FALOWIEC : Progressive Evolution of Socialist Mass Housing

FALOWIEC PROGRESSIVE EVOLUTION OF SOCIALIST MASS HOUSING

FALOWIEC W NOWEJ TKANCE ARCHITEKTONICZNO-SPOŁECZNEJ INTERWENCJE PRZESTRZENNE JAKO ELEMENT REURBANIZACJI WIELKIEGO OSIEDLA MIESZKANIOWEGO PRZYMORZE

Mar tyna Michalik promotor : dr hab. inż. arch. Krystyna Pokrzywnicka, prof. nadzw. PG recenzent : dr hab. inż. arch. Andrzej Baranowski, prof. PG Politechnika Gdańska 2016

Architecture & Urban Master Thesis Martyna Michalik advisor : dr hab. inż. arch. Krystyna Pokrzywnicka, prof. nadzw. PG reviewer : dr hab. inż. arch. Andrzej Baranowski, prof. PG Gdańsk University of Technology 2016 Acknowledgments & Special Thanks : Peter Staub, Magdalena Podwojewska, Robert Idem, Andrzej Baranowski Daniel González Alonso, Paweł Maszota, Hana Pleskačová family & friends

nie tłumek nie samotnia blokowanie

Mirosław Białoszewski poem from “Wyrywki” series vol. “Rozkurz” (1980)

ABSTRACT

The falowiec was designed as the direct urgent response to a desperate deprivation of housing - one that especially enveloped cities of post-war Europe. Derived from the modernist movement and exploited by socialist regimes, the utopian visions of mass housing estates ultimately failed to create the perfect society. Inhabitants became anonymous users and homes became confined units. A collective loneliness prevails. The overwhelming scale and static monofunctionality descends mass housing estates into degradation and isolation. In contemporary context they are the source of social stigmatism and spatial fragmentation, whilst remaining irreplaceable in providing cheap housing to a desperate percentage of the population.

This thesis responds to the ongoing state of social and formal degradation of the falowce [pl] in Poland. Through comprehensive analysis of the historical and cultural genesis of the issue, the future of socialist mass housing estates is considered in context of social, architectural and urban development. Recognizing the specificity of challenges reaching beyond the dialogue of physical space - the concept is portrayed through a narrative timeline.

The proposal introduces a progressive evolution process executed at different scales.

A series of acupunctural interventions are regarded as an adaptable program instead of a singular plan. The main formal aspects of the concept deal with the relationships of public, semi-public, semi-private and private space - as fundamental elements of re-urbanization. The human scale is re-established through a collective process encouraging a more sustainable, multi-dimensional development strategy, that challenges the future functional program of the falowiec.

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CONTENTS

PART ONE - THE CASE

1. Abstract

3

2. Introduction

11

3. Goal & Approach

13

4. Historical & Cultural Background 4.1. Urban Paradigm Shift

14

4.2. Modernism - The Top-Down Vision

17

4.3. Mass Housing - The Prototype

20

4.4. Post WWII World Application

24

4.5. Housing Behind the Iron Curtain - Socialism Extremes

28

4.6. Polish Cases

31

5. The Fall of Utopia - Contemporary Theories 5.1. The Failures of Mass Housing

35

5.2. Sociocultural Aftermath

37

5.3. Antithesis Responses - Bottom-Up Participation

42

5.4. The Alternative Remedies & Futures

45

6. Poland - Pressing Issues 6.1. Urban Situation after Communism

50

6.2. The Challenge of Blocks

52

6.3. Housing Crisis

53

PART TWO - THE SITE

7. Site Introduction 7.1. Birth of Site

60

7.2. Conceptual Architectural and Urban Description

64

7.3. Contemporary Role in Tricity Agglomeration

71

8. Przymorze & Falowce Characteristics 8.1. Current Physical State 8.2. The Apartments 8.3. Demographics 8.4. Community & Isolation 8.5. Mobility 8.6. Public / Private Space 8.7. The Human Scale 8.8. New Surrounding Developments

74 74 77 77 80 80 81 81

PART THREE - THE CONCEPT

9. Research Gap

86

10. Manifesto

88

11. Methods & Process

89

12. The Concept 12.1. Timeline - Concept Introduction

90

12.2. The Narrative

90

12.3. 2016 - Urban Revival

94

12.4. 2020 - Public Exchange

100

12.5. 2030 - Discovering Collectivity

110

12.6. 2040 - Challenging Progress

126

13. Conclusion

131

14. References

134

15. List of Figures

137

PART ONE TH E C A S E

INTRODUCTION

It is the year 1970 in Gdańsk, Poland.

Families wait eagerly in lines to be assigned an apartment in Gdańsk’s newest and most modern housing neighborhood - Przymorze. Their current places of living are dark, crammed kamienice [town houses] or multi-family huts in villages located far from the city. The new flats are white, clean and well lit - proper sanitation and private balconies are unexpected luxuries. Not everyone will be lucky enough to be assigned here. Constructed in the newest prefab technology, the falowiec shines in innovation and positive future - to live here will be the utmost luxury.

The longest falowiec is already inhabited by new tenants while part of its length is still being built. The factory of prefabs is located on a large plot directly adjacent to the new estate, so construction workers and building supplies are a daily routine.

The neighborhood is an ongoing construction site, with piles of dirt and soot serving as sandboxes and playgrounds for the many children moving in. Pathways form organically in the soil, as proper sidewalks are not yet laid. In between the falowce lies the promised vast open space - except, its not green. Brushes, grass and other greenery have yet to grow - only a few small trees have been planted. Service and commercial pavilions rise around the area - though significantly less and smaller than were planned.

There are even rumors that one of the falowce on Piastowska street had to be demolished and rebuilt 3-floor levels from the 6th story down - because it was discovered that too much sand was mixed into the concrete. The rate at which they are built leaves inhabitants somewhat disoriented, as practically identical entrances, segments and flats multiply in a matter of weeks.

Despite this, a sense of euphoria, fulfillment and pride are prominent amongst the new inhabitants. The M2, M3 and M4 interiors are elegantly decorated and furnished with meblościanki and traditional white woven firanki hung in the windows. Private space is cherished as unimaginable richness. Paper-thin walls yield both hostility and lifelong friendships. Trips are often made through the internal galleries to each other’s flat in slippers, as unexpected visits are regular and expected. Mothers have a direct view of their children playing in sandboxes and on trzepaki on the south side of the balconies - every day around noon you can hear the typical yelling “(Staśiek/ Piotrek/Ewa/Basia) ...obiad ! [dinner]”.

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GOAL & APPROACH

The goal of this thesis is to explore the historical and socio-cultural factors that led to the creation of mass housing estates - specifically those dispersed across Poland. Studying the theoretical genesis of these estates in a contemporary context challenges the question of whether architectural visions can be blamed for social misfortune. A sensitivity to the anthropological and social consequences is retained in the perspective, through a wholly study. Multi-disciplinary data is collected and elaborated through visual means. Furthermore, grander-scale contemporary issues and challenges facing Polish cities are taken simultaneously into consideration. Current housing and spatial policies are also studied in the context of finding a realistic and probable solution in the form of architecture.The conceptual proposal does not hope to respond with a unanimous singular project or plan as a remedy to the problem.

Rather, the concept proposes a fragmented intervention approach based on a program strategy. This concept searches for a series of spatial catalysts that are derived directly from local conf licts and priorities. An experimental timeline serves as a pragmatic framework for implementation. Formally, the created spaces are unanimous with the historical and cultural characteristics of the place while expanding its functionality, in consideration of current economical realities.

The aspect of the human scale is predominant in the research as well as the final design proposal. This thesis hopes to provoke dialogue in regards to the current approach of structuring urban spaces in Poland. Furthermore, it constitutes as a polemic for the paramount need for re-urbanization of degraded socialist mass housing estates.

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H I S T O R I C A L & C U LT U R A L BACKGROUND

4.1.

URBAN PARADIGM SHIFT

The beginning of the twentieth century marks an evident renaissance in urban thought and cultural development. Triggered by industrial and technological revolution, paired with growing culutral needs, the possibilities of development required observation and attracted new theories. The star-child of this transformation is Modernism, however it evolved on a momentum of epiphanies from the previous century.

The roots of this paradigm shift reach back to the turn of the XVIII and XIX century, during the significant Industrial Revolution. French architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1803) expanded the boundaries of the architectural profession with his own monograph L’Architecture considéree sous le rapport de l’art, des moeurs et de la legislation (Architecture Considered in Relation to Art, Morals and Legislation, 1804) (Ratti & Claudel 2015). Merging contemporary philosophical and political beliefs, he sought out masterplanned utopias which expressed the capability of man as a rational nature - structured and mechanistic. Architecture was developed as an industrial, social and esthetic tool (Ratti & Claudel 2015).

In contrast to this innovative thinking, the model of most european cities had not changed significantly since ancient times. Dense settlements organized by a web of streets which organically shaped private and semi private space were a scheme that prosperred until the demographics of cities changed during the XIX century. Tight streets, crammed courtyards and unadaptable buildings led to lack of space, light and air - in which fire and epidemic broke out easily (Trybuś 2005). The first symbolic transformation took place in Paris, in 1852-1869 by Georges Eugène Hausmann. Through realtively small scale architectural interventions, the city managed to widen it’s boundaries whilst keeping the characteristics of its urban tissue and street network. Singular houses were replaced with tall elegant town houses, streets and promenades were widened and outreached, and an astonishing 2000 ha of parks were incorporated into the built environment. However, critisizing Paris for merely dusting the corpse of old urbanism, the lust for urban reform continued (Trybuś 2005).

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fig.1 Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City, 1898

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The need for space where space was inexistent led to the approach of breaking up uniform groups of urban bulk in favor of freely spaced elements. Instead of reworking and adapting to existing tissue, a tabula rasa was required by many theorist in order to impose thir envisioned utopias. In 1832 Robert Owen, one of the founders of utopian socialism, took advantage of an empty estate in Hampshire to implement a “New Moral World” for a community of 5000 workers. The experiment however did not live up to it’s ambition of creating a prospering society - in fact chaos and social degragation forced the enterprise to shut down soon after being biult (Wołodźko 2005b).

Apart from freely distanced forms, the concept of zoning and grand scale spatial organization complimented the rationality that was expected of invisioned cities. Tony Garnier conceptualized Une cité industrielle (The industrial city) (1917), a solution which was based on ellaborately outlined and seperated industrial, civic, residential, health related and entertainment zones. Thus the idea of sterile clockwork and social orchestration began to enforce itself into contemporary thought. This rational of defined functionality would later be applied in manifestos and postulates of urbanists and planners of XX century, dealing with disintegrated cities.

Functionality was also determined by creating seperated residential “nodes”, which where designed to yield high quality living standards, surrounded by green space and distanced significantly from the main industrial and city-civic areas. Among the more influential theories was Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City, which he presented in 1898 in “Tomorrow, a Peacful Path to Real Reform”. The method proposed a concentric pattern consisting of self-sufficient satelites (garden cities) which were surrounded by greenbelts. A main central city linked each satelite by radial peripheral road and rail routes. Although a topdown plan, it anticipated a certain degree of organic development with self sufficiency and multi-centric suburbs, as well as unlimited growth possibilities thanks to the concept of proportion. The concept awaited real life application with the establishment of Letchworth in 1903. The city maintained itself until today, and proved a successful alternative to the “crowded and unhealthy” cities of the time.

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4.2.

MODERNISM - THE TOP-DOWN VISION

At the beginning of the twentieth century, when accumulated idealogies of the past century began to emerge into practice - the Modernist was born. Regardless of whether the offspring of social and political revolutions or the natural response to rapid technological advancement in a vastly growing modern world - it evoked a yearning to advance processes and “fix” the squalid, rusty, nostalgic old world. Architects were not exempt from this yearning. Fueled by the growing political economy of the 20th century, the potential of architecture and urban planning as a tool of development yielded an omnipotence that would ultimately backfire the movement.

This top-down paradigm empowered architects and planners to construct every aspect of the human environment - from mass scale urban plans to office buildings to desks and chairs, to spoons. Since social framework could be designed through built form - there was no limit to the detail that the designer was willing to encompass. Working in small, predominantly male teams, the physical and rhetorical works of architects interfered into the lives of a diverse many. The architect became the expert of sociocultural human morality, he was there to enlighten the public of the efficient and properly modern ways of life (Ratti & Claudel 2015).

Society was imagined to work in a clockwork manner similar to that of the clean drawn open forms and plans of buildings. Rationality and functionalism were the foundation.

Life was divided into strict functions - recreation, work, home - which in turn dictated correlating physical zones for play, labor and living. This opened the door to large scale totalitarian planning, the scope of which would be the ultimate dream for any architect today. As architecture critic Deyan Sudjic notices, the capacity of architecture is one that “literally determines the way that we see the world, and how we interact with each other... [architecture] is a chance to exert a sense of control over events. And for a certain kind of architect it offers the possibility of control over people” (Sudjic 2015).

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fig.2 Le Corbusier, Plan Voisin, Paris 1925

The altruism of the modernist movement did indeed attract a new breed of architect.

Certain individuals rose into the spotlight thanks to radical, forward-thinking rhetoric.

Among the more prominent were Walter Gropius, the precursor of the Bauhaus - the pride of German modernism and Le Corbusier, dubbed by the French “the father of modernism”. Though focused on individual theories and creation, as a collective they produced architectural prototypes and visions that would arguably become the bible of every designer and planner of the time, even if it occurred subconsciously.

As opposed to the Bauhaus, which worked in an academic, research-based, collaborative environment, Le Corbusier’s purview stretched the scale of social orchestration (Ratti & Claudel 2015). Though initially concentrated on architecture, his work and theories (unfortunately) widened to the scope of urban planning. Among his theoretical works were the Ville Contemporaine (1922), the prewar plan for partial demolition of the center of Paris, Plan Voisin (1923) and Le Ville radieuse - all of which became the fundament for modernist planning. These radical visions exercised the principles that made his work archetypical : to bring light, air and open space into the city. Massive residential towers were the predominant element. Land became segregated into large functional zones, extensive parks, commercial centers and industrial grounds, linked by wide transport routes and intersections, in between which was vast, “flowing” open space. The foundation of the International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM) in 1928 by Le Corbusier and 28 adherents from around Europe solidified his profound influence. The purpose of the organisation was to disseminate the ideal of the art of architecture as a social, political and economic mechanism geared to promote modernist design and urban planning through international manifestos and charters.

The Second World War and following socio-political unrest could not have come at a better time for the modernist movement. Many scarred cities needed to rebuild destroyed urban tissue and cope with a very severe housing crisis, with a large part of the population homeless or existing below acceptable living standards. For this purpose the Athens Charter was published in 1943, created by Le Corbusier and CIAM in 1933, consisting of “The Functional City” principles which channelled Tony Garnier’s theories. Strict functional zoning and mass housing in tall standardized units with large spatial instances in between were the main principles by which the charter was internationally adopted and applied. Socially audacious, often conceptually misunderstood and limited by financial constraints, the reality of post-war urban planning and mass housing delivered a temporary relief however left a deep cultural scar.

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4.3.

MASS HOUSING - THE PROTOTYPE

Undoubtedly the physical outcome of modernist social experimentation was suffered most greatly by habitation. No longer limited to the experimental play of tabula rasa, experimental concepts started to be applied to real cities. Following the postulate and manifestos of CIAM, the idea that architecture and urban design would create social progression and promote economic expansion gained mass popularity in many cities across europe. Therefore, leaders, governments and developers became the movement’s biggest advocates. Applying a universal social utopia to different diverse communities at such a grand scale would later prove to yield adverse results. In theory, mass housing and pragmatic social design were meant to unite people, however, in essence it was a fabricated top-down synthetic that did just the opposite. Not aware of the profound consequences, it seemed to be the only available solution for despondent cities at the time.

Already before the second world war, europe had experienced a severe population increase. Until the 1800’s the population was no more than 180 milion, while up until 1914 it grew to 460 milion people (Wołódzko 2005a). Cities expanded with inflow of population and increasing migration from rural areas. With inflation on the rise and struggling economies, countries were faced with serious social problems - low income, poverty and homelessness led to slums and degenerated areas of urban tissue. Sufficient living standards became unatainable for most families. Extensive blocks and mass housing towers were the answer to the call of the most primative need that a city could have - the need for homes (Springer 2013).

During this interwar period, several experimental yet successful residential estates were built along the principles of Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City movement. Vast green space along with low density two to four storied housing proved theory in practice. Among them were the Horseshoe Estate (1925-1933) built in Berlin by Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner, as well as in Poland, in Warsaw’s Żoliborz, the Warsaw Residential Cooperative Estate “Colony IV” (1929-1931) by Barbara and Stanisław Brukalski. These types of estates exemplified a high level of social housing scheme, built for a broad range of economic and social classes. Relatively medium density, integration with the existing urban fabric and proportional, open space greenery were all characteristics that allowed for the preservation of the human scale. However, the spatial qualities of these types of residences were only the hopeful beginning, whilst WWII would bring a new sort of urgence.

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After the second world war, most of europe’s built environment experienced extreme destruction and damage as a result of the process of war and bombing. Housing suffered immensly as many homes were deemed uninhabitable due to disease contamination and extremely poor sanitation (Trybuś 2005). Most of the population was homeless and found shelter in temporary camps and colonies. Only five years after the end of the war would the world experience the start of one of the biggest demographic jumps in the history of mankind, intensified by continued migration into cities from rural areas.

Battling unprecedented circumstances, cities became overwhelmed and required practical solutions in pressing time constraints. There was a growing fascination with efficiency and the productiveness of prefabrication. This theme had been already developed during war for military and industrial infrastructure and was soon to be applied to mass housing.

It was Le Corbusier who linked the efficiency and production of the machine to architecture. Fascinated with technological inventions of the car or telephone, he imagined such clockwork finesse could be seemlessly translated into architecture. The original mass housing block prototype, Unité d’Habitation (1952), was the “first physical manifestation of all of Le Corbusier’s ideas about the individual family unit, the grouping of units, and the city itself ” (Sherwood 1978). Built in Marseilles for 1600 dislocated residents in 337 apartments on 18 floors, it became the ground-breaking example for post-war large residential slabs. The infamous “machine for living in” earned its name from the efficiency of spatial organization and intricate living unit system. Having previously built exclusive villas, Le Corbusier invisioned the concrete tower as a vertical interpretation of the city, including all the anemities of daily life (living, private, communal, public and green spaces) preserving the idea of the singular villa, within a large volume. The “city within a city” consisted of private living units built with double height space, and a communal garden terrace on the roof (including a kindergarten, gym and pool), on top of which a sun-oriented cross-ventilation system was developed. Unlike its largely simplified successors, Unité d’Habitation innovated in architectural space, proportion and social aspects.

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fig.3 Le Corbusier, Unité d’Habitation facade, 1956-1958 fig.4 Le Corbusier, Unité d’Habitation axonometry drawing, 1956-1958

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4.4.

POST WWII WORLD APPLICATION

Although the Unité was used as an example for public social housing, it is arguable that only sheer volume and rawness of concrete were the only aspects of the concept that were extracted for further reproduction. Left without alternatives, cities adhered to CIAM’s Athens Charter and the principles were universally applied. The fundamental main priorites were : light, air and green space (Wołodźko 2005b). The main principles stated that residential buildings were required minimum daily sunlight, surrounded by a green perimeter and placed not along communication routes. Industry was to be strictly seperated from residential areas and pedestrian mobility was seperated from that of automobiles. Taller than public establishments, office buildings and churches - housing was highlighted as the most important aspect of urbanism, along with work, recreation and communication (Trybuś 2005).

The “machine” was reproduced in a product-line manner, creating a mass scatter of generic concrete slabs across Europe. With the exception of a few ambitious endeavors, the urgency with which housing was required forced planners to produce low-quality standardized clones. Prefabrication significantly propelled the building industry. German modernist Konrad Wachsmann was a critical stackeholder in the evolution of mass production of building components. After moving to the US in 1941, he collaborated with Walter Gropius to form the General Panel Corporation, one of the first factories producing prefab elements in the US. Endless compositional arrangements and efficiency led to mass influence and application of prefabricated elements in WWII affected cities, especially in Eastern Europe. There, prefab concrete slabs (panels) applied in mass housing was so substantial that it earned itself cultural nicknames Paneláks (Czechoslovakia) Plattenbau (Germany) and Wielka Płyta (Poland).

Although prefabrication advanced the architectural scale of mass housing, the new urbanism led to the development of whole neighborhoods. During the years 19651970 especially, large scale schemes and formations dominated most planned ventures.

The mass housing unit prototype was duplicated in a copy and paste method, in loose arrangements. Spaced randomly throughout, under the cover of the “open space theory” these neighborhoods rarely integrated into existing city tissue. An example of such a neighborhood is the satellite town Vällingby (1953-1959), located in the suburbs of

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Sweden’s Stockholm. The product of centralised city planning, the space consists of freely placed cross-plan singular towers in between which lower, horizontal residences encompass the composition, of course in between which is lush greenery.

A large social housing site in west Berlin exemplifies similar principles, yet intensified by taller, typical slab-type housing. The Märkisches Viertel (1954-1974) housed 17000 displaced inhabitants from the center of the city, as an argument to develop the suburbs.

Serious psychological disturbances of youth and other habitants led to protests, which ultimetly forced the city officials to restructure planned expansion of the neighborhood.

As a result, few lower intensity blocks were applied and a number of people were actually re-housed back into the city center.

Europe’s modernist urban planning impressed a large influence on the Americas, specifically the US. Following the second world war, a number of architects, including Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe moved overseas and continued their theoretical and professional work. One of the infamous and most short-lived examples of modernist mass housing was completed in 1955 in St. Louis, Missouri. The “Pruitt-Igoe” housing complex was the answer to an extreme case of social and urban decay, as well as general city-scale migration issues. Thirty-three 11-storied blocks where placed parallel to each other in large instances, in a linear arrangement (replacing a previous slum neighborhood). A similar linear concept had been built earlier by Gropius in Karlsruhe - the experimental Dammerstock Colony (1928), also consisting of evenly spaced parallel dwellings, oriented north-south. Only five years after completion, Pruitt-Igoe became abandoned and completely deteriorated with crime and destruction. Despite the shock of such sudden failure, the site was considered an isolated incident not related to flaw of architectural form, thus mass housing continued to be applied.

An alternative to the singular, free placed point-arrangements began to develop at the end of the 60’s and beginning of the 70’s. Highly geometric and repetitive, a trend was growing towards creation of more horizontal, continuous forms. These types of compositions attempted to create urban interiors and organize semi-private and public space through extremely rigid spatial organization. However, these radical schemes overwhelmed in scale, which led to lack of diversity and spatial incoherence. The Park Hill housing estate in Sheffield, England was one of the precursors of this geometric trend. Built between

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fig.5 Corviale, Rome Italy 1972 - photo Alessandro Guida

1957-1961, the entire estate consists of continuous serpent-like forms reaching 11 stories in height (a CIAM standard) with incremental angular breaks. Park Hill, along with Toulouse’s Le Mirail housing were inspirations for the Bijlmermeer. The Dutch version of colossal mass housing was developed in 1966 with 40,000 dwellings for over 110,000 inhabitants over the span of 900 hectares. Ranging from 9 to 15 stories the long buildings arrange in an angular honey-comb grid.

Starting in the 1950’s, a new architectural movement descended from Modernism.

Especially poignant in Britain, Brutalism originated from Le Corbusier’s ultimate material béton brut (raw concrete). Charles Jencks, on the example of Unité described the use of concrete as realistic, sensual, reflecting the aggresion and vitality of man - that results from the mood of postwar reality (Jencks 1973). Characterised by rugedness and heavy “brutal” form, the rawness of modernist architecture became extremified to an uncompromising exploitation of concrete. The UK experienced a boom of this type of architecture at the beginning of the 1970’s. The Balfron (1967) and Trellic Tower (1972) became iconic high rises, pushing the boundaries in terms of height with 26-stories. The infamous Robin Hood Gardens (1972) completed in London reflected the heavy brutalist nature varied in horizontal form with only 6 stories however exceeding in length. Similiarly to continuous forms of mass housing, in plan the building consists of angular breaks, an attempt to break up the linear span.

The “modernism” of mass housing began to progressively evolve into extremes. Apart from the collosal scale of totalitarian planned neighborhoods and rawness of brutalist form, the “idea of the megastructure persisted” (Ratti & Claudel 2015). The limits of efficiency and profitability of architecture were stretched. In the 1970’s, the congestion of Rome forced officials to implement a kilometer-long singular, massive structure in the outskirts of the city. The Corviale (1972) was an aggressive interpretation of the Unité, containing 1,2000 apartments, it was designed as a “comprehensive city-in-a-box, [offering] a space for evey social function - from schools to shops to chapels” (Ratti & Claudel 2015). The hyperbolized appearence along utter spatial disproportion were marginal compared to the pathology of social decay that unfolded in these types of structures.

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4.5.

HOUSING ON OTHER SIDE OF THE IRON CURTAIN - THE SOCIALIST EXTREMES

It is naive to believe that the idea of social orchestration was merely an altruistic purview reserved for architects, philosophers and innovative social enthusiasts. Apart from answering to realistic desperation, the procedures of modernism had it’s advocates believing that it contained a political dimension (Henket & Heynen 2002). During and after the Cold War, socialism and later communism benefited immensly from modernist spatial ideals. Central planning was administered, which gave governments the upper hand.

Le Corbusier’s leftist views earned him a relationship with the USSR in the 20’s, which resulted in reciprocal influence. The extremities behind the Iron Curtain in the Eastern Bloc were however unprecedented and dramatically isolated.

These extremities pushed modernism to a phisiological rawness (Springer 2013). Cases of “reckless modernism” as Charles Jencks calls it, which Le Corbusier was greatly opposed to, were most likely the reason for the end of his relationship with the USSR. After WWII, communists immediately seized power over Eastern Europe. The totalitarian rule limited the competence of urbanists and planners, preventing them from developing concepts and reasonably adapting radical ideas to existing circumstances. Social realism was mandated in countries such as Poland in 1949, rejecting any other architectural form or influence (which was anyway purposefully censored).

The mass housing in Poland beginning with the Stalinist Era was cheap and shallow, grotesquely small and cramped, executed in extremely low standard. The type of architecture that was built was considerably worse than any Western “bad case”. Exceptional monotony and low spatial standards rejected any quality, detail or finesse (Happach 2011). In the years 1952-1989 Poland became Polska Rzeczypospolita Ludowa (PRL), a communist state.

Cities were invisioned to be merged with rural areas, social classes were blurred and each citizen was created equal in an intricate social framework. People became “users”, families became “social units”, homes became “living units”. Flats were distributed mandatorily regardless of the wishes or desires of inhabitants. There was a conscious destruction of social ties and relationships, it was beleived that designed space had the capactity to control and manipulate people. Impersonal and supporting the atomization of society, mass housing blocks served as the ultimate tool of communism (Happach 2011).

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fig.6 Comparison of standardized apartment size in different countries

C O M PA R I S O N O F S TA N D A R D I Z E D A PA R T M E N T S I Z E I N D I F F E R E N T C O U N T I R E S ( m 2)

COUNTRY

DATA YEAR

NUMBER OF RESIDENTS 1

2

3

4

5

6

BELGIUM

1967

25,0

35,0

47,0

60,0

67,0

73,0

BULGARIA

1976

24-30

45-57

56-70

73-89

88-102

105-112

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

1976

28

40

60,0

71

81

89

FINLAND

1967

22-30

45-60

60-75

75-90

90-99

-

FRANCE

1964

25-33

42-50

55-67

66-77

80-93

90-110

NORWAY

1967

32-42

54

66

72-78

84-91

93

POLAND

1974

25-28

30-35

44-48

56-61

65-70

75-85

GREAT BRITAIN

1967

30

40

57

67-74

75-94

84-98

USSR

1975

18-36

31-62

40-74

50-80

54-99

66-103

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fig.7 Comparison of housing normatives in Poland from the years 1959 &1974 *according to Andrzej Basista in “Betonowe dziedzictwo”

8m ln people currently live in mass housing blocks in Poland*

C O M PA R I S O N O F H O U S I N G N O R M AT I V E S I N P O L A N D FROM THE YEARS 1959 & 1974

FLAT CATEGORY

FLAT LIVING AREA 1959 (m 2)

FLAT LIVING AREA 1974 (m 2)

ALLOWED EXTENSION OF MAX. AREA (m 2)

MAXIMUM LIVING AREA (m 2)

NUMBER OF PEOPLE

M-1

17-20

25-28

-

28

1

M-2

24-30

30-35

1

36

2

M-3

33-38

44-48

4

52

3

M-4

42-48

56-61

2

63

4

M-5

51-57

65-70

3

73

5

M-6

59-65

75-85

-

85

6 or 7

M-7

67-71

not normatized

-

-

-

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4.6.

POLISH CASES

While the Western Bloc was beginning to recognize the flaws, failures and consequences of mass housing blocks, in Poland they continued to be the expression of utmost modernity and innovation. The same CIAM principles would be practiced in Poland for a prolonged time, up until the end of the communist regime in 1989 (Happach 2011). The Nationalization Act was introduced in 1946, completely changing the pre-war economy in Poland. Consequently the state took over private estates, land and businesses and replaced the entire private sector the public sector. In terms of architecture, this meant full control and power over the process of its formation and subsequent use (Basista 2001).

After Stalinism in 1956-1965 conditions improved minimally, and several standardizations were applied to building law. Each person obtained the right to 11 square meters of living space, the scale and intensity of buildings was significantly reduced (Happach 2011).

The limitations and regulations of the PRL period stimulated the creativity of designers (Springer 2011). Despite ominous circumstances, some architects attempted (and few succeeded) to create quality architecture. Among them was Halina Skibniewska, who was commisioned to design the Osiedle Sady ŝoliborskie neighborhood in Warsaw in the years 1958-1964. Working with strict and absurd housing normatives, she managed to create reasonably lit interior spaces and proportional, intimate architecture. When designing, she had one condition : to keep every single existing tree, even if it meant making it difficult for construction workers. Thus Skibniewska’s three-storied apartment buildings remain popular to this day, representing the possibility of retaining quality and humanscale in mass housing.

Skibniewska was not the only architect pushing norms for new concepts and better spatial quality in Poland. Super-duo Zofia and Oskar Hansen were the frontrunners in terms of rhetorical architectural and urban innovation. Oskar, an activist and utiopian visionary had made himself well known at a very young age at the VII International CIAM conference in 1949 in Bergamo (Springer 2011). A devoted follower of Le Corbusier, his ambition was to take his international experience and apply it in Poland. His radical theories and manifestos lead him to become a communist in 1968, however naively in the name of purview architectural and social advancement (Springer 2011). Osiedle SĹ‚owackiego (1960-1975) in Lublin, Poland, was the first large scale neighborhood in which the Hansens could apply their experimental theories. Displaying a social sensitivity and a desire for the participation of future inhabitants, before the start of the design process - 33 -

fig. 8 Osiedle za Żelazną Bramą, fragment, 1972

they organized a survey. Future inhabitants could decide about the placement of interior partitions, either providing individual feedback or choosing from the options presented by the architects. The neighborhood, consisting of long, angularly broken blocks and several point-arranged smaller blocks was quickly dubbed an “architectural defeat” by the Lublin newspapers (Springer 2011). Larger in scale, their second project, the infamous Przyczółek Grochowski (1969-1974) was equally experimental. Financial cuts (in terms of elevators) forced the Hansens to join all initially planned seperate blocks into a singular, serpent-like mass. Including all 90-degree angular turns, the building presented record length in both Poland and Europe (Springer 2011).

The tendency to push the scale and mass of housing was common practice. The years 1965-1970 were characterized by considerable financial cuts and colossal neighborhood planning (Happach 2011). Osiedle za Żelazną Bramą (1965-1972) neighborhood is a prime example of such grandeur. Mass estates were completed increasingly further from urban centers, plunging cities into a wave of urban sprawl. Building on vast planes and “in the middle of nowhere” was obvious - it required little reference and adaptation to the existing built environemnt. An obligatory 11 or 5 stories advanced the disproportionate scale of neighborhoods, deeming them overwhelming calamities. In 1967-1972, Mieczysław Król contributed to the crisis with his Superjednostka, “Superunit” megastructure. The human “cabinet” included 762 living units for 2,000 “users”, 9 staircases, 12 elevators, 15 stories and 173 parking places in the underground garage (Springer 2011). Properly built on pilotis, Król referenced his megastructure as the Polish version of the Unité.

Returning to the Deyan Sudjic reference on the immense influence that architecture bears on its users as a cultural form, the psychological scarring caused by these and many other neighborhoods must be considered profound. Socialism and Communism corrupted the modern movement and took advantage of architecture as a way to orchestrate society.

The intensity and mass of housing and extremely close living proximities encouraged neighborhs to observe each other - the sense of privacy and the right to public/private space was scewed. Everything belonged to anyone and thus it was no one’s. It was during this time that deprivation of freedom and succumbence to top-down circumstances prevailed into a collective memory for the Poles.

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fig. 9 Pruitt-Igoe housing project, St. Louis Missouri, 1954

FA L L O F U TO P I A CONTEMPORARY THEORIES

5.1.

THE FAILURES OF MASS HOUSING

The consequences and flaws of most mass housing estates emerged instantaneously. The top-down utopian visions suffered short-commings because it was impossible to control the social processes that would deem even the most pragmatic spatial experiments a success (Henket & Heynen 2002). It is possible that the modern visions were too great of an optimistic long-shot for the desperate atmosphere of post-war cities. Offering a physical framework, governments and planners lacked the means to develop intricate social background that would fit into the built environment. Nonetheless, the future anticipated by the modernists never materialized. Le Corbusier “recognized the validity of process over the sanctity of ideology”, with his famous quote: “You know, it is always life that is right and the architect who is wrong” (Ratti & Claudel 2015).

A contemporary topic of discussion of the last century, many architects and theorists have critisized the mass housing brought upon by modernism. These claims are backed by obvious realities that emerged all over the world. One of the more prominant and shortlived, now infamous examples is St. Louis’s Pruitt Igoe. After suffering extreme scenarios of decay, deterioration, evolving gang violence and abandonement, it was decided that the only solution was to completely eliminate the buildings, just 18 years after being established. Problem areas arose predominantly around bigger shared spaces - in contrast to corridors that were shared by only two to three families, where tenants were able to keep order. However complete destruction and pathology was present in the corridors and shared spaces were occupied by up to 20 different inhabitants. Charles Jencks signifies the date of demolition (1971-1972) as “the day Modern architecture died” (Jencks 1973).

Surprisingly, small groups of singular “barrack” homes adjascent to the site, in the same neighborhood, continued before and after Pruitt Igoe without any devastating effects. Jane Jacobs notes this phenomenon in The Death and Life of Great American Cities, New York, 1961, concluding that replacing poor, old “sick” neighborhoods with sterile new blocks will not decrease crime and poverty, but will in fact contribute to its growth (Trybuś 2005).

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Cases of failure are not isolated to certain nationalities or cities. The larger, more collossal estates (similar to Pruitt Igoe) suffered the most obvious defeat due to the inhuman scale and disproportion. The east german Halle-Nuestad was an entire autonomous city built in 1967 for labor workers. After the fall of the communist block it lost a third of its inhabitants, with a rising vacancy rate to date (Wenzel 2005). Another german example is the Grünau neighborhood in Leipzig, planned for 100 thousand inhabitants by 2009 it counted 45 thousand, which resulted in demolition of a large fragments. The collosal Dutch Bijlmermeer also suffered defeat, deterring middle class families (who turned to low rise suburban alternatives) it became a dark neighborhood with settlements of illegal immigrants with rising crime and general social chaos.

Singular mass blocks have also not been able to survive the shortcomings of their synthetic framework. They have became stygmatized monuments, symbolizing deterioration and marginalizing their inhabitants. Only months after completion of the Corviale (the infamous kilometer long megastructure) it was illegally occupied with drug abuse, crime, prostitution and other illegal activity prospering inside the mass (Ratti & Claudel 2015).

Similarly the UK version, the Robin Hood Gardens quickly became a “sore thumb” amidst the neighborhood. After the low spatial and material quality became apparent, inhabitants began to complain. Crime and squalor subsequently rose and the building was compared to a prison, among other derrogatory associations (Ratti & Claudel 2015).

The situation for Eastern Bloc however, did not anticipate a hopefull future. While their western counterparts were discussed, critisized and collaborated on possible solutions, mass housing had already become a cemented aspect of socialism and communism. While neighborhoods in France, west Germany and UK became abandoned because people did not agree to the living conditions, in countires like Poland they were permanently assigned to their units and had no other alternative. Furthermore, the protest of inhabitants was surpressed and simply, no one cared (Trybuś 2005). In Poland, blocks and mass housing continued to be built in generally decreasing quality long after they were deemed failures (Happach 2011). While western cities began seeing less and less of blocks, Poland and many countries behind the Iron Curtain experienced a mass invasion of concrete.

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5.2.

SOCIOCULTURAL AFTERMATH

GENERIC SYNDROME When modernist theories and rhetoric was brought over to the US, it was called the “international style” (Henket & Heynen 2002). By international, meaning it was universally applied despite diverse existing circumstances. Thus the modernist movement brought upon the first generic type buildings. Modernism expulsed the traditions, details and historisizm out of cities. Encountering mass housing blocks, it is impossible to indentify which country or region they belong to. The universalism and standardization optimized by the modernist could be applied anywhere and in under any cultural circumstance, since it was based on clean human functionality and rationality. The same height and urban compositional properties could (and were) applied in mountain regions or in flatlands.

Ultimately, this led to a deteriorating sense of cultural identity (Henket & Heynen 2002). The rawness and stereotypical form disperssed across Europe was widely associated negatively with the post-war situation. Paradoxically in Poland the blocks would actually become a sort of cultural identity, due to mass application over a large span of time (even when culturally everything else evolved into a new post-war era). Blocks and mass housing towers account for most of the built environment, in Poland and former Czechoslovakia, for example.

(DIS)INTEGRATION This universalism also brought upon many local problems, especially in the case of integrating the radical compositions into the existing built environment. Housing models were imported and imitated wihout a second thought, leaving awkward space and useless buffers (Henket & Heynen 2002). Since the affect of tabula rasa was popular amongst modernist planners, peripheries and suburbs were the prime locations for the development of new high rises. This consequently contributed to the beginning of urban sprawl under the cover of “suburbanization” (Springer 2011). In these outskirts, neighborhoods lacked proper public transport and connections to cities, thus becoming even more isolated. A far worse situation occured when mass neighborhoods were placed in plots in between existing urban tissues in cities. Haste and unscrupulous application of prototypes to diverse backgrounds resulted in chaotic urban contrasts. In-depth analysis and conformity of future building sites was completely disregarded. The new

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fig. 10 Superjednostka “Superunit”, Katowice Poland, 1972 - foto Maciej Lulko

mass housings usually overwhelmed the surrounding environment. This also limited the future and possible adaptation making it difficult to introduce innovation and rehabilitate these sites. Shallow urban design lacked main axis or culmination points, disrupting perspective lines (Happach 2011). These kind of measures were especially excruciating since they acted not only at an architectural scale, but at a capacity that would dictate the outline of vast areas of cities.

(UN)HUMAN SCALE The elan of mass housing expressed a disproportionate contrast to the built environment as well as the user himself. Król, explaining his attempt to mitigate the inhuman scale of the Superjednosta megastructure mentioned the openess of the green space as a way “to free the horizon, to the point that the man does not feel so tiny and worthless in [the Superunit’s] presence” (Springer 2011). This and many other architect’s concerns confirm that even the designers felt the immense scale of their projects. Nonetheless, governments pushed for efficiency. As Marlena Happach notices, the public space surrounding the biggest of the mass housing complexes seems a mockery, since a garden, bench or even kiosk look grotesque when juxtaposed with the block (Happach 2011). She continues to express the importance of visual proximity and contact with the ground, as an element of traditional urban culture. The surrounding span of public scale is so immense that a sense of orientation is lost, worsened by monotonous repetition of geometric compositions.

A sense of human scale is crucial in guaranteeing a sense of safety and security. The opportunity to observe streets or courtyards from the range of one’s own window has for centuries catered to basic needs such as participation in local community life as an observer or debater (Happach 2011). The scale of mass housing has significantly limited and eliminated these basic human needs. Despite a passing of time, people still find it difficult to relate to the overwhelming scale of blocks, creating negative associations.

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SOCIAL One of the most interesting however profound aftermaths of top-down mass housing is that of the psychological and sociological affect on its users. The conviction that social problems could be solved by architecture were an ultimate failure of theory in practice for the modern movement (Henket & Heynen 2002). At the same time this leads to a discovery as to the extent of influence architecture has on social activity. Top-down social orchestration resulted in many negative reactions, heightened in the Eastern Bloc by political oppresion, inhabitants began to express a variety of disturbances.

Applying a general functional framework to a diverse many induced the feeling of being trapped. A surprising paradox to modernist principles, where people were invisioned to feel better with the breathability of surrounding vast, open space. Therefore problems are obviously most prominent in the most colossal concepts, lacking a proportionate human scale. People have been deprived of a semi-private/semi-public space, since it is difficult to call the open space in between falowce “private” for 5,000 people (Dominiczak 2012, November 22). Lack of privacy evoked a certain kind of numbness of inhabitants who distanced themselves from care for common spaces and goods. The notion of obligatory shared space resulted in negligence and indifference. This passiveness led to a general physical decay of public spaces.

The relationship of public and private space seems to be the fundamental area of conflict. Inhabitants felt immense social pressure in blocks. A pressure to be socially active, to participate, to present onesself in public space. Psychologist Piotr Kryczka notices that the general avoidance of establishing neighborly ties may result from the natural defense mechanisms of the human psyche (Śliwa 2007). As a natural reaction of being overwhelmed, inhabitants inverted to the privacy of their own uncomfortable space. Lacking “breathability” both at home and in public space inhabitants surrendered to depressing realities. This in turn results in a vicious circle, since a sense of social exclusion reduces the potential for collective mobilization (Happach 2011). Therefore a buffer zone is required between the public and private. A semi-private / semi-public space allows for the smooth transition between these two realms. Stanisław Ossowski concludes that the human psyche posseses opposite tendencies: which on the one hand prompt him to seek companionship, but on the other impose it necessary to seek sporadic isolation (Śliwa 2007).

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On top of internal conflicts, inhabitants of blocks were not exempt from external pressure and marginalization. A sort of stygmatism developed around blocks, with emerging nicknames “human cabinets” “blocks” “ant-homes” (Happach 2011). This plunged inhabitants into further complexes. Since these types of neighborhoods were so physically isolated and later homogenous in terms of social classes, there was little hope for individuals to escape the viscious circle. Poverty and an increasing uncertainty in life developed especially among youth, isolating onesself from the possibilities of development (Happach 2011).

In light of social classes, it seems that the correspondents of modernists made a mistake in the social-economic calculations of mass housing, looking through the prism of their own elitist views (Trybuś 2005). Designing a perfect society, architects became isolated and rarely comprehended the true needs of different social, economic and cultural backgrounds (Ratti & Claudel 2015). Luxuries such as sun, green space and picturesque views depreciate if access to them is granted to everyone (Trybuś 2005). The more elaborate models of modernist housing have proven to thrive and be successfull among richer upper class. Just like Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation, Halina Skibniewska’s white bricked Sady Żoliborskie remain one of the most attractive (and expensive) social cooperative neighborhoods in Warsaw (Springer 2011). However the less succesfull models are usually inhabited by the poorer population. Under-funded and poorly managed, they fall into ruin much faster than the older districts of fragmented tissue, as it has been seen in Pruitt Igoe, among other similar cases (Trybuś 2005).

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5.3.

ANTITHESIS RESPONSES - BOTTOM-UP PARTICIPATION

In 1924, Le Corbusier was comissioned to design worker’s housing in Pessac, France.

The entire neighborhood was an experimental endeavor consisting of 51 low-cost cubic houses, arranged in a tight community. The concept expressed Le Corbusier’s revered theories of standardization, efficiency and a free plan. Conflicting with the architect’s singular ideal, the inhabitants soon adapted the universalism of the dwellings adding partitions, windows, decorating with curtains and flowerboxes, shattering the purity of modernism (Ratti & Claudel 2015). Consequently the community was deemed a failure of an architectural vision. However French architect Philippe Boudon discovered the humanist qualities of what had transpired in his 1969 study Pessac de Le Corbusier. Boudon regarded the project as a triumph, noting people’s resistance to the inhuman sterility and their ability to adapt the space to satisfy their personal needs (Ratti & Claudel 2015).

This aspect of humanity and personalization was one that could not be controlled by the modernist visionaries, which is culminated in an ultimate failure of their theories.

In the midst of the omnipotent modernist movement, anthropologically sensitive theories arose as an antithesis to the impersonal approach of the modernists. Architects criticized modern architecture for its paternalistic, bureaucrtatic and anti-democratic character (Henket & Heynen 2002). In 1965, Bernard Rudofsky published “Architecture Without Architects”, a book and exhibition based on his study of the vernacular of architecture.

In it he celebrates the anonymous, spontaneous and indigenous properties of informal design, “giving a voice to the voiceless” (Ratti & Claudel 2015). Referencing the historic capabilites of people in forming their own living environment, Rudofsky argues that achieving locally and culturally optimized architecture is an organic process that needn’t be controlled (Ratti & Claudel 2015). This approach would allow the built environment to evolve as an organic process, where adaptation renewal and addition happen as direct responses to functional needs, instead of far-reaching visions. Furthermore, it highlights a local approach and know-how, using vernacular building materials and construction necessary to adapt to different climates, environments and topographies. In light of Rudofsky’s theory, the absolute universalism and standardization of modernist mass housing seems to be absurdly synthetic and inhuman.

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fig. 11 Diagoon Houses, Delft “participation of residents: interior, exterior, landscape�, 1971

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Other voices joined in the criticism of the principles behind modernism that failed to bring utopia. Communal design popularity peaked in the 1960’s developing theory, studies and ideas. These raised questions on the “varying degrees and means of participation, different boundaries of architect involvement, political and economic definition - but central to all was user empowerment” (Ratti & Claudel 2015). N. John Habraken was equally critical to the modernist movement, however appreciated the energy and dynamism of their innovative ideas that sought to change the world (Henket & Heynen 2002). He too pushed the the idea of participation offering a shift to that of a collective between the user and the architect. Habraken conceived a “plug and play” model, in which the architect provided a system that the inhabitants could appropriate and respond to (Ratti & Claudel 2015).

Focusing on habitation and housing, he developed a model based on his theories in 1961, titled Supports: an Alternative to Mass Housing. The concept was based on a “natural relation” theory of mass housing as “a hybrid system in which... bottom-up design grows to inhibit and animate the cells of a larger framework” (Ratti & Claudel 2015). Since the concept of interactive architecture and participatory design was difficult to grasp and almost impossible to apply in real life, it was necessary to adapt it’s principles in a more strategic, pragmatic model.

Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki emphasized the anthropological shift of architectural theory. He noticed that “what is needed is not just observation and critical comment, but utlilization of the observation to develop strategic tools in making our physical environment” (Maki 1964). Maki’s theories circulated around the belief that the contemporary urban environment is a dynamic of interrelating forces, with mutually independent variables in a larger social system. “Contemporary urban characteristics [make] it impossible to visualize urban form... as did the original CIAM theorists”, therefore instead of a “master plan” a “master program” is required as it involves a time dimension (Maki 1964). Among the shortcommings of the modernist master plans was that they did not contain a sensitivity nor integration to the local culture. This also included the issue of the grand scale of application, not only as a general multi-national sense but at the individual mass neighborhoods, that encompassed multiple sociocultural diversities. A non-masterplan approach foreseed the participation of “individual units [that] are subject to local rules, the way humanity has always built” (Ratti & Claudel 2015). Thus strategy and program over time could prove a more intelligent model over top-down visions.

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5.4.

THE ALTERNATIVE REMEDIES AND FUTURES

As many cases of mass housing began to deteriorate, a discussion erupted on the possible solutions to remedy the issue. It is important to reiterate, however, that the Eastern Bloc was excluded from the dialogue. Plainly, in line first came the extremities - areas where the quality of architecture was poor and those estates that were especially susceptible to social decay. The scale and method of intervention vaired, though was greatly limited by existing circumstances and scale. With the population on the rise, cities did not have an abundance of housing, though the situation was gradually improving. The recognition of problems was however, not simultaneous with the application of change - architects and social advocates as well as inhabitants themselves made issues apparent long before officials and policy-makers initiated actual responses. In most countries of the Western Block, radical action wasn’t taken until the 1990’s and 2000’s, and some are left unaddressed til today.

