Portfolio - Aleksander Nowak

Aleksander Nowak +45 5024 0449 nowak.aleksander3@gmail.com contact@dinnergroup.dk

Research - KADK

Research - KADK Copenhagen Municipality 300000kms.net

Research - KADK

Winning Proposal (HENN & CF. Møller Arkitekten) 3rd Prize Thesis Natural construction community project Spetial Mention

Liget Budapest, New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum Competition

New Psychiatric Hospital Bispebjerg Competition, Copenhagen (Snøhetta)

Le Monde Headquarters, Paris

Ådland zero energy district, Bergen, Norway (Snøhetta)

Tønsberg old town refurbishment workshop, Tønsberg, Norway (HLA)

1st prize

SNØHETTA Competition

SNØHETTA

1st prize

SNØHETTA

1st prize, HLA

Løkkeveien office building, Stavanger

Jåttåvågen Com petition, Master plan, Stavanger, Norway (HLA),

1st prize, HLA

1st prize, HLA

Project Room & Coworking Space Kolektyw

Cambodian Sustainable Housing Competition, Build ing Trust Interna tional, shortlisted,

winning proposal for a city social project financing, shortlisted

EDUCATION

LANGUAGES

2015-06.2017

Urbanism and Societal Change Master Programme Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen

Deane Alan Simson & Charles Bessard

2010-02.2014

08 10 www.kadk.dk www.uap.edu.pl

University of Arts in Poznan, Architecture and Urban Planning, Bachelor Degree, Engineer in Architecture

English - fluent German - fluent / advanced Polish - native Norwegian - basic Danish - basic

Mappings

200 year strategy for Copenhagen flooding - floodplain +4 2150 / Urbanism and Societal Change

Architecture & Design

SkyLense is the winning pavilion creat ed for CHART Art Fair Architecture Competition, 2016.

SkyLense is conceived as a machine for cooking whose mechanics are so simply perceived as to be apprehended in a single glance. The pavilion demonstrates the concept that sustainability is not just about being “less bad”, but instead may be used as a creative stimulator for life-activi ties that positively affect the environment. From sunbaking, to art performance, to cooking, each act is sponsored by two elements: water and sun light.

An experiment in optics and illusion, the design focussed on the elements that would intrigue those who interacted with it. In their assess ment, the Judges noted the effectiveness of the illusion created by the water and mirrored sur face, whereby Jury member Bjarke Ingles ad mitted that he did not realise there was a bar counter until he physically touched it.

The pavilion’s elemental tectonic evokes two cir cular planes containing water separated by slen der columns.

Water suspended by a clear film hangs overhead, forming a lenticular object that acts to focus and distort light. The lense works in two directions - it concentrates light beams one way and simul taneously distorts the surroundings for the ones looking through it.

At ground-level, the pavilion used optical illu sion to a functional advantage, where a semi-cir cular pool of reflective water is completed by a mirrored bar surface.

In the Charlottenburg Kunsthall where the pavilion made its first appearance, the normal ly benign Northern sun baked food against it’s mirrored surfaces and set alight sheets of stray paper. At night, a focussed beam shone through the lens of water creating spectacular rainbow caustics that would bounce off the reflective pool at ground level and decorate the surroundings in colour.

The pavilion operated as a restaurant during the CHART - Copenhagen Art Fair at the Kun sthal Charlottenburg. Attendees were required to walk through the water to be able to order champagne and oysters selected by restaura teurs L’Esprit du Vin. Initially hesitant people removed their shoes and played in the shallow pool all night.

Winning

Proposal

Team: Enlai Hooi, Tamara Kalantajevska, Nicole Strelcheva, Trine Thy 2016

Keder

Spatial Strategies

Post-war reconstruction strategies for Aleppo.

Rubble recycling as a tool of urban and societal revival. Multiscalar dialogic approach.

The project is a multiscalar set of inter weaving strategies on Aleppo’s recon struction, where debris of war and its recycling deals as a tool for societal and urban revival rough analysis of the is lamic historical spatial conditions, recent cultural changes, urban policies and cur rent politico-economical environment around Syrian post-war reconstruction, the project aims to recognize key chal lenges of the future process. It puts its focus on past, present and potential fu ture of most heavily damaged informal settlements.

The research aims to consider the na ture of societal change, which Syria had undergone in the decades preceding the Syrian Civil War and its potential impact on the future of Aleppo’s informal neigh bourhood units formation. These units are beeing recognized here as basic so ciospatial mechanisms of reconstruction and future participation in governance of the country or, in times of disruption, its potential resilience. The design aims to challenge past examples of post-war reconstruction processes and current

means of development in con ict-torn and emerging countries.

The analysis of both spontaneous aggre gation processes, thanks to which the historical core of Aleppo emerged and prevailing policy approaches towards informal settle ments in Syria, and globally, gives a possibility of con textualizing ideas of building on and learning from the past. What is more, the project by looking at cities which had undergone post-war reconstruc tions aims to provide comparable cas es, examples of hope and vision to the Aleppese community.

Ultimately, the complexity has a chance to evolve into a proactive, more wholis tic and dynamic rather than prescriptive strategy for reconstructing the city, the society and its communities.

The project aims to be a basis for further research and dialog with scholars and practitioners.

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Protests, civil uprising, and defection

Initial armed insurgency

Escalation

Ceasefire attempt (April–May 2012)

Renewed fighting (June–October 2012)

Rebel offensives (November 2012 – April 2013)

Government offensives (April–June 2013)

Continued fighting (July–October 2013)

Government offensives (October–December 2013)

Fighting between ISIS and other rebel groups (Jan–March 2014)

Government offensives and Presidential election (March–June 2014)

ISIL offensives and U.S. airstrikes (June 2014 –January 2015)

The Southern Front (October 2014 – February 2015)

Northern Al-Nusra Front and Islamist takeover (October 2014 – March 2015)

Army of Conquest advances in Idlib (April 2015 –June 2015)

Resurgent ISIL advance (May 2015 – September 2015)

President Al-Assad in Moscow for Talks with Russia’s Putin on Sria reconstruction and SEZ

Russian intervention and government offensive

SDF advances and Turkish military intervention

22.12.2016 Syrian Army announces the capture of Eastern Aleppo and the complete withdrawal of rebels and civilians.The Red Cross confirms that the evacuation of all civilians and rebels was complete.

07.01.2017 The Syrian cabinet adopts a package of measures to restore the northern city of Aleppo.

12.01.2017 A video released on Wednesday shows tractors and forklifts in the Saif al-Dawla district clearing the streets of sandbags and rubble.

2016 - Master Thesis

Aleppo with its rich, long history, level of resilience to wars and multicultural in uences is a perfect evidence of how urban structure represents a physical, three-di mensional projection of human beliefs tand socio-political conditions. The city is often referred to as one of the oldest cities in the world, which continuously inhabited, has been always a site of urban transformation and renewal. Historical development of the city shows how soci etal, political and recent climatic chang es, evolve together and in uence the ur ban form; lead to its expansion but also destruction.

Mapping Aleppo

City region scale strategy for post-war Aleppo,

maps based on osm GIS and Humani tarian Response Data

The conflict is staggering not only in terms of numbers - 250.000 people killed, 130.000 missing 7.6 million inter nally displaced, 6.130 mln refugees who left the country - but also condition of the current global social, human rights, economic, political matters. e same as rubble-ruins are an obvious re ection of the conflict, the pre-war, rich and diverse urban fabric of Aleppo epitomizes the socio-economic circumstance where nine di erent civilizations held power throughout the millennia.

Space is a social product, or a complex social construction, based on values, and the social production of meanings which a ects spatial practices and perceptions. One might argue that the Syrian con ict, with all its national and transnational players is a spatial embodiment of the planetary state of emergency (Cauter, 2012).

Aleppo reconsturction has a chance to be not simply a rebuilding process of a mid dle eastern city but a chance for careful re-evaluation of the current means which drive urban formal and informal growth, as well as their mutual relation.

