A HYBRID HALL

3rd Place - ArchiContest - WarsawCall March, 2021 Warsaw, Poland

The city of Warsaw, due to its constant rebuilding throughout the XX century, was dubbed the Phoenix city, as it has risen from the ash various times. This continuous rise and fall, established a formidable historical city that valued its heritage by its replication throughout its rebuilding phases. This meant that part of that value lied in its public spaces, and that Warsaw’s squares and parks would be more than public spaces, they would be cultural heritage.

The brief required us to intervene in one of these spaces – In particular the New Town Market Place in the Warsaw center.

The New Town Market Place, being the main square of the Warsaw New Town, was rebuilt multiple times in various degrees and shapes – from a 140 by 120-meter square to a skewed 90-meter-long Market Place with a curved townhouse block occupying the original square area. Today, the square itself is punctuated by several sculptures and flowerbeds that bridge small gaps in height and a fountain atop of a small staircase on the lower corner of the area. The surrounding context of yellow and red grouted brick townhouses, and accentuated small ground floor amenities lighten, the otherwise grey square. On the far end of the curved townhouse block, is an orthodox church forming a misaligned axis towards the square entrance. This square is crucial not only as a main public space in the New Town, but to Warsaw in general.

We were tasked to create a 500-seat concert hall in this space, a typology that concurrently has a predominately private and sparring use.

Since the square was of utmost importance, it was imperative to intervene in such a way that would preserve the square’s hereditary value, and not create an obstacle to the square itself.

But how can one conceive of a predominately private building typology on a valued public heritage square?

We chose to invert the traditional concert hall typology and merge it with the square itself, essentially democratizing it by creating a public square concert hall hybrid.

We started by raising a traditional townhouse volume on the south side of the square and then sectioning it with two important axis: a mirrored curve from the townhouse block (framing the church as a main element in the square), and the area of staircase leading to the fountain. These sectioned surfaces are then framed with glass, conceiving the main facades of the building and creating the main entrance as a continuation of the fountain staircase. Then, the resulting west volume end is lowered to ground level, creating a public green roof as a prolongation of the square itself.

The building itself is organized in order to concentrate the more public functions on ground level, and distribute the more private ones beneath. All the public programs (musical shops, coffee shop and concert hall) were conceived as concrete cubes, each containing curtain-like curved openings as entrances which are accentuated via the curved glass façade which slightly distorts each one, creating a stagelike expression towards the exterior. Beneath, the workshops and music studios are punctuated by green patios which grow upward relating themselves with the square and providing natural l.

The building, as a whole, is clad in varying types of concrete (polished floors and bush hammered walls), assuming its austere expression. It’s curved glass, interrupts this austereness by creating curtain-like surfaces, giving it a theater-like character.

The south façade is then molded to form various traditional Warsaw symbols as concrete “frescos”, such as the Syrenka and Kotwica, interpreted as theater characters, as seen in various paintings in the surrounding context. Finally, the auditorium is then clad in wood and glass, respecting the circular pattern from the exterior and unfolding it throughout the space, creating a weaving, tubular structure, that blends and diffuses walls, roof and floor as one.