DEMOLITION As the most distinctive, Pruitt Igoe was the first modernist vision to be deemed a failure, however it also demonstrated unprecedented measures in terms of termination. Demolition is the most drastic resolution executed on mass housing. Complete elimination offers the opportunity not only to erase the physical, but also the cognitive baggage. In this sense the radicality of this solution is also interpretted in a positive manner, in the hope to built a new, better alternative. The demolition of Pruitt Igoe in the years 1971-1972 is also relevant in terms of what proceeded after. Despite its downtown location, after the site was removed from existance it left behind no trace - no other neighborhood has been built since and currently the entire plot is an urban forest. A similar fate was suffered

by Halle Silberhöhe, an industrial worker neighborhood built in prefab panels between 1979 and 1989 in Halle, Germany. With an increasing abandonement rate similar to that of Halle-Nuestad, starting in the year 2002 government officials began the process of progressive demolition, which lasts til today (Wenzel 2005). Part of the program initiated an urban reconstruction plan, in order to maintain a standard of living space for remaining residents. Unlike Pruitt Igoe, the demolition of Halle Silberhöhe is stretched significantly over time, allowing for assimilation of the new environment. On the other hand, this long process fails to deliver a quick remedy, leaving the neighborhood sober and stagnant.

A large number of demolition of pre-fab panel housing occured in the city centers of Germany, mainly in Berlin and Liepzig. Due to their central locations, these demolitions were not followed by urban forests or parks, instead by new urban structures.

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fig. 12 OMA, Bijlmermeer Redevelopment study scheme, 1986 fig. 13 OMA, Bijlmermeer Redevelopment masterplan study, 1986

GRAND SCALE TRANSFORMATION Another alternative treatment that also includes demolition is the process of urban integration or reconstruction. In this case, significant areas of a mass housing estates are demolished in stages as part of a greater program to integrate new structures. This solution offers a more reasonable time-frame, while elimination of old tissue remains a progressive process, new buildings and small architecture appear in between in earlier stages. Offering tangible alternatives upholds a dynamic in the neighborhood, usually involving social campaigns. This practice has been applied to a large number of neighborhoods in the US, and in western europe especially in Berlin, Germany (Happach 2011). The Marzahn neighborhood, for example, has been transformed by the strategy of points and strands that penetrate the modernist neighborhood tissue acupuncturaly, introducing a new functional-spatial program. One of the main challenges of “reurbanization” is to break up the powerful composition axis (Rembarz 2009).

The dutch Bijlmermeer is however an example of a whole and comprehensive transformation.

The neighborhood was suffering structural deficiencies on top of serious social issues in the 1970’s. Between 1975 and 1990 many small scale interventions were applied, and in 1992 it was decided to demolish one quarter of the buildings (The Renewal of the Bijlmermeer 2008). In the meantime, a variety of residential environments were implemented as well as the development of mixed-use functional areas including business, recreation and commercial. After conducting a survey of residents in 2001, the findings led to the decision to demolish another quarter of the flats which was completed in 2008 (The Renewal of the Bijlmermeer 2008). The reconstruction program also includes the development of a more concentrated green belt (rather than a surrounding, encompassing one) as well as several art and cultural facilities. The remaining high-rises not emcompassed by the demolition plan became structurally renovated, as well improvement of individual flats. Offering subsidies and social support, the program also includes rehousing policies for familes forced to move out from planned demolition units. The colossal physical and social scale of Bijlmermeer’s issues required a progressive strategic approach, implementing change at different stages and scales, supported by the participation of inhabitants in a state and private collaborative. Furthermore the remaining high rises constitute as (previously unwanted) heritage that has been reworked into a larger urban structure to form a new, positive environment. This and many other similar estates exemplify a wholly approach that allows for the multidimensional, gradual humanization of mass housing.

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ACUPUNCTURE : ARCHITECTURAL + BOTTOM-UP INITIATIVES Neighborhoods that were not encompassed by large-scale integration and reconstruction programs explored other smaller solutions, often bottom-up initiatives by inhabitants themselves. The intervention scale of this group is also varied, ranging from full architectural renovation to social initiatives and events. In Germany, a series of adaptations, structural improvements and small architectural additions were applied to the remaining mass blocks, in light of contemporary standards and normatives. Elevators, balconies and loggias were added, holding seperate structures. Apart from functional fixes such installation renovation and thermo adaptaion, the aesthetics were uplifted with new facades and new quality materials. A number of blocks in Germany had been lowered by one-three stories. The general public space is also improved, with new playgrounds, benches and greenery. Singular architectural evolutions have also been implemented, for example in Paris Lacaton & Vassal Architects proposed a generous extension of each apartment in the block. A self-supporting structure was added to the entire periphery of the building, adding an extra transparent loggia and balcony, increasing living space significantly and thus completely transforming the exterior with a new facade. The project was designed so that inhabitants could stay in their homes during the renovation process, eliminating the serious problem of temporary housing or relocation. The entire rennovation lasted a year, in which each person had to leave their apartment for only 24 hours. Unfortunately these types of interventions are only possible and cost-effective when existing quality of the structure permits, as well as the will of its inhabitants in combination with support from housing cooperatives. Often times an optimistic and determined mind-set of inhabitants is enough to initiate bottom-up change (Happach 2011). Locally funded improvements go hand in hand with social gatherings and community events, which offer the opportunity for discussion as a catalyst for further change.

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INDIFFERENCE + DENIAL A non-productive and unfortunately realistic alternative is to “do nothing” and to “wait”.

A surprisingly large amount of unsuccessful and problematic mass housing is still pending change (especially in Eastern Europe). The tendency to postpone the issue is often joined with heated discussions regarding the appropriate measures and alternative to be applied.

For example, The Robin Hood Gardens have been long announced to be demolished, however to this day remain in the midst of a debate regarding the importance of the heritage of the building. Corviale continues to be a decaying part of Rome’s suburbs. Only recently in 2015 a competition was announced to adapt and “humanize” the megastructure. Many other cases unfortunately lack fame and are limited by financial restraints and failure of governments to address the problem. Architectural and urban remedies however are not always sufficient. Most of the mass housing left over in Poland is occupied by lowerincome population, where more intricate and structued social support is necessary, along with a paradigm shift in policy making.

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[previous page] fig. 14 Lacaton & Vassal, transformed facade in Grand Parc, Bâtiments GHI, Bordeaux, 2011 [previous page] fig. 15 Lacaton & Vassal, transformed apartment unit in Tour Bois le Prêtre, Paris, 2011 fig. 16 Axonometry drawing of transformed spaces in Grand Parc, 2011

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POLAND PRESSING ISSUES

6.1.

URBAN SITUATION AFTER COMMUNISM

As Western Europe naturally turned away from modernism and began to integrate its cities, strengthening the relationship between people and urban centers and applying rational densification, the situation in Poland was largely lagged. Due to the limitations buffering information flow from beyond the Iron Curtain, Polish planning achieved stagnation and continued to apply CIAM principles until the end of the communist regime in 1989 (Happach 2011). Thus in Poland, the invasion of concrete blocks reached an incomparable scale. Prolonged exposure and lack of application of alternatives resulted in contemporary polish cities that are marked significantly by the stigma of modernism.

After the fall of communism in 1989, Poland gained back it’s freedom. A revolution of privatization followed and the economics and the form of shaping the market in Poland had an immense influence on the structure of urban planning (Bojęć 2016). Central city planning was feared as a socialist theme, therefore a strong belief developed that cities were to be left to the will of the open market economy (Springer 2013). As privatization took over every branch of administration, public planning offices were terminated. This in turn brought upon a series of negative consequences including excessive commercialization, legal mess and urban chaos (Happach 2011). This meant that housing shifted completely to the control of private investors. Though treating housing as a commodity also brought positive change such as the abolition of grotesque norms, competition and better materials, it disqualified the financially incapable of a standard of living (Happach 2011).

Investors and developers gained complete control of urbanisation of cities. Lack of regulation and structured building laws led to building and construction far from city centers into peripheries and suburbs, where land was cheap (Bojęć 2016). Dense, highrise and gated neighborhoods appeared in sub districts in “the middle of nowhere”, causing disorganized urban sprawl, as the new neighborhoods lacked proper surrounding infrastructre and mobility routes. As a cover up, urban sprawl in Poland was explained as “suburbanization” (Springer 2011). Profit above all remains to this day, as Polish cities are incapable of efficiently densifying urban concentrations. On top of this, building law continues to have general regulations that do not distinguish densities depending on urban concentrations. Thus resulting in a lack of a polycentric system surrounding a greater urban area, resulting in “dead” neighborhoods and inadequate activity in non-existant

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fig.17 Schwarzplan comparison of Gdańsk neighborhoods

Gdańsk Dolny Wrzeszcz, early XIX century

Przymorze Wielkie, 1969-1972

Contemporary Wzgórze Morenowe, 2004-present

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public spaces. The consequences of these accumilated factors are unecessary urban sprawl leading to incoherent, inefficient cities lacking the means to supply quality urban life.

Thus the urban planning situation has is shifted between two extreme mentalities : that of communist (top-down totalitarian central planning) and contemporary (privatization and monopoly of developers).

6.2.

THE STIGMA OF MASS HOUSING BLOCKS

The prolonged exposure to CIAM principles and politically favourable mass housing completely transformed the cultural landscape of Poish cities. Currently over 8 million Poles live in mass housing blocks, which amounts to almost one fourth of the population (Basista 2001). Blocks have always been directly associated with the negativities of the communist era, thus dwelling in this awareness has had its profound affects on the communites that inhabit them. Due to the scale and overload of application, blocks have become unwanted heritage deeply rooted into cultural consciousness. So much to the point that they have begun to characterize cities with anonymous monotony and stagnation instead of diversity and cultural identity. The main issue however is the indifference of governments and policy makers to recognize the problem, not to mention take initiative to remedy the situation.

Unlike other western, or even eastern European countries, measures have not been taken to rehabilitate mass housing. Among other complex restrictions, the main reasons are cost-related and pertaining to the physical state of the buildings. Poland’s direct neighbor, Germany, has initiated programs for demolition of most neighborhoods, qualifying only certain estates to remain and undergo the process of urban integration and architectural transformation. The issue at hand in Poland, is that the quality of most of the blocks would deem them demolition-worthy, going by the standards of western examples. Prefab panel blocks are difficult to adapt due to the closed structure (every partition is loadbearing). Forecasted to live 50 years, experts say however that the structure is sturdy enough to survive much longer. This however is not always predictable, due to the poor quality of execution and impurity of concrete. No greater remodelling or adaptation of a mass housing block has been executed til today. Unfortunately, the problem is not only singular, architectural, but urban. Which, taking into account the current state of affairs in terms of the politics of city planning and lack of social orientation, puts a dark light on the future of mass housing in Poland.

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The grander urban scale and social aspect continues to be a pressing issue. Isolation, stigmatysm and lack of a hopeful future take a severe toll on communities. Czesław Bielecki comments this issue in his book Gra w miasto [The City Game] (1996), that while the XIX century left suffocating condense cities, the XX century perforated them and destroyed the essence of urbanity: the intensity of interhuman contact. Little work has been done to rehabilitate and improve public space. However, there are instances of bottom-up initiatives from socialy active groups and inhabitants themselves. Odblokuj [Un-block] is one such example, led by architect Marlena Happach the organisation aims to not only improve the physical public space (planting of trees, local events, gardening and small architectural projects) but also to transform the awareness of blocks as potentially positive urban heritage. The organisation spreads awareness through lectures and local events for inhabitants, engaging in the socialy deprived aspect of mass housing in Poland. Significant top-down initiatives however continue to be inexistant. The issue with the habitation of blocks also relate to a much greated issue pertaining to the politics of housing in Poland.

6.3.

HOUSING CRISIS

Ever since privatization took place after the fall of communism in 1989, Poland is experiencing a serious structural housing crisis (Herbst 2012). Housing shortage continues, but most importantly the right to a standard of living at a reasonable price has been completely abolished. New housing estates cater to the profitable desires of investors and developers, creating gated neighborhoods, characterized by terribly low quality at disproportionately high prices. Taking advantage of loopholes in the law and system, banks and developers hold uncomprimising control of the housing market. Meanwhile the government fails to intercept and limit this monopoly with structured policies. In Poland, profit margins of developers range from 40-100% of the price of the flat, while in countries of western Europe the averege is 7-15% (Fudala 2012). In combination with struggling urban planning, this means that investors dictate the urban concept of cities, outlining the priorites, areas for building and density.

On top of this Poland struggles with a severe housing deficit, the highest among the EU countries (per 1,000 inhabitants, there are 327 apartments while the EU average is 466) (Herbst 2012). Apart from the existing shortage, there is also the phenomenon of drastic decapitalization of the existing housing stock, as it is estimated that approximately

- 57 -

10%

0.2%

of the most underprivilaged

of the anual state budget is

can apply for social housing

spent on housing

60%

15%

of the population cannot

of the entire current housing

afford their own living space

is social/communal

1 million homes should be demolished because of their technical state and economic irrationality of repair expenses (Herbst 2012). It is a number equal to 10 years of residential construction in Poland (Herbst 2012). Taking into account the vast number of mass housing blocks, the problem will most likely escalate in the next decade.

Despite this pressing issue, the state remains reluctant to undertake long-term strategies and policies (Springer 2015). An addition to this problem is the financial circumstances of most Poles. With a number of the population with low earnings, socialy oriented support is required from the government. Poland is an indigent country with a GDP per capita about 40% lower than the average level the EU. However, the ownership structure of housing in Poland is similar to the ownership structure of several of the richest European countries (Herbst 2012). In these countries, there is a significantly larger number of apartments for rent available, while Poland is building even fewer rental housing. Social housing and subsidies should be available from the government to people who cannot afford to buy a flat at regular market costs. Ideally this model works for dwellings for rent, for which there is a serious deficit. In western european countries social or subsidised housing counts for 20-30% of all dwellings, while in Poland it is only 12-15% (Fudala 2012). Despite the fact that 60% of Poles are not able to afford their own dwelling, annual government spending on social housing is only 0,2% of the entire budget. Attempts have been made at subsidies and support programs, however largely unsuccessfull. This the long-term lack of a competent strategy for the issue of housing leads to serious high cost errors that backstep the problem even further, like the Rodzina na Swoim program, which did more harm than good (Herbst 2012). The entire crisis has a series of dominoeffects. High housing shortage is one of the principal causes of very low labor mobility in Poland, weakening economic growth. Without a significant increase in new subsidised dwellings, efficiency and mobility will continue to be low, and the differences in levels of unemployment and social exclusion in each region will be perpetuated (Herbst 2012).

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fig.18 Types of housing in Poland by year, 2011

BUILDING RESOURCES IN POLAND

BUILDING

SINGLE FAMILY

DUPLEX

MULTIFAMILY SMALL

MULTIFAMILY LARGE

865 913

156 206

176 859

42 444

1946-1970

1 168 340

114 042

42 166

42 994

1971-2002

1 831 142

108 890

32 310

85 965

2002-2010

496 269

4 487

33 370

13 931

4 361 664

383 625

284 705

185 334

83,6%

7,4%

5,5%

3,6%

UNTIL 1945

TOTAL PERCENTAGE

HOUSING RESOURCES IN POLAND

HOUSING

SINGLE FAMILY

DUPLEX

MULTIFAMILY SMALL

MULTIFAMILY LARGE

865 913

312 412

867 558

700 719

1946-1970

1 168 340

228 084

200 347

1 574 791

1971-2002

1 831 142

217 780

160 784

3 585 142

2002-2010

496 269

8 974

286 507

617 800

4 361 664

767 250

1 515 196

6 478 152

33,2%

5,8%

11,5%

49,4%

UNTIL 1945

TOTAL PERCENTAGE

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PART TWO TH E SITE

fig.19 Construction of falowiec on ul. Kołobrzeska, 1973 - foto Zbigniew Kosycarz

SITE INTRODUCTION

7.1.

BIRTH OF SITE

Gdańsk is the oldest and one of the most predominant cities in the northern pomeranian voivodeship of Poland. It holds a symbollic meaning for WWII, as it marks the start of the war with the attack of Nazi Germany on the military Westerplatte terminal. After the war, when the city was returned to Poland it was almost entirely devastated and pulverized by bombing and the Red Army encounters. Under Stalinism the main part of the historic quarter underwent total reconstruction and restoration. Similarly to other cities, the population was growing as it counted 260,000 inhabitants after the war, requiring a shift in urban strategy and planning.