Catalogue of details based on post-war rubble recycling is beeing developed.

How does alteration of the construction chain modifiy the whole city? The details and new construction methods have a chance to contrib ute to more cost effective and efficient post-war city shaping.

In the case of Aleppo and Syrian civil war it might appear naive to bring notions of ‘sustaina bility’ and ‘urban mining’ into discussion of postwar reconstruction. However examples from the past show us that practice of rubble reusal is not new. The rubble women, from post-war Berlin, sorting debris and bringing it to spetial Zwischenlagestellen (initial collection points to which the rubble would be taken further by

heavier machinery).

The presented set of details constitute an ex emplary catalogue of systems which multiplied thorughout the whole city not only reuse the ‘local ressource’ but also bring back, not obvious, public domain to the city.

Here, a flexible scheme of mixed reinforced concrete frame and the rammed rubble wall is proposed. The prototype is strong enough to withstand structural loads of a 6 to 7 high floor apartament block. Inner rubble core does not contribute to structural strength of the wall. Its production might be more time consuming than of a new reinforced concrete frame structure, however costs and use of concrete might be sig nificantly reduced.

Urban planning

Young City project in Gdansk is a unique op portunity to create a one-of-a-kind water front development.

Thee development of the shipyard area and its sur roundings not only has the potential to transform into a vibrant livable district, but also to once and for all bind the historically divided city infrastruc ture together. It has the prospect to be a flourish ing waterfront district in close vicinity to the City Centre.

In order to unfold and conceptualize these pos sibilities, our proposal begins with the following three strategies: Remember- to reinforce social and historical qualities of existing buildings, Re connect- to integrate the Young City with Gdansk, and Reimagine - to activate heritage is a catalyst for urban life.

Year:2017/2018 Winning proposal Architect MAA

Worked on: the strategic concept, script for adapt able area calculation, facade design, public space design, building arrangement, final area calcula tion, parking strategy, final visualisations.

Urban planning

Size: 79,500 m²

Location: Mönchengladbach, Germany

Collaborators: Urban Agency, Karres+Brands, Urbanization.dk (Sonja Stockmarr & Alek sander Nowak - further dev.)

Type: Invited Competition

Status: Competition 1st Prize

The Maria Hilf site is located at the edge of the historical center of Mönchengladbach and in the coming two years the city plans to establish a new dense neighbourhood. The hospital func tions will be abandoned and the site will begin its transformation into a new urban neighbor hood with strong connections to the surround ing urban fabric. Our proposal is defined by a robust urban framework, with terraces of build ing blocks and new barrier-free path meander ing through the site. It bridges the gap between the lowest and highest point to create level-free access for all. The path exemplifies our primary vision for Maria Hilf Terraces; to create a new urban neighborhood for all.

Kleineschholz Freiburg Stühlinger West Competition

Collaboration: Urban Agency, urbanization.dk (Sonja Stockmarr & Aleksander Nowak)

Creating new connections is the main goal of the new urban development “Stühlinger West”. Both in terms of the structure of the develop ment and the open space new spatial connec tions are necessary: The area is currently z. char acterized by large building complexes and traffic arteries. In the interstices are the allotments, which are a green space, but at the same time also a huge barrier. In addition, Kleineschholz marks the transition from the closed city structure with block-edge development in the Stühlinger to an open structure. Under these conditions, the connections and connections to the surrounding city and green structure are particularly impor tant. At the same time, there is the opportuni ty to create attractive living space with a direct connection to greenery in a central location and to make the district accessible to all.

Location: Poznan, Poland

Collaborators: ETH IA Anna Jach Zurich, WSP Poland, Z. Krzyzanska Type: Competition Status: 3rd Prize

Pedestrian and Biking Bridge Across Warta River

Visual practices in spatial research Contested Territories of the Danish agro-food sector

2020 - Research Project

Actor-Network / Terriorial Mapping of the Danish Pig Industry

The project explores novel approaches to analysing and visualizing the entangle ments between human and non-human actor networks, and their spatial-envi ronmental impacts through data-vis ualization. The project focuses on the Danish agro-food sector in general and the pig industry in particular. The pro ject explores a role for re-visualizing and re-narrating this apparent ‘wicked problem’ towards facilitating sustainable transformation in this sector.

