designed by the following architects: Piotr Brzoza/Marcin Kwietowicz, hayakawa/kowalczyk, hs99, Robert Konieczny, Piotr Kuczia, jojko+nawrocki architekci, MAAS, Medusa group, Grzegorz Stiasny.

The current architecture landscape in Poland is influenced by the patterns of earlier architecture – from the country estates of the 19th century to the cubic buildings from the era of the People’s Republic – and blends this with the new experience of freedom and new possibilities of expression. The results resemble manor-houses, there are fortress-like buildings, “McResidences” and even mountain huts on the lowlands, all of which provide examples of a controversial eclecticism which stems from the ambitions and hopes of an increasingly prosperous society.

The curators from the Centrum Architektury – an independent Warsaw-based foundation – present built projects that offer an excellent impetus and basis for a debate about functional architecture and human needs, a debate that should not be conducted by experts alone. The houses selected set standards for a new kind of quality in house-building in Poland and provide guidelines for future architects. For example.

Subsidised by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Council of Warsaw.

Exhibition For Example. New Polish House.
Dates.- From May 28 until July 28, 2014.
Lectures and debate.- May 28, 2014, 7:30 p.m.
Venue.- LASEDE COAM. c/ Hortaleza, 63 Ground floor, Madrid, Spain.

Curators.- Agnieszka Rasmus Zgorzelska, Aleksandra Stępnikowska.
Exhibition and models design.- Marcin Kwietowicz.
Visual identification.- Edgar Bąk.
Model making.- Kuba Morkowski, Adam Perka.
Organisational support.- Iga Kołodziej.
Organiser.- Centrum Architektury.
Collaborators in Madrid.- Instituto Polaco de Cultura, Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid.