Niezrealizowane plany Mariana Lalewicza rozbudowy Politechniki Warszawskiej na Polu Mokotowskim

• Autorzy: Wagner A.

Warianty tytułu

EN

Unrealised projects by Prof. Marian Lalewicz for expanding the Warsaw Polytechnic in Pole Mokotowskie

• Języki publikacji: PL

Abstrakty

EN

The article discusses the unrealised pojects by Prof. Marian Lalewicz, made in the 1930s and concerning the expansion of the Warsaw Polytechnic. They are probably the last, heretofore unmenitioned and unpublished works by Marian Lalewicz, killed by the Germans in 1944. The three extant sketches containing drawings by the Professor depict the conception of the development of terrains in Pole Mokotowskie, granted to the Polytechnic in the 1930s and conceived as part of the planned Marshal Józef Pisudski District (fig.1-3). The first sketch from 2 September (1938?) presents the general premises of the development of the lots conferred to the Polytechnic as well as the axonometry of the complex, situated in the southern part of Polytechnic Square (fig. 4). The project foresaw closing the exit of the newly designed 22 Stycznia Street, leading towards Polytechnic Square, by means of an architectonic "gate" composed of two buildings with identically shaped facades. The building located at the corner restricted by 6 Sierpnia (Nowowiejska) Street, the Square and 22 Stycznia Street, was intended for the Polytechnic library. This was the only distinguished function of the proposed buildings. The prime composition element, situated along the east-west axis, was a complex grouped around a decorative pool, in the form of two rows of buildings interchangeably withdrawn and advanced and joined by means of short links of the same height. To the east, the element linking both rows of buildings was to be an azure structure referring (according to a hand drawn sketch included in the plan) to a triumphal arc, openinig up towards the President Ignacy Mocicki Square. To the west, between the ornamental pool and buildings standing along the prolonged Kazimierzowska Street, it was planned to situate, according to recommendations made by the State Physical Education Office, a large playing field for the students, which to the north and south would be closed with six-level stands. In accordance with the directives of the Bureau for the Construction of the Marshal District, only part of the street quater was intended for the expansion of the Polytechnic. The strip along Marshal J˘zef Pisudski Avenue was reserved for resinedtial o housing blocks, evently scattered among greenery. A consecutive sketch, made in March 1939, presents a project for the first floor, containig a reading room, and a perspective of the Warsaw Polytechnic library (fig. 5). The proposed solution was composed, both on the plan and in the solid, of three distinct segments: a corner, seven-storey "rectangular prism", based on a square, a two-storey fragment some 10 meters high and with walls in the shape of a mild arch, and a narrow segment, closing the composition and containing the emergency staircase. The project, presented as a sketch, is sufficiently detailed to decipher the precise distribution of functions. The perspective sketch shows the solid of the buildind to the nort-east, with the "tower" in the forefront, defining the architecture proposed in this project by its author. Similarly as in the case of all the works by Lalewicz we are dealing with a reference to classical elements, which, in this particular instance, are vividly modernised. This distinct classical tri-partion can be compared to the composition of architectonic order, with its base, shaft and capital. In contrast to the avantgarde of the 1920s, the 1930s witnessed an allevation of "extreme" modernism and, in many cases, an attempt at combining functional architecture with the simplified forms of historical styles. The author of the article would be inclined to regard the project by Prof. Lalewicz as part of this current, and emphasises the fact that in his capacity as an architect of the oldest generation active during the inter-war period, Lalewicz, who was educated in the spirit of academic Classicism and who reached the peak of his accomplishments in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the twentieh bentury, never joined the trend of radical moidernism. The last of the extant sketches bears an exact date - 20 June 1939 - and is rather distant from the earlier proposals. The sketch in question presents a configuration of new Warsaw Polytechnic pavilions along Polna Street, and contains a scheme of the plan, a perspective and an overall dimensions outline of the pavilions (fig. 6) The plan includes the marked shape of the lot granted to the library. Instead of the corner along