Danish landscape reconfiguration

As Denmark’s largest land user, one of its most significant GHG emitters, and its largest contributor to reduced biodiver sity, the Danish Pig Industry represents a significant barrier to Denmark’s Green Transition. Despite supplying a relatively limited proportion of GDP and national employment; it has been the industry’s powerful political lobby, its strong cul tural position, and complex nature that has contributed in recent years to a wide ly accepted narrative that change is po litically and economically impossible in this sector.

The project asks what role the re-visual izing and re-narrating of the conditions of this industry could play in unfolding the complexity of interplay of actors within the system, their impact on spa tial-territorial practices, and ultimately their environmental impacts? And what role could resulting data-visualizations and their associated narratives play in facilitating a more informed and open public, political and professional debate, and significant change in these spatial practices?

Linking maps with actor diagrams - the new approach to visualizing change

The project combines two normally separate forms of visualisation to re frame the communication of an envi ronmental narrative. Firstly, actor-net work (ANT) diagrams from a ‘mapping controversies’ tradition; which allow for ‘thick’ readings articulating the rela tions/influence of human and non-hu man actors’ within/behind complex net works/systems/contexts; but which do not spatialize data and are difficult for non-expert audiences to read. Secondly,

spatial-territorial (SPA) mappings from a spatial planning context: which com municate complex spatial conditions to expert and non-expert audiences, but which are limited in revealing the actor networks of relations/influence, or the capacity for systems to change. These visualization logics are supported by a range of large data-sets to produce an immersive interactive digital interface supporting navigation between different actors, perspectives and territories.

Plurivocal, Multi-species, Spatial

Two features distinguish these com bined spatial-actor-network (SPAANT) data-visualizations: a) ‘plurivo cality’: a range of actor perspectives are unfolded allowing for a diverse, informed, collaborative, participatory, and democratic debate based on di verse sources of data and knowledge. This incorporates a heterogeneity of ‘human and non-human’ actors – from farmers to legal frameworks and po litical parties, from pigs to barley to bees – acknowledging their agency and formative roles; and b) ‘conjunctivity’:

mappings connect actor dynamics with their spatial and environmental impact – enabling targeted, spatial policy rec ommendations and action.

Sharing platform

With the support of digital technolo gies, this project explores visualisation methods which effectively make visi ble the points of collision, obligatory points of passage, pressure points; the spatial, logistical, economic, and societal enablers as well as obstacles to change within the resulting mono-species spa tial territories of agriculture in Den mark. This narrative network approach supplements the standard spatial plan ning tools such as GIS with the pow er of network analysis. Its accessibility and understandability as a web inter face overcomes the largely siloed and blackboxed conditions of the industry. It supports the possibility for a shared knowledge platform, upon which fur ther public debate and participation in approaches to a green transition in this sector can be developed.

Institution: Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, ConservationIBBL - Urbanism and Societal Change

Project owners: Aleksander Nowak, Deane Simpson (KADK)

Collaborators: Albena Yaneva (University of Manchester), Tommaso Venturini (SciencesPo), Joost Grootens (Design Academy Eindhoven), Linnea Freij (KADK), Serina Kitazono (KADK)

Tech stack

Scraping i.a.: - Twitter, - CVR Business Register, - BBR building regiter: Mapping: Web development & dataviz: 3d animation & modeling: Animation:

Wheat and barley fields

Proportion of land covered with wheat and barley fields per municipality

Amount of pigs per mu nicipality and x km grid

Fattening farms - network of company headquarters and branches

Slaughterhouses - network of company headquarters and branches

Piglet breeding facilities - network of company headquarters and branches

This visualisation: Aleksander & Rikard

This visualisation: Aleksander & Rikard

bove the horizon. Socially re sponsible behaviour is depend ent on repetitive individual and A collective exposure to our cultural evolu tion. Many museums today seem to see their visitors as the largest threat to their own collections and exhibitions. This at titude leaves museums “passive” in their performative role as cutting-edge insti tutions and in their relationship to the public at large.