Beginning in the 50’s Gdańsk began naturally expanding and developed it’s districts and suburbs. One of the primary quarters was Oliwa, a likewise historic settlement, dating back to 1186 AD when a monestery was established there by the Cistercians. Oliwa lays to the north of Gdańsk and is its furthest quarter outlining the border adjascent to that of Sopot. Encompassed by greenery and highland from the West, it includes a large flat piece of land (and wetland) stretching to the coast of the Gulf of Gdańsk, part of the Baltic Sea. One of Oliwa’s burroughs is the Przymorze region. Entirely rural until after WWII, the flat planes and fields acted as a buffer between Oliwa and the opening to the sea. It originally consisted of a few small slavic homes and small industrial infrastructure such as mills and several copper, iron and steel smiths, placed along the Oliwa stream.

Proximity, abundance of flat land and a pleasant natural setting deemed the site an ideal (and only available) location for Gdańsk’s central planning ambitious plan. Continuing the trend of the tabula rasa, the new residential neighborhood was envisioned as an establishment of its own. At the beginning of the 1970’s, all the way until the 1980’s, on the wave of efficiency and development, the use of prefab concrete slabs expanded (Happach 2011). Consistently an element of propaganda, the advancment of technology and success of prefabs were highlighted as a guarantee of comfortable and beautiful new homes.

(Wołódzko 2005b). The plan for Przymorze was to build an example of a groundbreaking modern neighborhood. The marketing ploy was meant to attract with exceptional location and seaside views, built in a new, innovative wielkopłytowe and wielkoblokowe [large slab and large block] system.

- 62 -

fig.20 The occupied sandbox in front of falowiec on ul. Piastowska, 1968 - foto Zbigniew Kosycarz

The entire estate was meant to provide housing for 50,000 people over a range of 200 hectares (almost identical to the size of Germany’s Halle Silberhöhe) resulting in a 700 peaple : hectar ratio (Olkiewicz 1968). Under the slogan of looking towards a new, better future, the biggest social housing establishment in Poland was planned. The area was divided into two parts along the Chłopska street: Przymorze Małe [Little Przymorze] the eastern part bordering old Oliwa and Przymorze Wielkie [Big Przymorze] on the western side closest to the coast. This division was announced during the process of the competition for the neighborhood, hosted by the assosiation of Polish architects SARP. None of the entries provided appropriate transition and variety in terms of integration with the existing old Oliwa, therefore as the names indicate the directly adjascent Little Przymorze consisted of low intensity smaller buildings while Big Przymorze was planned for much higher intensity large blocks. A seperate team was organized for the execution of Little Przymorze and in 1959 the competition for the urban and architectural plan of Big Przymorze was won by Józef Chmiel and Tadeusz Różański. Przymorze soon became the “it” neighborhood. It was new, innovative, spatious and everyone hoped to be lucky enough to get a social housing assignment there.

Despite the radicality of the endeavor and obscure flaws, proper advertisement and propaganda proved successful for the ground-breaking new utopia. A social housing cooperative was established in 1959 and developed a program for the relocation of displaced and homeless families (Śliwa 2007). The social diversity of inhabitants was initially excessive; middle classed families were mixed among bums, labor workers, titled academics and other elites. Przymorze was the highest quality housing available in the Gdańsk area, and people were dazzled and greatful to be assigned their “own” space in the modern and famous falowce. In light of this euphoria, the neighborhoods first thrived with life and optimism, which would be soon dissolved by the realities and consequences of the mass providing falowce.

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fig.21 Commercial pavillon in front of falowiec on ul. Piastowska, 1968 - foto Zbigniew Kosycarz

7.2.

CONCEPTUAL ARCHITECTURAL AND URBAN DESCRIPTION

The main aspect of the winning concept for Przymorze were extensive linear green belts, situated perdpendicularly to the coastline and figuratively perpendicular to the forested highland line behind Oliwa, as a means to “connect” the two natural assets (Olkiewicz 1968). In built form, this was to be interpreted by seven several-hundred-meter-long 11-storied buildings. Varying in length from 200 to 860 meters, they are systematically bent in a shallow zig-zag 165-degree manner giving them the infamous falowce [waves] form. Oriented east-west lengthwise and arranged parallel to each other, the falowce were constructed in the prefab wielkapłyta [large-slab] system. In between them are several smaller (however also quite long) 5-storied blocks along with several seperate low commercial pavillions (Olkiewicz 1968). The whole neighborhood was split up into four seperate smaller parts, A,B,C,D, which are each independantly divided by main roads (parallel to falowce): Jagiellońska, Obrońców Wybrzeża and Kołobrzeska (Olkiewicz 1968). Each part is split compositionally by three greenbelts. The entire perimiter is also surrounded by main roads from the east and west side, Chłopska and Dąbroszczaków, respectively.

Each fragmented segment of the main neighborhood contains a different urban composition, including one or several falowce that outline the “openings” to the coast, to the south of which the smaller blocks are located. Each contains its own commercial pavilion (shops) greenspace and public space with many pedestrian routes along with few narrow access streets with angular parking (70 spaces per 1000 inhabitants) (Olkiewicz 1968). The entire neighborhood was designed along with an public ampitheatre, 6 schools and 1 pre-school (Olkiewicz 1968). The concept envisioned collision-free mobility, seperating and greatly limiting cars in favor of “organic” and green pedestrian paths (a continuum of CIAM principles). In an attempt to diversify the monotony and flatness of the land, the excavated ground was used to sculpture a sort of landscape consisting of hills and islands (Śliwa 2007). The organic nature of the landscape was mean to animate the public space, acting as a contrast to the stark form and mass of the buildings (Śliwa 2007).

The public space was designed for a broad range of users, there were playgrounds, areas for adults and the elderly, and several water baths.

- 66 -

- 68 -

fig.22 On-site prefab factory Przymorze, 1975 - foto Zbigniew Kosycarz

The architectural vision and innovative shape gained controversy even before being built.

An elongated linear form contrasted with immense open parallel space was expected to be an improved scheme over individual point-arranged blocks. The original concept, however, comprised of much more varied types of architecture. The singular falowce were not meant to have the same height, rather with several storied variations, “jumps” along the entire form and most importantly were supposed to be much shorter. Initially planned 2-4 storied more intimate slab-blocks were ultimately replaced with longer, 5-storied ones. The use of raw concrete and prefabs were a theme present throughout. One of the innovations of this neighborhood was the production of prefabs “on the spot”, which was possible due to ample land. Factories were built along with a temporary rail to support the construction process.

The first neighborhood “A”, broke ground in 1966, planting the first two 200 meter falowce. At the same time the 800 meter one was built in part “B”, being completed in 1972.

The longest singular building is located on part “C”, completed in the years 1970-1973, measuring a record length of 860 meters, only the Italian Corviale is longer at 958 meters (although it includes a gap space), thus deeming the falowce the longest residential mass housing in Europe. Neighborhood “D” was the last completed, in 1973-1975 with three falowce ranging from 200-270 meters.

Apart from the unprecedented form of the falowce, the use of the “gallery” (exterior corridor) communication scheme is an essential characteristic. The use of “galleries” was often applied due to the fact that it significantly lowered costs - the number of required vertical lifts and staircases was significantly minimized. Without any interior corridors, access to a large group of apartments was made possible to an open corriodor located on the northern facade of each block. This led to influential functional and spatial circumstances of the entire neighborhood. Main enterances and vertical lifts and staircases are located roughly every 60-80 meters in each building.

Thus the gallery scheme dictated the spatial shape of the apartments - narrow slots ending with exterior windows and a balcony on the southern side. Similarly to any other mass housing, the apartments adhered to extreme normatives that dictated the building of a maximum number of apartments in a possibly minimal amount of space. The living units in falowce measure an average of 40 square meters, with the smallest one measuring 17 square meters (Olkiewicz 1968). A general standard for the space of one person was designed to be 12 square meters. Of all the built apartments, 20 percent housed 1-2 people, 65 percent 3-4 people and 15% 5-6 people (Olkiewicz 1968). Danuta Olędzka, an architect - 69 -

who joined the winning team, was commisioned to design the architectural interiors of the buildings. In an attempt to make the limited apartments more pleasant and comfortable, she advocated for the placement of windows onto the gallery corridor, allowing for welllit kitchens (Śliwa 2007). The outer corridors were also meant as a means to fragment the large block in terms of social relationships. Allowing for a few apartments to share a semi-private space was meant to integrate and maintain a “human scale” amidts the mass.

Despite this ambition, the corridors were regarded as a communist motif for neighbors to spy on each other, since gallery windows were accessible in very close proximity to each inhabitant. This ultimately led to a deprivation of privacy and a sense of unease and vulnerability.

The monotone rythm of the open gallery northern facade is however a complete contrast to that of the south facade - the one that opens up to the green belt and public space. (The northern facade of each falowce always borders one of the main streets, with one or two commercial pavillions and green pathways separating the building from the road). The southern facade is dynamic and diverse, with systematic angular balconies, producing a smaller continuation “wave-like” form within the falowce. This contrast shapes a completely different experience of the surrounding space, depending on which side the user finds themselves.

- 70 -

+12 . 10

fig.23 Existing plan, apartments of falowiec on ul. Obrońców Wybrzeża

+12 . 10

+12 . 10

+12 . 10

- 71 -

fig.24 Schwarzplan of Gdańsk and indication of mass housing estates

7.3.

CONTEMPORARY ROLE IN TRICITY AGGLOMERATION

As a part of the urban development of sub-districts of Gdańsk in the 1950’s, several mass housing estates were developed in close proximity to Przymorze, in light of the Athens Charter. The large rural gap between the coastline and the Oliwa and Wrzeszcz districts was the only available and the most practical land to encompass with the policies of the new urban mass housing development plan. Today, the neighborhoods Żabianka, Przymorze and Zaspa are all colossal estates filled with mass housing concrete blocks.

Almost entirely residential, with several commercial and service facilities the area is home to a large percent of Gdańsk’s total population. Vast green space perforated with highrises creates a vivid contrast between these neighborhoods and the rest of the city’s urban structure.

The specificity of the tricity agglomeration (Gdynia, Sopot Gdańsk) takes the shape of a curved linear form, with each city located on the coastline, acting as seperate concentrations yet unified by proximity and joining linear communication routes. Along this main “spine” are the numerous suburbs and districts, acting as satellites of the three main cities. A forested highland belt seperates the cities and districts from further inland.

Przymorze, similarly to adjascent neighborhoods, acts as a “bedroom” of the tricity, a buffer between the urban concentrations of Sopot, Oliwa and Gdańsk.

Beginning in the 1970’s the untainted optimism of the neighborhood was short-lived.

People survived in Przymorze for almost 20 years until the fall of communism in 1989, when privatization consumed the country. By this time, social degradation had developed and the neighborhood soon earned itself a negative reputation. As soon as it was only possible, middle-class families and better-off inhabitants left the falowce. The financially less fortunate had no other alternative than to remain, ageing and decaying along with the structure. Naturally, the neighborhood earned itself a bad name (“slums”, “human-cabinets”), attracting poverty and low class desperates. Falling into stagnation as inhabitants are deprived of a hopeful future and marginalized by negativity and cultural isolation, the falowce have become a trap to many.

- 73 -

15,252

apartments were built in Przymorze during the years 1960-1981

6,000

people are estimated to live in the longest falowiec

860m

is the lenght of the longest falowiec on ul. Obrońców Wybrzeşa

32m

in total height consisting of eleven stories

50y rs

original predicted lifespan

- 74 -

fig.25 Schwarzplan of Przymorze neighborhood and surrounding area

- 75 -

fig.26 Loyal residents of Przymorze, 2016

P R Z Y M O R Z E & FA LO W C E CHARACTERISTICS

8.1.

CURRENT PHYSICAL STATE

The prediction for the lifespan of falowce was estimated at 50 years. Today, experts believe the physical state could survive much longer, even up to 100 years. The Powszechna Spółdzielnia Mieszkaniowa (PSM) Przymorze [Przymorze Housing Cooperative] has funded some remodelling works in the years 2000-2007. Works included thermomodernization, replacement of old lifts, new electric and water installations, as well as painting - both interior and exterior. Unfortunately any sort of remodelling work or improvement of communal space requires consent and agreement of all inhabitants, which is often scarce and reluctant. The current aesthetics of the exterior form are suffering, which were originally designed to be entirely white colored apart from short side elevations. Today, in an attempt to “liven” and uplift the facades (which were before depressingly grey), a cornucopia of color is used, lacking a main palette theme or any cohersion. This is a common practice and resulting issue in many blocks around Poland (Springer 2013).

8.2.

THE APARTMENTS

The realities of the grotesque qualities of the apartments became noticeable soon after completion. Apartments are small and narrow. Remodelling or reconstruction (for example, connecting two apartments) is impossible due to the load-bearing qualities of every partition dividing appartments - a shortcoming of the combined prefabricated system. Some outermost layers of interiors have been renovated, and the diversity of each apartment interior is equal to the range of individualities of its inhabitants. Absurd normatives resulted in the design of crammed uncomfortable spaces - kitchens are small, rooms are walk-through and walls between apartments seem paper thin, diminishing acustic barriers. Low quality and complication of the entire megastructure leads to more serious problems. Pre-fab panels combined with traditional block building creates a very unusual structure. This combined with the wave-like plan cause akward angles and apartments rarely contaain parallel walls. Falowce and surrounding blocks of Przymorze were cheap and not built by expert builders or constructors. Raw concrete was rarely pure, with mixtures of gravel and sand - which took a toll on the structure and aspects such as thermal insulation (Wołódzko 2005a). Windows and points of slab joints were carelessly sealed. Nowadays most exterior doors and windows need to be replaced. Installation flaws lead to damages and leaks, often causing more severe damage to the entire structure. The wave-like form of the southern facade balconies has also proven problematic, with lower stories suffering from flooding.

- 76 -

fig.27 Staircase, 2016

8.3.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Today, the demographics of the falowce follow the trend of mass blocks throughout Poland. The original eldest inhabitants remain and the “new” arrive, mostly young lowincome students, singles or couples or tenants (Happach 2011). For the new inhabitants, purchasing a cheap apartment in the falowce is an opportunity to avoid taking a loan and avoid high rental costs from private owners in new housing, whilst enduring the flaws. The prime location of falowce is beneficial, winning over other new housing estates sprawled into the suburbs. These new, often interchangeable tenants have otpimistically adapted to the scarred falowce, because they are not burdened with the psychological damage of being forced to live there over a prolonged period of time. The older tenants do not share this optimism. They are now the second generation who have inherited flats and have spent their childhood growing up there. The echoes and associations of social realism remain in the structure and are apparent to those who have witnessed life during the communist era. They remain in a state of depressed stagnation, disconnecting from the community and “hiding” in their singular units. They are reluctant to any change.

8.4.

COMMUNITY & ISOLATION

Both old and new inhabitants however experience isolation. As many utopian mass housing structures, falowce failed to deliver quality community life. The stigmatism is present amongst the older inhabitants who have “given up”, while the new are dispersed throghout the mass and find it difficult to organize into small neighborhly communities amidst the megastructure. Each of the falowce are split into segments, which are then split into smaller groups that form sub-unities, however little collective interest is expressed at gatherings and during decision-making of the PSM. Despite living in close proximity, mutual support and a sense of community and safety is inexistant. The neighborhood is dangerous during the night and evenings, semi/private communal space such as hallways and staircases have been locations of crime. Lack of privacy immerses inhabitants into isolation. Walls seem paper thin, movement and other noise from neighborhs penetrates the partitions of each apartment. The open-corridor gallery system also takes away from privacy, with bedroom and kitchen windows located at eye level along the shared corridors.

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[previous page] fig.28 North gallery, 2016 [previous page] fig.29 Entrance 2016

No larger community programs have been organized to this date. In 2015, the “Streetwaves” Festival (aimed at discovering hidden potential and beauty of Gdańsk’s degraded districts) organized a culutral and artistic event among the the greenbelts of Przymorze. Though bringing attention to the topic with a theme of Samotność w Falowcach [Solitude in Falowce], it failed to engage the inhabitants. Social initiatives and community activities are currently unnoticeable or fail to attract inhabitants.

8.5.

MOBILITY

Thanks to the tricity’s linearity, Przymorze’s location is very benefitial - surrounded by urban concentrations and simultaneously encompassed by parks and greenery of the coastline. Thus it is deemed a popular residential area, efficiently linked with the linear tram line and bike route that reaches from north to south, connecting it with Gdańsk and Oliwa centers. Despite the conceptual distinction of pedestrian and automobile zones, Przymorze’s main mobility is vehicular, though it struggles with insufficient parking space. The neighborhood is well connected to the main tram routes, which transit along the main roads. Smaller, more frequent public transport is however lacking.