the western side of the exit of 22 Stycznia Street, the library occupies the eaester corner, in contrast to earlier suggestions. In this manner, the western row of houses in the planned President Ignacy Mocicki Square was rshaped together with the remaining two pavilions and a corner building of imprecise form. All other pavilions were to be granted a uniform architectonic outfitting, which was one of the requirements made by the Office for Planing the Marshal District. In order to accentuate the continuum of the development lines, they were linked by means of gound-floor pillar galleries. In comparison with the previous proposals, the characteristic feature of the architecture of the buildings is a considerable simplification of form. The composition of four-storey pavilions was closed by the introduction of narrow, five-storey extreme segments. Lalewicz resigned from the previous structural tri-partition; he retained a marked distincion of the socle part, while resigning from the part crowning the cornice. A common distinguishing mark of both projects was emphasis placed on the vertical elements of the facade, additionaly reinforced by the introduction of pillar links. The composition of the pavilion facades, accentuating the structural lines of the verticals, convened with those proposed by Bohdan Pniewski, author of a project for the architecture of the entire premise of the Marshal Pisudski District. The style f suggested by Pniewski referred to Classicistc architecture, and observed the principles of regularity, axial qualities and verticalism, as well as operating with monumentalised forms of multiplied pillars. This type of architectonic composition enhanced the impresion of monumentality and, in accordance with the views of the period, created a suitable framework for the human masses. We encounter certain parallells with the premises of the architecture of the Third Reich and Italy under Mussolini. The heretofore works of Prof. Lalewicz predestined him towards such a selection of forms, albeit without any ideological afiliation. The project sketches executed by Prof. Lalewicz for Warsaw Polytechnic date from the end stage of his creative activity. The period of his superior accomplishments, which coincided with the stay in St. Petersburg, was already a thing of the distant past. His oeuvre was crowned with the title of an academician of architecture, which he received at the age of 36. The best projects by the Professor, both those which originated in St. Petersburg (the Martens department store from 1912, the residential house in Panteleymonovska Street from 1913) and those realised after his return to Poland (the State Agricultural Bank in Warsaw, from 1926, or the residential house for the staff of the Polish Savings Bank from 1921-1923, also in Warsaw) represented the spirit of academic Classicism, operating with monumental interpretations of classical forms, a domain in which the Professor felt most comfortable. Lalewicz made masterly use of simplified classical forms which he regarded highly for their universality and the opportunity for creating a uniform style, and which he employed both in representative public buildings and villas (the villa in Zalesie-Adamowo from 1930). He reisisted the expansion of avantgarde modernistic ideas. In the 1930s,Lalewicz,loyal to classical architecture, joined the wide current of semi-modernism,which utilised geometricised classical forms by bringing forth the vertical rhythm of simplified wall and pillar divisions.This spirit permeated the designs proposed by Lalewicz during the 1930s: the offices of the State Agricultural Bank (1924-1930) in Lublin, the garrison church in Gdynia (competition project from 1933) and the mentioned projects for the Warsaw Polytechnic library.The later works by Lalewicz are characteristic for an attempt at a preservation of individual style and an adaptation to new tendencies; although they bear the mark of outstanding talent and mastery, they no longer possess the freshness and vigour of his earlier designs.The projects for the Warsaw Polytechnic, albeit concurrent with the proposed stylistic of the architecture of Pole Mokotowskie and the author's own architectonic style, should be regarded as a symptom of the ebbing creative forces of the master Detailed plans of the library did not survive, and the outbreak of the war, which took place two months later, rendered impossible the realisation not only of the expansion of the Polytechnic but the entire Marshal Piłsudski Destrict

• Wydawca: Komitet Architektury i Urbanistyki PAN ; Politechnika Warszawska, Wydział Architektury
• Czasopismo: Kwartalnik Architektury i Urbanistyki
• Rocznik: 1998
• Tom: T. 43, z. 4
• Strony: 343--352

Twórcy

autor

Wagner A.