Museum - Warsaw_
ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT_
General Plan
The Museum of Polish History Project is located above the Lazienkowska motorway, between the junction of Jazdow street and the boundary of Skarpa Warszawska.
To re-establish the historic extent and context of the public park, the project proposes to cover over the motorway. This intervention makes this public park space more functional in terms of use and provides a more unified context for the Museum and its relationship with Zamek Castle.
The entrance to the Museum is organised onto a new square which has a direct connection with Zamek Castle. This square, in turn, is connected to the Rozdrozu roundabout by means of a tree-lined pedestrian walkway which revives the old crossroads of Os Stanislawowska, which predates the First World War. This is seen as the major pedestrian route to the museum for those who use public transport. General traffic can only move between the north and south sides along John Lennon street, thereby limiting the presence of vehicles in the park and eliminating it opposite the museum.
By increasing the diametr of the Rosdrozu roundabout it can be developed absorb the various streets of the urban labyrinth that occur there. This roundabout is conceived as the entrance to the different parks that are spread around the area and is envisaged as the inverse of what it is nowadays. It is proposed that the existing open space with a soulless central fountain will double in size and will have a dense tree population with a large open central square similar to the footprint of Zamek Castle if viewed from the air. Narrow paths will lead us to this mysterious spot, which will accommodate elements like a small tourist information kiosk with a cafe on one side. A footbridge will direct the visitor across to the park area.
The Museum of Polish History’s Grounds
The grounds of the museum are mainly spread over the covered motorway. Their main purpose is to link the new museum building with the old parks (the Botanical Gardens, Royal Lazienki Park, Jazdow Park, etc) and the existing lakes. With the exception of some defined areas, the surface is covered simply by grass so as to highlight the museum and the new elements of public space inside the densely wooded park.
Throughout the length of the park there are circular skylights three metres in diameter, which illuminate and ventilate the motorway below.
This combination of these circular forms with a simple landscape palette of grass and gentle contours will result in something which counterbalances the strong formal and classical context of the area. This classic style is expressed with bordered by ornamental bushes, and in its interior clumps of trees designed to give an approximation to a baroque style of the 17th century.
Positioning of the Museum
The positioning of the building over the motorway greatly benefits the existing parklands as there is no impact on existing tree clusters or groves. The continuity of the parkland setting is re-established with the scar of the motorway being repaired and a cohesive public parkland space benefitting the city. The building with its profound length lends itself as the backdrop to the castle thereby forming a strong bond between them.
The presence and strong external expression of the exhibiting rooms, contribute to the thick medieval effect that serves as a backdrop for the overall form of the castle. The organisation of the exhibition rooms forms works to create strong shadows achieved by the southern sun. This is further enhanced by the pattern of shade created by the existing groves of tress which cast their mark on the flat smooth vertical plane of the building façade.
The Museum
The exhibition rooms, whose individual forms generate the defining elements of the museum, are located on the southern side and is divided by the main entrance into the permanent collection rooms on the right and the rooms for temporary exhibitions on the left. This layout is based on the idea that the temporary exhibitions can be seen without having to pass through the permanent collection and that the contents of the former can be displayed on the exterior of the ground floor.
All public events with unrestricted access take place on the ground floor. This includes access to the temporary exhibiting rooms, the bookshop, the media library, the kids’ zone, banking services, the café/restaurant etc. Access to the permanent collection can be made by means of lateral stairways running along the side of a centrally illuminated open space with a high ceiling to be named The Forum.
The Research and Education sector is part of a bar built on three levels, which faces north. An auditorium completes the west side of the bar providing in that sector the staff entrance.
The building is to have an exterior made of local white limestone to give it a deliberate air of neutrality of a huge sunken mass that lies in the park. Each fold, each hollow on the external form, is a response to the internal tensions. The separations of each of the rooms and its slightly inclined walls allow for views of the nearby castle with a different focus, viewing the castle in a series of framed views.
In conclusion, we have conceived this project, despite its grand scale, as a detached pavilion in the park, which must go beyond its duty as a museum. It must transform itself into an area that allows the regular clientele to have their expectations totally fulfilled, and that the public, who don’t go specifically to visit a museum, find there a source of distraction and recreation that encourages them to discover and experience Polish history.