8.6.

PUBLIC / PRIVATE SPACE

The form of the neighborhood itself has not changed significantly (for the better) since its creation. The encompassing network of roads remains the same and small access routes have not been altered. Unfortunately, public and green space has suffered enormously.

The designed hilled landscape is today inexistant, and most playgrounds have been run down - only few have been renovated. Adequate care and control of plants, trees and greenery for such a big plot proved unrealistic, as many areas are unkept and left to degradation. Designed public space remains empty, as activity is limited to that of a few pedestrians in between the mass blocks. The only addition is a circulation bike trail, located in part “A” next to the amphitheatre. All of the designed schools and preschools remain until this day. However, the number of supporting infrastructure in the form of shops and surrounding services is insufficient for such a concentration of inhabitants.

Other than a church, a small medical clinic, several kiosks, grocery stores and dislocated praking lots - no new significant facilities have been built to serve the community or

- 82 -

[next page] fig.30 New competitors - view from falowiec, 2016

neighborhood. Renovation of public space is limited, with only a few pavement changes around store pavillions - a lack of benches or intimate urban interiors prevails. In the beginning, in light of finacial cuts, supporting infrastructure such as shops and recreation facilities were largely minimized, as well as concepts for landscape and greenery - as it is also the case in Przymorze, specifically part “B” (Happach 2011).

8.7.

THE HUMAN SCALE

The lack of human scale in the general urban composition only enforces negative issues.

The overwhelming size and raw unpleasant architectural form spaned across such a vast space makes people feel “trapped”, despite the open green surroundings. The radical length and monotony of the structure fail to deliver spatial openings and diversity, with only a few punctured walkways at the ground level along the entire falowce. There are no urban semi-private interiors, public cafes or facilities for people to engage in, which in turn leads to further repression. The little number of surrounding shops are insufficient to cater to such a mass of inhabitants. The only solution offered by the master plan was the commercial shopping mall “Przymorze” which served its role to desolate public space.

The is an isolation of the entire neighborhood due to lack of integration and direct spatial connection with more lively urban concentrations.

8.8.

NEW SURROUNDING DEVELOPMENTS

Taking advantage of the open space, in 2009 a commercial shopping center “Przymorze” was built, along with two other big department stores. The entire lower strip of “B” has been included in a master plan that foresees several high-rise housing developments (taller than the falowce) and few other commercial shopping centers. As of 2015, three new neighborhoods have been built : Cztery Oceany (two 17-story towers, two more planned), Horyzont (three 17-story towers), Marina Primore (one 18-story tower, one planned, three lower 4-6 storied apartment buildings). These new investments however are mostly oriented around vehicular transport, lacking typically urban qualities. Furthermore the new buildings lack an urban atmosphere, and seem to compete in size to the falowiec. The human scale remains to be lost in this area, despite presumable lessons from history. The remaining empty plots of Przymorze, as well as the location for the concept are currently not covered by any mater plan nor strategy development plan.

- 83 -

PART THREE T H E C O NC EP T

RESEARCH GAP

Multi-dimensional research regarding mass housing brings a challenging conclusion: the problems lay over a broad spectrum reaching far beyond the physical spatial realm of architecture and space. Thus plunging the problem further into isolation, as a solution requires the difficult collaboration of a range of sectors, at different scales. In the Polish case, firstly and foremostly, policy makers have yet to recognize the severity of the problem and predict the probable future consequences. The housing crisis is another factor that should generate priority for the issue, especially since it mostly concerns mass housing estates. Furthermore there is a lack of significant research and interest in the issue by Poland’s officials. The financial challenges along with the scale of the issue suggest the need of a special program should be put in place collaborating the state and private stakeholders.

In terms of spatial implementation or intervention, the scale of the challenge is not isolated to that of Poland nor the Eastern Bloc. The ongoing debate around the Robin Hood Gardens is one of the many pending examples that the possible methods and scale of solutions to dealing with modernist housing heritage is not yet fully developed. Many examples from Germany (Marzahn neighborhood) and the Netherlands (Bilmermeer estate) express urban scale transformations and renovations, while others propose architectural extensions and updates (Lacaton & Vassal’s La Tour Bois-Le-Prêtre). Though architects and activists are fighting to recognize the modernist architectural tissue as cultural heritage, much discussion and dialogue is still needed to determine the qualities that should be preserved in housing - where functionality and standard of living is weighed differently compared to the heritage of commercial or public use buildings of modernism.

Especially in eastern countries touched by socialist and communist regimes, where mass housing blocks constitute for most of the urban fabric. A heated debate also takes place during the discussion of actual implementation - new building implementation at close proximities to the large blocks is scrutinized, however demolition is equally so.

- 88 -

So far there is also insignificant response from the inhabitants themselves. Engagement in public and semi public space requires a change of mentalities - however it is not certain whether the cultural experiences will permit this. In Poland there is a systematic tendency to desire one’s own space, distanced from one’s neighbors. This is evident in a naive, however rational analysis of the urban outline of any single family homes in the suburbs instead of concentration around polycentric points, the plots are dispersed randomly and do not form a coherent whole. Perhaps the overexposure of the socialist and communist regime has encouraged people to seek out isolation and “freedom” from a forced collective.

For example, while certain scandinavian communities show tendencies for a need of shared, social and collective space - it would seem as though the lack of these types of spaces around most habitats in Poland is not noticed. It seems as though people living in mass housing estates still remain in the socialist mentality of being “users” instead of “inhabitants” - permanently inhabiting and living the space, engaging in the physical realm.

Therefore the aspect of community in mass housing estates cannot be solved by policy makers of officials, however by the inhabitants themselves. Collectivity should be regarded as a social challenge. Alejandro Aravena, 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner has numerously highlighted that participation is not easy. Charettes and consultations require guidance, programs and input from officials. The chaos and lack of transparency in certain procedures for participation often discourages people from engaging. In Przymorze, out of all its inhabitants only a small number of people cooperate in monthly community meetings. The challenge remains to find ways to animate inhabitants, which so far is only administered by Non-Government Organizations, such as Marlena Happach’s “Odblokuj”.

With the use of small scale public space interventions and several periodical events and exhibitions, the organization hopes to spread education and engage the public to share the issues experienced in degraded large housing blocks.

- 89 -

MANIFESTO

An urgent necessity exists to recognize the scale and the severity of the depth of problems related to socialist mass housing in Poland and to create special programs aimed at re-urbanizing isolated block neighborhoods.

Mass housing estates represent an enormous portion of Poland’s urban tissue though they are often rejected and unwanted - the quality of their heritage and recognition of their place in collective memory must be accepted and understood as a cultural identity.

The repetition of urban planning mistakes of the socialist top-down era, which as a result leads to fragmented and dismembered cityscapes and urban sprawl, must be suppressed.

The challenge of housing in the perspective of socialist mass housing estates must be used as an opportunity to create new housing policies and to provide financially affordable housing, in order to end the housing crisis deficit.

Keeping affordable and social housing in attractive central locations prevents the isolation of underprivileged families into the outskirts and suburbs, where they are distanced from efficient mobility, access to education and participation in urban life, which immerses them deeper into poverty.

The creation of structures which are part of a larger framework and flexible in terms of progressive space - efficient and sustainable, they offer the possibility to create dynamic urban environments along with the participation of the community in shaping their physical surroundings.

Especially in the case of mass housing, an inter-disciplinary program is required in terms of dealing with physical and social space as an integral synergy - including charettes and consultations, instead of a static top-down master plan.

Local charettes and design frameworks must be established in order to allow for participation and community engagement, which simultaneously leads to education, activation and entrepreneurialism.

Mass housing estates must be injected with mixed-use and heterogenic forms as part of the process of re-urbanization.

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METHODS & PROCESS

The work of this thesis is based on multi-dimensional research, from both secondary and primary sources. A thorough analysis of the socio-cultural and historical aspects and influences of modernism is paired with a spatial analysis of the specific case study - Przymorze. Furthermore, existing challenges facing Polish cities and urbanism were explored, paired with global needs for sustainability and the demand for new spatial models.

Personal exploration and observation of the site includes photographic documentation as well as personal anonymous interviews and discussions with the inhabitants. Research also includes analysis and comparison of solutions executed by different countries and cultures in terms of dealing with mass housing estates. The scale of researched examples is not limited to architecture, however reaches to urban planning methods as well as small spatial interventions and initiatives.

The design process began with the primary challenge of searching for the appropriate place of intervention. After urban analysis of the large neighborhood Przymorze, several locations were indicated with critical challenges that would require intervention. These ranged from mobility and connectivity issues, to public space degradation, to urban isolation, to individual architectural decay (lack of handicap accessibility) to new fragmented plots indicated for building. The longest falowiec was chosen since it carries with itself the specificity of length and at the same time the exemplifies the extremity and culmination of the many issues shared by most of the neighborhood of Przymorze. The chosen locations of interventions along the falowiec represent a specific set of problems to which a response is executed at an urban, architectural and social scale. The design process challenged the synergy between finding solutions beyond the physical built form of architecture - rather, form that is paired with social action. Therefore the challenge of the design process was to find a balance between the proportion of how much new built form is needed versus adaptation or extension of the existing building. The concept hopes to built a narrative of the space instead of proposing a singular ultimate solution.

Furthermore the experimental interventions act as a polemic to challenge the current (lack of ) approach to the problems of mass housing blocks.

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THE CONCEPT

12.1

TIMELINE - CONCEPT INTRODUCTION

The amount of information and data collected during the research process confirmed the structural and contextual depth of the issue. The weight of the influence of different sectors made it impossible to find an ideal unanimous solution. The multi-dimensional depth of the problem led to questioning what type of intervention or action would bring a constructive positive effect at a meaningful scale - for the inhabitants as well as the public and the city as a whole. The pressure of the current debate about the types of solutions to modernist housing channeled the experimentation of different forms and approaches.

The main concept and response to the site consists of a fragmented series of interventions executed at different scales, spread across a timeline in order to express the complexity and depth of the required solution. The particularity of this specific topic demands a program of action, instead of a static plan or individual project. The aspect of time is essential not only to express the realities of implementation but also to highlight the sensitivity of applying new form to the existing tissue - a process that requires the acceptance and accustomization of people to the new spaces. The concepts have been placed over an experimental time period - the dates chosen are merely a symbolic estimate of the time process and incremental stages of the project.

12.2

THE NARRATIVE

The concept is portrayed through a narrative timeline that explains the situation of the space at each point in time along with a description of the design proposals.

The timeline anticipates three different main scenarios located at different points along the Falowiec. Each scenario is also a representation of various conceptual proposals at different stages in the future. Other smaller concepts support the main scenarios and are also dispersed through time.

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fig.31 axonometry view of site and location of main scenarios

III

I

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403

%%u

Lz

II

fig.32 theoretical & conceptual timeline summary

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1970 [ FA I L E D U TO P I A ]

2016 URBAN REVIVAL [ BOTTOM-UP ] SOCIAL

FORMAL

INTEGRAL

2020 PUBLIC EXCHANGE

BUFFER

R E U R B A N I Z AT I O N

GROUND-LEVEL

2030

HETEROTOPIA

PUNCTURE

DISCOVERING COLLECTIVITY [ SPATIAL SPECTRUM ] [ COLLECTIVITY AS PROGRESS ]

SOCIAL HOUSING

PUBLIC

2040

SEMI / PUBLIC S E M I / P R I VAT E P R I VAT E

CHALLENGING PROGRESS

R E LO C AT I O N

NEW USE

2016 U R BA N REVIVAL

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The conceptual propsal begins from the current time, focused on the first steps of reurbanization. During this time, many urban initiatives and coordinated programs must be put in place, in order to allow for the later processes of transformation. Currently the terrain directly surrounding the falowiec belongs to the municipality (the city of Gdańsk).

The falowiec itself belongs to the cooperative (PSM Przymorze), however the cooperative has no ownership of any surrounding land, only a 6-8 meter perimiter surrounding the buildings. Furthermore, there is no spatial zoning plan, nor is there an urban development plan set in place. Due to this fact, the conceptual proposal is based on the assumption that a special private-public sector program will be put into place in order to re-urbanize and rennovate the neighborhood.

The first conceptual responses pertain to the grander urban scale of the neighborhood as a whole. Certain acupuntucre actions have been designed as a frist step in the transformation. These actions are focused around the existing public space - not only for the inhabitants. The transformation public space is regarded as an essential step into the entire conceptual process. Making the public spaces more efficient and taking advantage of exisiting unused infrastructure opens opportunities to create urban life - which currently is inexistant. The few actions were chosen based on the most basic unsatisfiable needs of the neighborhood - pertaining to mobility, friendliness of public space, greenery and recreation. The challenge is to animate the exisiting society living in the neighborhood which has grown accustomed to indifference and isolation. At the same time, making the public space attractive and efficient as a whole will also bring the movement and migration of other people into the space - creating opportunities for meetings and interaction.

BIKE MOBILITY The existing infrastructure for bike mobility consists of main paths along the main communication routes - ulica Obrońców Wybrzeża and ulica Chłopska. These are main transit routes and regarded as rather circulatory, while bike mobility is lacking inside the neighborhood tissue. Furhtermore the bike routes are currently limited to the zone of pedestrian movement. The proposal is to incorporate seperate bike routes that penetrate the neighborhoods, seperately from the pedestrian zone. Bike parking and bike stands are also needed at strategic incramental points along the main routes.

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CAR PARKING One of the main contributors to the disruption of public space is the overflow of cars in the cramped parking lots. Furthermore, the chaos of cars parking on sidewalks and randomly surrounding the streets introduces extreme chaos. Placed in very close proximity to the entrances of the falowce, these parking lots are not only an aesthetic but also a functional disturbance. The solution to this requires a grand scale analysis and planning of additional parking lots. The concept envisions an underground parking lot that runs parallel to the falowiec with access from ul. Obrońców Wybrzeża. Other underground parking lots should also be incorporated in strategic areas surrounding the neighborhood. These parking lots should be reserved strictly for the inhabitants, delivery and stock services as well as a few lots reserved for permanent workers. The remaining parking spaces on the ground level should be largerly limited and require appropriate zoning and organization. Strict graphic zoning should sygnalize temporary parking spaces as well as private reserved ones. The organization of permanent/underground - temporary/ground level also allows for dynamic mobility on the ground level - allowing for movement along the public space instead of blocking it.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT Similarly to that of bike mobility, the public transport is limited to the main transit routes - ulica Obrońców Wybrzeża, ulica Chłopska and ulica Kołobrzeska. Despite the addition of a planned new tram line along ulica Obrońców Wybrzeża, the large scale of the neighborhood also requires more frequent and smaller scale public transport that would penetrate into the tissue - as opposed to merely circling around it. The extreme distances of the falowce also call for a strategic replaning of the bus schedule. For this purpose the proposal foresees a microbus route. This route would cater to the changing demographics of the neighborhood, shortening walk distance and allowing elderly more efficient and frequent access to public transport.

WASTE MANAGMENT & RECYCLING The existing waste containers and sheds cause a disruption in the perception of the public space. Across the entire neighborhood they are not systamatic in form and usually are placed in the middle of open space without proper shielding. The concept proposes a system of underground waste bins, which save the space on the ground - 98 -

fig.33 urban intervention schemes

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fig.34 urban intervention schemes

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level, as the container collects waste below ground. This also allows for more strategic placement of trash bins closer to the entrances and walkways (since they are less of a visual disturbance) for while still allowing for efficient collecting. Considering the large amount of inhabitants - it is necessary to apply organic waste managment and recycling.

Education and special programs to raise awarensess are simultaneously needed in this process to encourage people to enagage in recycling. Furthermore, the concept envisions several special second-hand exchange containers/bins, where more valuable items (books, furniture, kitchen supplies) can be left to be shared and reused by other inhabitants.

REVIVING ABANDONED PUBLIC SPACE Although Przymorze’s original concept envisioned more designed public space for recreation and play, not all have been executed. Neighborhoods A and C both contain a permanent amphiteatre. The concept suggests to revive and activate this space - with regular events, concerts and meetings. The areas require little renovation, as the rawness of the amphitheatre only requires surface touch-up and proper lighting.

