There is no post-war building in Wroclaw more characteristic than the residential and service complex at Grunwaldzki square. Designed by Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak in the late sixties, it is considered one of the finest, most distinctive and most controversial works of architecture in post-war Poland. When it was built, it constituted a manifestation of disagreement with the repeatability – it was meant as a radical breach in the abundance of thousands of residential buildings no different from each other.
Photo: Stefan Arczyński
Though she became famous primarily for her project of the Wroclaw “Manhattan” , there many more examples of Grabowska-Hawrylak’s exceptional works: schools designed in the fifties, including one with almost completely glazed facades, large housing estate erected among the ruins - a collage of radical modern urban design with the remnants of the pre-war city, a maisonette in the city centre - a big house with duplex apartments, futuristic music school, “baroque” buildings - each of them hides a piece of a fascinating story about architecture, politics and one of the strangest cities of post-war Poland.
Her activities were closely tied with Wroclaw – she was the first woman to graduate from the Architecture Faculty after the war. As a young designer she worked on the reconstruction of monuments of Wroclaw, she designed the first housing estates, modern schools and innovative residential buildings, to later move on to developing much more complex objects: big shopping centers, recreation centers, housing complexes and temples. Though her works represent different styles, they all constitute a great proof of her extraordinary talent and sensitivity. Together they make up the image of a creative and extremely consistent designer, who, in reality is not always conducive to architectural individuality, realized visions that go far beyond common patterns.
Photo: Tomasz Olszewski
Patchwork is so far the largest presentation of designs and projects of Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak. The title of the exhibition refers to textile, geometric compositions, the creation of which is today one of her greatest passions besides architecture. It also refers to a way of preparing the exhibition, based on the reconstruction of the architect’s achievements and restoring the memory of the city, buildings and their author. It is a process of laborious stitching small scraps of historical matter, found in the recess of archives, museum collections, magazines and book pages.
Paradoxically, in a country which suffered such huge losses during the Second World War, nobody has taken care of meticulous documentation of the process of reconstruction. Most of the archives of design studios and institutions managing investment processes were destroyed or dispersed. Lost were the models, carbon paper, sketches. A powerful, priceless legacy of a whole generation of architects, including hundreds of unrealized projects is gone as well. In the case of Grabowska-Hawrylak’s works, during the flood in 1997 the whole private archive of the architect was also destroyed. On the basis of recovered “clues”, a whole range of the architect’s works was recreated in a way as complete as possible, including major designs and projects developed by Grabowska-Hawrylak throughout almost half a century of her creative activity - from the fifties to the nineties of the previous century. The exhibition includes designs and drawings, as well as movies, archival and contemporary photographs and models of the most interesting structures - both realized and those that will forever remain only a concept.
Photo: Chris Niedenthal
Organizatorzy / Organizers: Europejska Stolica Kultury Wrocław 2016, Muzeum Architektury we Wrocławiu
Sfinansowane ze środków / Financed by: Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego
Współorganizatorzy / Co-organizers: Narodowe Forum Muzyki, Biuro Festiwalowe Impart 2016
Partner strategiczny / Strategic Partner: KGHM
Partner: Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
Patroni medialni / Media patrons: TVP KULTURA, O.pl, Co Jest Grane24, Gazeta Wyborcza Wrocław, Architektura-murator, ARCH, Fundacja Bęc Zmiana, Design Alive, Format, Skarby Kultury, Architektura&Biznes