Museum - Warsaw_
ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT_
General Plan
The Museum of Polish History Project is located above the Lazienkowska motorway, between the junction of Jazdow street and the boundary of Skarpa Warszawska.
To re-establish the historic extent and context of the public park, the project proposes to cover over the motorway. This intervention makes this public park space more functional in terms of use and provides a more unified context for the Museum and its relationship with Zamek Castle.
The entrance to the Museum is organised onto a new square which has a direct connection with Zamek Castle. This square, in turn, is connected to the Rozdrozu roundabout by means of a tree-lined pedestrian walkway which revives the old crossroads of Os Stanislawowska, which predates the First World War. This is seen as the major pedestrian route to the museum for those who use public transport. General traffic can only move between the north and south sides along John Lennon street, thereby limiting the presence of vehicles in the park and eliminating it opposite the museum.
By increasing the diametr of the Rosdrozu roundabout it can be developed absorb the various streets of the urban labyrinth that occur there. This roundabout is conceived as the entrance to the different parks that are spread around the area and is envisaged as the inverse of what it is nowadays. It is proposed that the existing open space with a soulless central fountain will double in size and will have a dense tree population with a large open central square similar to the footprint of Zamek Castle if viewed from the air. Narrow paths will lead us to this mysterious spot, which will accommodate elements like a small tourist information kiosk with a cafe on one side. A footbridge will direct the visitor across to the park area.
The Museum of Polish History’s Grounds
The grounds of the museum are mainly spread over the covered motorway. Their main purpose is to link the new museum building with the old parks (the Botanical Gardens, Royal Lazienki Park, Jazdow Park, etc) and the existing lakes. With the exception of some defined areas, the surface is covered simply by grass so as to highlight the museum and the new elements of public space inside the densely wooded park.
Throughout the length of the park there are circular skylights three metres in diameter, which illuminate and ventilate the motorway below.
This combination of these circular forms with a simple landscape palette of grass and gentle contours will result in something which counterbalances the strong formal and classical context of the area. This classic style is expressed with bordered by ornamental bushes, and in its interior clumps of trees designed to give an approximation to a baroque style of the 17th century.
Positioning of the Museum
The positioning of the building over the motorway greatly benefits the existing parklands as there is no impact on existing tree clusters or groves. The continuity of the parkland setting is re-established with the scar of the motorway being repaired and a cohesive public parkland space benefitting the city. The building with its profound length lends itself as the backdrop to the castle thereby forming a strong bond between them.
The presence and strong external expression of the exhibiting rooms, contribute to the thick medieval effect that serves as a backdrop for the overall form of the castle. The organisation of the exhibition rooms forms works to create strong shadows achieved by the southern sun. This is further enhanced by the pattern of shade created by the existing groves of tress which cast their mark on the flat smooth vertical plane of the building façade.
The Museum
The exhibition rooms, whose individual forms generate the defining elements of the museum, are located on the southern side and is divided by the main entrance into the permanent collection rooms on the right and the rooms for temporary exhibitions on the left. This layout is based on the idea that the temporary exhibitions can be seen without having to pass through the permanent collection and that the contents of the former can be displayed on the exterior of the ground floor.
All public events with unrestricted access take place on the ground floor. This includes access to the temporary exhibiting rooms, the bookshop, the media library, the kids’ zone, banking services, the café/restaurant etc. Access to the permanent collection can be made by means of lateral stairways running along the side of a centrally illuminated open space with a high ceiling to be named The Forum.
The Research and Education sector is part of a bar built on three levels, which faces north. An auditorium completes the west side of the bar providing in that sector the staff entrance.
The building is to have an exterior made of local white limestone to give it a deliberate air of neutrality of a huge sunken mass that lies in the park. Each fold, each hollow on the external form, is a response to the internal tensions. The separations of each of the rooms and its slightly inclined walls allow for views of the nearby castle with a different focus, viewing the castle in a series of framed views.
In conclusion, we have conceived this project, despite its grand scale, as a detached pavilion in the park, which must go beyond its duty as a museum. It must transform itself into an area that allows the regular clientele to have their expectations totally fulfilled, and that the public, who don’t go specifically to visit a museum, find there a source of distraction and recreation that encourages them to discover and experience Polish history.