ENGAGING RESIDENTS IN TRANSFORMATION An important aspect of the proposal envisions the engagement of residents. Wherever possible, a social program shout be put in place to engage the inhabitants into the transformation of their own living space. Held in the form of weekend gatherings - tree planting, painting, assembly of simple urban furniture or collective gardening holds the great potential of activating the urban space and at the same time engaging the residents to observe and act in their physical surroundings.

RECREATIONAL & FITNESS ACCESS For the health and wellbeing of the residents, access to sport facilities and fitness is essential. Although the existing amount of sport infrastructure is quite satisfying, a program is also needed that would allow only residents access to sport facilities of the many local schools in the area. Furthermore the concept envisions new urban playing fields and fitness areas at a smaller scale, that can be fit between existing ones.

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2020 PUBLIC EXCHANGE

- 102 -

Once the urban and social interventions are put into place, the concept begins with the first proposed Scenario. This Scenario deals directly with public and semi-public space.

The location of the site is located along the falowiec from the north facade, at the center of it’s length. At this point the placement of the falowiec is farthest from the ul. Obrońców Wybrzeża and it consists of the largest existing open underpass through the building at the ground level. The concept proposes that the first intervention remain in the theme of public exchange - engaging and reviving the existing public space and creating new form that aims to reurbanize and create urban life. This will ultimately make the transistion from “osiedle” to “miejskie”. The north facade of the falowiec is the ideal location for the incorporation of this type of urban tissue - as it remains in the permanent shade of the falowiec and is in direct access from the main transit route. The proposal hopes to integrate and pull in the falowiec into urban street life.

The current existing space between the falowiec and the street is neither truly public nor semi-public nor semi-private nor private. It is a space containing chaotic parking lots and direct access pathways to entrances of the falowiec. In order to transform this space into the explained re-rubanization, the underlaying concept of urban composition is divided into 3 elements.

BUFFER In order to deflect the current direct relation of the falowiec to the street, a buffer zone is needed running parallel to the street. Thanks to this buffer space, the line of the ground directly in front of the falowiec gains the qualities of an more intimate semi-public space, becoming an urban interior. This buffer zone is not intended strictly to be built in architectural form - plazas, greenery or recreational zones can also outline the two spaces.

PERPENDICULAR DIRECTION One of the predominant spatial and compositional problems surrounding the falowiec is the uninterrupted length and linearity, lacking intermittent forms that would break up the monotone of length. For this reason, perpendicular direction and movement is required.

This takes place in the form of trees - greenery, as well as breaks and breaths in the new architectural forms, as well as new roads and pathways.

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fig.35 elements of concept Scenario I

- 104 -

ENGAGE GROUND LEVEL Since the ultimate concentration of urban life exists on the ground level, it is essential that the new forms engage the lower levels to meet this requirement in terms of form and function. Only in this way the public space becomes a place of meeting and urban-social dialogue. Transparency of materials and openings, walk-throughs and passage-ways are all essential elements that give access to the ground level. In terms of functionality, the ground level of most of the new buildings should be reserved for either public access or generally-available services.

Based on these three underlying compositional guidelines, the designed Scenario consists of the following interventions :

MIXED USE HETEROTOPIA The new architectural forms placed in the buffer zone and intermitted by perpendicular direction should contain a range of uses and functions in order to break up the homogenity and monotony of the falowiec. The range of plots should also be limited and varied - to avoid the ownership of an entire line of plots by a single developer. This way, a heterotopia of urban tissue can be achieved. The placement of several different functions in close proximity will evoke a natural, dynamic urban environment.

The complex of buildings starting with the angular building on the north-western side should contain a more representative function. The first (angular) building: library, multimedia library, cultural center. The second building holds the vertical communication to the underground parking garage, as well as administrative and private office space functions on the upper floors. The lower level has reserved space for cafes, restaurants and bars.

Moving east from these buildings is a roofed multi-functional plaza. This space is reserved for periodical or regular events. Food and grocery markets, cultural exhibitions, artistic performances or other gatherings take place here. It also serves simply as an extension of the public plaza under protection from snow and weather conditions during most of the trivial Polish climate.

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fig.36 axonometry Scenario I

- 106 -

The following set of buildings is reserved for private office spaces. The opportunity to create more workplaces for medium to small size businesses will also deliver a more dynamic environment that can trigger education and innovation. The lower level is analogically reserved for cafes and restaurants as in the previous buildings - in order to promote an urban atmosphre of life and dynamizm on the ground floor. Though all of the office buildings are noted in plan, not all of them will be developed at the same time (therefore a few are represented as “ghost buildings”). The proposal highlights the aspect of time and the need to intensify the space gradually.

Returning to the eastern part of the conceptual buffer zone, a multi-activity urban sport field is designed, with assisting supporting infrastructure in the form of changing rooms and bathrooms. Built along the ground floor of the falowiec, an extenstion of the grounf floor contains few small services and shops. In front of this is a small park-area with greenery and plants. Another addition is a potential infobox (whose form has not been strictly determined) as a catalyst to the change and transformation that is awaiting the falowiec. This infobox contains the potential to educate and spread awareness about the culture, history and current role of the falowiec.

MOBILITY & UNDERGROUND PARKING One of the main elements of the concept is to insert dynamic mobility into the space of the neighborhood. Currently, mobility is limited to parking lots, which do not create flow through the space. The parking lots and overflow of cars is one of the main issues of the space. An underground parking lot is built under the entire space between the falowiec and the street. The main entry to this parking lot has been strategically placed on the axis of one of the main (and only) intersections on the ul. Obrońców Wybrzeża. This location allows for access from both directions of the main transit route - as well as connectivity with the other side. The underground garage is reserved for permanent residents - few spaces are available to support the office and administrative buildings, as well as access for delivery and stock.

On the ground level, an inner street is designed with limited access. Only a few temporary parking slots are reserved for this street to promote dynamic mobility, and free up the space from overcrowding of cars. The importance of limited access streets allows the surface to become pedestrian and bike-occupied for most of the time, while emergency vehicles can still commute easily when needed. At the same time, car mobility is not completely eliminated to cope with the realities of car use and to promote an dynamic urban environment.

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NEW VERTICAL COMMUNICATION SEGMENT An important element of the proposed concept is that of a complete exchange of the vertical communication segment in the falowiec. Meaning that the segment (which contains a break in the prefab slab-construction of the rest of the building) will be completely exchanged for a new construction with appropriate dilatation. There are three important arguments for this solution. Firstly, one of the greatest difficulties to achieve is barrierfree access to all of the public space, as well as the falowiec. The current “ground floor” level in the falowiec is not consistent - in several places the difference is 30cm, however some even reach 1m in height. Without a lift available at the entrances, this creates a serious barrier of stairs especially to the ageing population of inhabitants. Secondly, the current vertical communication and staircase does not meet the current normatives and standards of fire safety. Considering the fact that these buildings will most likely remain for at least another fifty years combined with the high density of people this should be a worthwile investment. Furthermore, not every vertical segment is equipped with two lifts - some entrances only operate on one, which is heavily overloaded with traffic. Thirdly, the new vertical segment allows for the connection of the new parking garage directly with the falowiec.

Simultaneously, a new, larger entrance is formed which is more proportional in form to the falowiec. The open space allows for easier movement of heavy traffic in and out of the falowiec. New storage rooms are designed to hold bikesand strollers for the inhabitants. As a result, each floor now has an open common space, than can be adapted as a sun loggia.

A ramp segment is also designed as a part of each entrance in order to compensate for the 20cm-100cm difference of the new ground level to the “old”. This ramp is conveniently also used from the new -1 level, giving comfortable access to the underground basement.

The existing entrance to the underground has thus been eliminated, leaving only a more private entrance to the residents from the main vertical communication hall. Furthermore, access to technical rooms is now conveniently available through the garage connector.

Another crucial aspect of the new entrances and new segment is that now, the entrance hall and staircase is accessible from both the north and south side, while previously the main entrance was strictly from the north. This allows for a symbollic puncture of the falowiec, encouraging efficient movement and flow perpendicularly to the long existing form. Furthermore, residents can now walk shorter distances to reach their home.

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fig.37 entrance & vertical communication scheme

new barrier-free entrance undergroung connection to parking garage

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fig.38 gallery and underpass scheme

gallery facade panels lifted underpass

- 110 -

GALLERY PANELS & FACADE The concept also includes the application of a textile sliding-panel system for the galeries for the purpose of shielding from atmospheric factors. The panels are ligh permeable, however provide a barrier from wind and snow/rain. The panels may be moved to different arrangements, in either a full or partial cover. The panels are located behind the existing gallery balconies so that the drawing of the facade is maintained. The color of the exterior walls of the falowce is proposed to return to its natural intended graphic - white and grey surfaces.

HEIGHTENED UNDERPASS & PUNCTURES The location of this particular scenario is also oriented around one of the biggest underpassed along the length of the falowiec. The underpass leads directly to an axis on the south side of the falowiec, leading to a main recreational park and further connecting all the way until ul. Kołobrzeska. Currently, the pass is very dark and low, creating an unpleasant and unsafe aura - as well as being disproportionately small in comparison to the whole building. Therefore the concept proposes to heighten and widen this underpass, as one of the elements to create perpendicular direction and puncture the long monotony of form of the falowiec. This underpass is certainly the main and biggest, however other smaller punctures should also appear along its length, to efficiently create connection between the north and south side at more frequent points. The construction pillars remain in the same rythm as the overhead construction of the prefab slabs, and they are placed densly with reinforced load-bearing beams to carry the weight of the overhead stories.

GROUND LEVEL PUBLIC PLAZA In accordance with this underpass, naturally a new public plaza is created on the north side. This allows for an urban compositional cumilation and concentration, which before was lacking due to the disperced placement of the neighborhood. The plaza connects the new forms with the underpass, creating a breathable space which is proportional to the falowiec. A once-existing historical circle plaza is revived, as it was once the symbolic highglight of public space. Perhaps further urban planing should incorporate the recreational axis on the south side as a continuation of this urban concentration.

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2030

DISCOVERING COLLECTIVITY

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After the north side of the falowiec becomes progressively re-urbanized into enclaves of public and semi-public space, the second Scenario calls upon action in the private and semi-private space. With this however, comes the challenge of social collectivity and community. The purpose of this stage is to break up the space so that it exhibits a comfortable human scale. The site for the second Scenario is chosen on the most eastern south side of the falowiec. Here the space directly next to the falowiec consists of a singular pathway, a wide stretch of grass with one playground and a few benches. Further south a road running parallel to the balconies connects the lower 5-storied apartment buildings which are placed perpendicular to the falowiec. This space provides opportunity to engage and divide shared and collective space.

A predominant spatial problem of the falowiec and entire Przymorze neighborhood (as well as other mass housing estates) is the harsh contrast between public and private space, without semi-private or semi-public. The undeveloped and unoccupied space between the buildings is both everyone’s and no one’s. To give the inhabitants the necessary components of urban space, the underlaying concept of urban composition is divided into 3 elements.

DIVISION AND DISTRIBUTION The south side of the falowiec is first divided parallel to its line into - private - shared - collective and semi-public. The extended private, located closest to the falowiec acts as an extension of the living space into a private garden. The next, shared - requires the engagement of a small scale group (a couple of neighborhs) to jointly inhabit the space - whatever function it might be. The third, collective - creates space available to a larger group of inhabitants - perhaps from an entire floor or vertical segment of the falowiec.

The final is the public space of the street and use of the new frontage.

PERPENDICULAR EXTENSTION The purpose of this stage is to figuratively and literally extend the space of the falowiec into the south ground. Therefore the entire space between the falowiec and the street become an urban interior enclave and semi-private spaces intertwined with semi-public.

Similarly to the north side, the perpendicular direction of new form breaks up the spatial monotone length of the falowiec.

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NEW FRONTAGE As the new form appears on the south facade - creating an extension of the falowiec - a new frontage is created along the line of the street. Not only does this enhance a more intense urban environment, it also creates a more pleasant urban angle experienced by the users of the public space and street. The aspect of the human scale is therefore returned to a comfortable proportion.

Based on these three underlying compositional guidelines, the designed Scenario consists of the following interventions :

SHARED LOGGIAS In order to create space where space is inexistant - the proposal bases on the assumption that some of the smallest apartments will become abandoned - their habitants relocated to a better standard of living. These apartments will loose their curain walls and become either open terraces or closed interior loggias. The intent behind this is either creation of a shared space interior garden with a neighbor - or creating a shared space for a group of neighbors from the same floor. This sort of extension is very beneficial for the residents of the upper storeys, who are most distanced from landscape and greenery. It also encourages the tenants to inhabit and own the living space beyond their own “M� flat. Creating the first step into shared space on a small scale can evolve into a greater awareness of their surrounding space.

SOCIAL PARTERRE The proposal envisions most of the parterre to lose the function of housing. The lower apartments are prone to a sense of insecurity since they are located directly in proximity to the street - without an intermediate semi-private buffor. Furthermore, part of the socio-cultural transformation of the concept proposes shared co-working spaces, as well as community meeting spaces in order to integrate the community and engage the inhabitants into the physical realm beyond their own apartment. These areas are accessible

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fig.39 elements of concept Scenario II

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fig.40 social spaces scheme

shared loggias & terraces parterre co-working collective spaces

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fig.41 new spectrum of space scheme

public

semi-public

private (falowiec)

private extension

shared /semi-private

collective / semi-public

N

public

- 117 -

through the main entry hall and prompted by a receptionist. These spaces would be available to inhabitants but small private entrepreneurs. The purpose of this space is to provide co-working space for the inhabitants, along with several rooms that function as meeting and conference rooms where several workshops or lectures can take place. Small offices and services are also permitted in these spaces - however priority belongs to the inhabitants. Since the flats lack the typical workshop space of singular family homes (such as the basement or garage), several rooms will also hold the function of manufactories or ateliers for handcrafts.

The construction of the pre-fab slabs is maintained in these spaces, with few punctures in the form of doors. The once open gallery is now closed off in theses spaces and holds the function of an interior halway connecting all of the rooms together. The smaller rooms from the north side may hold the function of restrooms or extra storage rooms. The entire curtain wall on the south side is transformed into a transparent partition, with large floor-length windows to provide maximum lighting. Each space has the option to adapt and expand to the neighboring one. The spaces have access to a shared terrace on the south side, which may also function as a main individual enterance to the service rooms.

In order to achieve an urban setting, a new denser framework of roads is needed. One new road is designed running parallel to the falowiec, as well as a new intersecting road puncturing the first two levels of the building in order to achieve movement and lateral direction.

COLLECTIVE GARDENS The open ground space stretching from the falowiec to the street is anticipated to provide and extension of space for the inhabitants. As previously explained and visualized, this space is divided and distributed in a gradient like-form. The closest plots will be reserved for intimate privately owned gardens or patios. Further down the “gradient� are places for shared gardens or spaces. These are larger than the private ones, as they serve a couple of neighbors and are collectively owned by subscription. The functions of these spaces range from urban farming, small sensual gardens to greenhouses, to patios for barbeque and grills. The last and largest segment of these spaces is the collective space. These are granted access to a larger group of people and are owned by the cooperative, so they hold more universal functions such as a multi-generation playground, child’s play place, sandboxes,

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fig.42 axonometry Scenario II

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fig.43 curtain wall catalogue fig.44 flat transformation scheme

+12 . 10

+12 . 10

existing standard apartment 32m2 / 39m2 / 56m2 proposed new apartment 64m 2 / 90m 2 / 122m 2

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larger patio space with benches and urban furniture or temporary event spaces such as periodical markets, clothing and book exchange, social meeting and gatherings, parties or sun terraces. The range of functions is almost limitless, however must be regulated by a special program, in order to prevent unnecessary isolation through fences or oversized installations and structures.

EVOLUTION OF FLATS & FACADE Beyond public, semi-public and semi-private space, the private living quarters of inhabitants must also be considered. Though most of the flats are privately owned and subletted, a program must be put in place with an available catalogue of solutions. An open source accessibility to different pre-designed spacial arrangments will lower the costs of executing such changes. Furthermore this will allow for control of coherence of visual and spatial transformations of each apartment.

To upgrade the standard of living, most importantly proper heat isolation is needed. For this purpose, a catalogue of new curtain walls is designed. Ranging in composition and varied, this catalogue will allow coherent composition of the exterior southern facade but at the same time delivers enough variety and individuality to satisfy diverse needs. The window arrangement is designed to keep the characteristic historical upper window slot.

The concept also proposes the rennovation and expansion of the standard flats.

