The concept design by a Warsaw-based studio WXCA is a winning proposal in the competition for the new headquarters of the Museum of Greater Poland Uprising. The architects in their vision aimed to meet the need for a contact with other people and a joint action, those being important values which among others contributed to the success of the Greater Poland Uprising.
Centre for dialogue
According to the designers from WXCA studio, the museum centre should reflect the idea of victory in a subtle way, matching the surroundings and without overshadowing the hill with 800-year history and the St. Adalbert’s Church located on it.
Furthermore, the essential part of the project was to create a place that will not only present the history of joint actions undertaken by the inhabitants of Wielkopolska but will also allow the contemporary city dwellers of Poznań to form new relations with each other. That is why the architects proposed the round plaza surrounded by small museum buildings to be the central place of the whole museum. “Such layout will remind the visitors of the beginnings of our country, of the cities and settlements where the first communities were formed” – said Małgorzata Dembowska, member of the designers’ team. It is precisely this space created by the bodies of the buildings that is envisaged as a sign of the victory. An open and circular shape of the plaza can facilitate an interaction and become a natural environment for exchanging ideas, for a debate, dialogue and all those elements that contribute to building deeper social relationships.
Interacting with the surroundings
An important challenge was to find such a layout that would allow for the harmony between the new headquarters and its surroundings, which is mainly defined by a hill with the St. Adalbert’s Church and a park. The scattering of the Museum into several smaller blocks allows both to preserve the large scale of green space around and to include a crucial witness to history – the church – in the museum's design. “The division which we have developed enables an open formula of the museum in which buildings are not an obstacle on the main communication routes, but to the contrary, which makes it possible for the residents and tourists to easily get there and to go through the whole complex from each direction” – added Krzysztof Moskała from WXCA.
Contemporary narrative with history in the background
The architecture of the museum reflects the idea of continuity in history, where contemporary actions are based on solid foundations of historical heritage. The designers’ proposal is to create the basis of the museum (the ground floor) with raw stone evoking the memory of first buildings on the Polish lands, while other floors are to be made of smoothly cut stone which takes us to modern times. The whole narrative of the building is reflected in materials solutions applied. The solid stone walls on the outside are contrasted with the warm design of the interior, where a combination of white walls with wooden elements lends an atmosphere of a traditional house.
Architects working on this project: Szczepan Wroński, Małgorzata Dembowska, Krzysztof Moskała, Paweł Grodzicki, Aleksandra Adamczyk.