Apartments may be joined laterally, however this required extra enforcement in the form of structural beams in order to create punctures in the existing prefab slabs. However, joining apartments vertically is also possible and would pose less of a constructional threat. The following new arrangements and areas are proposed : 32m 2 + 48,5m 2 + 56m 2 +

32m 2 = 64m 2 2 48,5m = 90m 2 56m 2 = 112m 2

The current crammed flats express an outdated standard of living. The new proposed apartments allow for a more flexible use and adaptation of the space deeming them more attractive to new families. The new arrangement of flats must provide a higher standard of living in order to change the demographics of the users - from rental tenants to permanent ones.

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THE PAVILLON In order to incorporate a balanced mixed-use on the southern side of the falowiec, some areas may require a bold intervention in the form of a pavilon. Though it seems extreme, this type of form is not alien to the tissue of the falowce. Pavilons placed on the south facade perpendicularly to the falowce have been part of the original proposal, specifically - one was executed on ul. Piastowska. These 2 storied buildings were distanced from the falowiec and provided necessary services to the inhabitants of the neighborhood.

Unfortunately none of the buildings placed on the southern side have survived to this day.

The purpose of this pavilon follows the three outlined underlyning concepts. It acts as an extension of the falowiec, providing inexistant semi-private and semi-public space, and it acts as a new frontage to the urban environment of the street. The ground level of these pavilions are occupied by small public access shops and services - a mangle, a hairdresser, a florist, a bookshop, a patisserie. The spaces located on the peak closest to the street may open their service as small cafe. The form is distanced from the falowiec at the ground level in order to create a covered passage way. This intimate scale brings in mixed use urban life into a semi-public setting. The upper floor of the pavilon is not connected with the lower one. It is however connected directly to the falowiec, located at the new vertical communication segment. This floor consists of strictly social spaces. Common rooms, joint reading rooms and libraries, places for small events and parties, kitchen annex and bathrooms, and a large conference or event space all serve as social spaces accesible by all residents.

The purpose of this space is to provide the residents with an extenstion of their own living space. The standards of communist living flats are extreme and do not comply with existing standards and expectations. These social spaces are a sort of atonement for these extremities. Allowing the people extensions of space beyond their own living quarters allows for them to engage as an active participant in the physical space. Furthermore the function of these spaces stimulates creativity, awareness and promotes education.

The new spaces offer potential to innovate and develop ones-self in an entrepeneureal sense, which in turn has a positive future beyond-individual outcome. Since many of the inhabitants remain in the underprivilaged class, these types of programs are essential to their development.

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NEW SOCIAL HOUSING MODEL Until now, many of the design proposals foresee elimination and transformation of flats, which means certain residents will become dislocated. Reaching to the experience of foreign mass housing rennovation projects (such as Bijlmermeer) it is essential to provide either temporary or permanent relocation for inhabitants. Ideally, this location would be in close proximity to their old home. Furthermore, in order to change the indifference and isolation of the existing population of falowce, new inhabitants must find their way into the area to create a “mixed community�. Taking into consideration the housing crisis and shortage of financially achievable housing, a new solution is required.

Additionally, the question of densifying or intensifying the space surrounding the falowce is a trivial one. Following the current trends of developer monopoly, new apartment buildings would be high in density, low in spatial standard, non-urban in character, and extreme in proximity to the falowce - which could in turn make the situation worse, plunging the space into degradation.

In order to maintain harmony of the existing space and respect the characteristics of the mass housing urban composition, the concept proposes a new model of social housing which is based on a framework of modularity- and the possibility of extensions and multifunctional adaptation. Inspired by both Habraken’s support and infill theory as well as contemporary existing examples of social housing performed by Alejandro Aravena, this model of social housing is proposed as a direct response to the progressive relocation of residents. Currently mass housing estates are one of the main and only low-income housing available on the martket. The government has significantly decreased production of social housing and has sold most of its communal flats. Taking into perspective the scale of mass housing estates in Poland, their degradation and uncertain future, it seems coherent to suggest this type of social housing as one of the direct response to mass housing blocks.

The proposed framework consists of several modular segments that are permanent, wih the possibility of later extensions or infills. Furthermore, the urban composition is dynamic and highly adaptable. This system also promotes sustainability - at each building phase only the necessary amount of materials and space are used to satisfy the number of new inhabitants (alternatively contemporary apartment housing is built by the masses and overexaggerated it awaits habitation - while new residents may never appear).

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fig.45 social housing stage 1 scheme

shared spaces 2-people living spaces 42m 2 / 44m 2

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This system is also appropriate in proximity with the falowiec because it does not shock in its form and density. In the first stage of building, only a few segments will be built.

Later segments will be added in different stages of building if there is demand, and once the space acclimatizes. The outline of the social housing system is as follows : the first segments are built as social, government-funded housing for the most desperate and in need. Later, private stakeholders or housing cooperatives may decide to inhabit the existing framework. Furthermore, families growing in children and size may decide to enlarge their home with the addition of another modular floor. In this way, a dynamic program is developed where a mixture of public-private sector allows for the proper functionality of these settlements. Participation and collaboration in the form of cooperatives is required to complete the process of filling the framework wholly.

The main structure consists of a timber wood framework, which is then infilled with prefabricated modular curtain walls and floors. These curtain wall arrangements are also available in a catalogue, to offer systematic aesthetic along with desired variability. Thanks to this technology, the progressive adaptation and extension of the building is simple and efficient. Each “permanent” segment consists of an open staircase. An “extension” segment may be built next to the permanent one, with access to the same entrance and staircase. Several of the lower level areas may have different functions than housing. Some act as common workshop or storage spaces for inhabitants. The open framework awaiting infills also acts as vertical gardens and terraces.

The following living spaces and extenstions are available in the framework: 2 people 2 people 3-4 people

- 42m 2 - 44m 2 - 66m 2

Possible extensions create the following : 2 people 3-4 people

- 42m 2 + 48m 2 = (4 people) 90m 2 - 66m 2 + 66m 2 = (5-6 people) 132m 2

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fig.46 social housing stage 1I scheme

shared garen space 3-4 people living space 66m 2

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fig.47 social housing stage 1II scheme

shared social spaces & gardens double-storey apartment extension (2 pp) 42m 2 + 48m 2 = (4 pp) 90m 2 (3-4 pp) 66m 2 + 66m 2 = (5-6 pp) 132m 2

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2040

CHALLENGING P R O G R ES S

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The conceptual proposals at this stage are in some aspects a continuation of the previous stages. The challenge is to achieve a certain degree of constant progress in the space, so that it does not remain static and “forgotten”. Constant development, extensions and additions create opportunity for inovation creativity. Furthermore, the challenge is to gradually engage the residents into the process as active participants. After being accustomed to participation and social engagement through small tasks and responsabilities, it is possible that a larger responsability and respect for the inhabitant space can be developed.

Due to its location and centrality, the currently empty and desolate public space of the neighborhood has the potential to become a dynamic urban environment. This is also probable because it contains a large amount of the most important ingredient : people.

SOCIAL HOUSING DEVELOPMENT This stage of the social housing model is a continuation of the previous description. The “permanent” segments have mostly grown with extenstions. The urban composition of these arrangements becomes more and more complex as private or cooperative settlements are completed. Over time, it is possible that an evolution of design of the curtain walls occurs - this will allow for variation in the current framework, creaiting more organic and vernaciular character of the houses.

MODERNIST VISION REVIVIAL The five points of modernism haven’t often seen their way into use in mass housing estates though Le Corbusier anticipated their importance in his prototypes. Aspects of this proposal use certain points of “the five” to deal with the falowiec (open plan of the new pavillon, punctures and accessible parterre in the falowiec, flexible facade with the new catalogue of curtain walls). Additionally, the project proposes the use of the roof of the falowiec, specifically for a green-roof with an open garden and terrace.

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FUTURE EXISTANCE OF FALOWCE Today, it is still not certain how long mass housing blocks or specifically the falowiec will survive. This project proposes a concept that forsees a progressive fragmentation of the falowiec, wether it be literal physical (removal of small apartments, parterres, or larger entire segments) or figurative (abandonement and relocation). For this purpose, the concept proposes to retain the volumes that once existed as a part of the mass housing and replace them in the same space in a different form. Though this is most directly aimed at housing, the new volumes naturally hold a mixed use of functions - replenishing the current lack of them.

One of the final, and perhaps most experimental aspects of the proposal is to demolish an entire segment of the falowiec, leaving only the remains of a structural skeleton. This void remains symbollic of the form that once filled the space, however is also progressive in that it creates an opening for figurative and spatial breath. The open structure now acts as vertical garden of shared terraces. There are several examples of such a concept around the world, however they usually take place in abandoned industrial halls. The creation of a vertical garden is not only efficient in terms of space, however it also gives new life to existing abandoned or deterriorated form. Whatever the realistic future of the falowiec might be, it is important to consider the probability of what would happen if it were entirely demolished - or if it were kept in it’s entirety. This proposal suggest that neither extreme solution is adequete, therefore a progressive in-between resolution is needed. Furthermore, the proposed concept allows for a positive transformation and change of function, which would not be possible if the falowiec remains entirely in it’s current deteriorating form.

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fig.48 axonometry Scenario III

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fig.49 progressive evolution scheme

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CONCLUSION

In the case of the issue of mass housing in Poland, it may be assumed that “no-strategy is also a strategy� applies. Considering the amount of population living in these estates along with the housing crisis - it seems perplexing. In light of this, current politics of spatial planning require much reconsideration and debate, otherwise, developers will continue to dictate the cheap, low-quality form of tissue of Polish cities. A deep analysis of the genesis of modernism is even more so necessary, due to the immense influence it had on the shape of contemporary cities. Mass housing estates are a reminder that architecture stripped of the anthropological scale cannot render a perfect image of society. Natural engagement and dialogue in space are necessary to provoke urban life. In the case of falowce, the most important ingredient is present, however not stimulated : people.

The question remains to what point people are capable of participating in the creation and progression of space - contemporary lives revolve little around the physical realm - everything has shifted to virtual and paraphysical. Participation and engagement are difficult especially in the socio-cultural identity of Poland - where overexposure of forced socialism has made people reluctant to collectivity. Furthermore, a significant amount of basic education is needed to make people aware of the functional and aesthetical qualities of space - however, without well-executed examples this will never be possible. Allowing people to experience quality of well-designed space will make people aware of the benefits of social and daily life it brings.

Finally, the aspect of unwanted heritage. The connotations of mass blocks remain to be direct reminders of unpleasant history - more so than public use spaces.

Is it possible to transform these places into a new character or should they remain static or should they be eliminated entirely? As long as the structures of these neighborhoods remain intact, a series of very important discussions, debates and decisions awaits Poland in terms of recognizing the fruits of modernity as a collective identity - before it is too late.

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fig.50 final project panel display

PROGRESSIVE EVOLUTION OF SOCIALIST MASS HOUSING FALOWIEC

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- 135 -

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LIST OF FIGURES

1.

Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City, 1898, from: http://www.planetizen.com/node/50957

2.

Le Corbusier, Plan Voisin, Paris 1925, from: http://www.mediaarchitecture.at/ architekturtheorie/le_corbusier/2011_corbusier_links_en.shtml 3.

Le Corbusier, Unité d’Habitation facade, 1956-1958, from: http://noshapenoshade.tumblr. com/post/36621601927 4.

Le Corbusier, Unité d’Habitation axonometry drawing, 1956-1958, from: http:// axonomatrix.tumblr.com/page/5 5.

Corviale, Rome Italy 1972 - photo Alessandro Guida, from: https://divisare.com/ projects/298384-alessandro-guida-il-corviale 6.

Michalik, M. (2016), Comparison of standardized apartment size in different countries,

redrawn from: http://teatrnn.pl/leksykon/node/4351/mieszkanie_w_prl_normatyw_ mieszkaniowy 7.

Michalik, M. (2016), Comparison of housing normatives in Poland from the years

1959 & 1974, redrawn from: http://teatrnn.pl/leksykon/node/4351/mieszkanie_w_prl_ normatyw_mieszkaniowy 8.

Osiedle za Żelazną Bramą, fragment, 1972, from: http://www.filosss.fotolog. pl/7,2013,archiwum.html 9.

Pruitt-Igoe housing project, St. Louis Missouri, 1954, from: http://99percentinvisible.org/ episode/episode-44-the-pruitt-igoe-myth/ 10.

Superjednostka “Superunit”, Katowice Poland, 1972 - foto Maciej Lulko, from: https:// www.flickr.com/photos/lulek/12947645885 11.

Diagoon Houses, Delft “participation of residents: interior, exterior, landscape”, 1971, from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._John_Habraken

12.

OMA, Bijlmermeer Reedevelopment study scheme, 1986, from: http://oma.eu/projects/ bijlmermeer-redevelopment 13.

OMA, Bijlmermeer Reedevelopment masterplan study, 1986, from: http://oma.eu/ projects/bijlmermeer-redevelopment 14.

Lacaton & Vassal, transformed facade in Grand Parc, Bâtiments GHI, Bordeaux, 2011,

from: http://www.bmiaa.com/study-plus-transformation-as-an-architectural-manifesto druot-lacaton-vassal/

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15.

Lacaton & Vassal, transformed apartment unit in Tour Bois le Prêtre, Paris, 2011, from: http://www.metropolismag.com/January-2016/Game-Changers-2016-Lacaton-Vassal/ 16.

Axonometry drawing of transformed spaces in Grand Parc, 2011, from: http:// journaljunkpage.tumblr.com/post/84308524577/ré-habiliter 17.

Michalilk, M. (2016), Schwarzplan comparison of Gdańsk neighborhoods

18.

Michalik, M. (2016), Types of housing in Poland by year, redrawn from: http://episcope. eu/fileadmin/tabula/public/docs/brochure/PL_TABULA_TypologyBrochure_NAPE.pdf 19.

Construction of falowiec on ul. Kołobrzeska 1973, Kosycarz, Z. (2011) Niezwykłe zwykłe zdjęcia Oliwy, Przymorza i Żabianki, Kosycarz Foto Press

20.

The occupied sandbox in front of falowiec on ul. Piastowska, 1968, Kosycarz, Z. (2011) Niezwykłe zwykłe zdjęcia Oliwy, Przymorza i Żabianki, Kosycarz Foto Press

21.

Commercial pavillon in fron of falowiec on ul. Piastowska, 1968, Kosycarz, Z. (2011) Niezwykłe zwykłe zdjęcia Oliwy, Przymorza i Żabianki, Kosycarz Foto Press

22.

On-site prefab factory Przymorze, 1975, Kosycarz, Z. (2011) Niezwykłe zwykłe zdjęcia Oliwy, Przymorza i Żabianki, Kosycarz Foto Press

23.

Michalik, M. (2016) Existing plan, apartments of falowiec on ul. Obrońców Wybrzeża

24.

Michalik, M. (2016), Schwarzplan of Gdańsk and indication of mass housing estates

25.

Michalik, M. (2016), Schwarzplan of Przymorze neighborhood and surrounding area

26.

Michalik, M. (2016), Loyal residents of Przymorze, 2016

27.

Michalik, M. (2016), Staircase, 2016

28.

Michalik, M. (2016), North gallery 2016

29.

Michalik, M. (2016), Entrance 2016

30.

Michalik, M. (2016), New competitors - view from falowiec 2016

31.

Michalik, M. (2016), axonometry view of site and location of main scenarios

32.

Michalik, M. (2016), theoretical & conceptual timeline summary - 140 -

33.

Michalik, M. (2016), urban intervention schemes

34.

Michalik, M. (2016), urban intervention schemes

35.

Michalik, M. (2016), elements of concept Scenario I

36.

Michalik, M. (2016), axonometry Scenario I

37.

Michalik, M. (2016), entrance & vertical communication scheme

38.

Michalik, M. (2016), gallery & underpass scheme

39.

Michalik, M. (2016), elements of concept Scenario II

40.

Michalik, M. (2016), social spaces scheme

41.

Michalik, M. (2016), new spectrum of space scheme

42.

Michalik, M. (2016), axonometry Scenario II

43.

Michalik, M. (2016), curtain wall catalogue

44.

Michalik, M. (2016), flat transformation scheme

45.

Michalik, M. (2016), social housing stage I scheme

46.

Michalik, M. (2016), social housing stage II scheme

47.

Michalik, M. (2016), social housing stage III scheme

48.

Michalik, M. (2016), axonometry Scenario III

49.

Michalik, M. (2016), progressive evolution scheme

50.

Michalik, M. (2016), final project panel display

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