To enable the New Hungarian Nation al Gallery and the Ludwig Museum to have the desired active role; interacting and communicating with their audience, our project is based on the following principles: The wish to unify two muse ums in one building while maintaining a strong individual identity for each.

We are situating both institutions under a singular public roof that is always ac cessible. Thus the roof becomes an inher ent part of the City Park as does its` el evated continuation offering great views over the whole of Budapest.

Architecturally, we strive to create a mu seum building that offers exciting, mod ern and contemporary spaces that enable an art experience confidently suited to

the display of art from varying epochs and styles. We aim to create an inspi rational environment for education and museum learning, where the thoughts and philosophical mindsets fundamen tal to any form of art creation and un derstanding are at the centre point. The centre point of the building symbolises the meeting point of two art institu tions, the meeting of light and earth at the horizon simultaneously resolving practicalities of daylighting and em bodying gravity at the meeting of the Ludwig Museum and the New Nation al Gallery. In the heart of the building we envision a large open public space that serves both institutions. Here the visitors, local and from afar, young and old, are invited to start their journey of exploring art, in the Ludwig Museum and New National Gallery. The juxta position of the two institutions beneath a common fabric creates a space where tensions serve to inspire – a metaphys ical reaction field between collections, and beyond the individual mind.

Winning Proposal Team: Snøhetta 2015

Concept development, visualisation

THE DECK in Tähtitorninvuoren puisto forms the starting point for the flyover towards the Guggenheim Museum and is subtly integrated in the existing network of pathways and small squares.

Guggenheim Foundation has, since the very beginning, challenged and cultivated con temporary society by consistently being one

step ahead when projecting signs of human cultural evolution into the future: “…the Guggenheim Foun dation continues to forge international collaborations that take contemporary art, architecture, and design beyond the walls of the museum”, is part of the foun dations mission statement. Thus, architecture is not only influencing our immediate experience, but archi tecture also defines spaces for unlived futures. Every visitor, artist, designer, employee or user lives the fu ture into architectural spaces.

The museum suggests the creation of a transpositional art platform to clearly express the “sisu” of this institu tion. It suggests how the building may physically move beyond its own walls to strengthen the collaborative approach of the museum and make itself completely accessible.

In addition to very functional and horizontally con nected public-, staff- and exhibition areas in coherence with the program, the museum reveals a new and in terstitial space created by the disconnection between skin and structure

Guggenheim Helsinki Entry Team: Snøhetta 2015

THE PLINTH protects the museum and its content with its double-layer watertight structure.

+12,1m +11,0m +3,1m +1,1m +1,1m

THE FLYOVER creates a new urban link from the park over Laivasillankatu towards the Guggenheim Museum. On the roof the ramp is continued in a gangway parallel to the waters edge.

THE ROOF shelters the public `Third Space` and o ers views of the bay and the horizon. The moveable roof flaps for solar harvesting can be adjusted for ideal positioning towards the sun.

+6,1m

DIAGRAM OF ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS

ALEKSANDER NOWAK

THE RAMP continues the public pedestrian flow from the park and the roof down to the public `Third Space from where pedestrians can continue in the Museum or towards the seaside promenade.

THE THIRD SPACE is a new sheltered public space for outdoor exhibitions and various urban activities. From here passers-by can have glimpses into the exhibitions through glazed atria.

THE MUSEUM LEVEL is accessed from the north via a large, slightly inclined surface. All exhibitions as well as the performance hall are grouped arround the central foyer/multi-purpose-zone.

THE PUBLIC ART SQUARE is an outdoor exhibition space that connects the public realm with the `Third Space` of the Guggenheim Museum.

Location: Warsaw, Poland

Collaborators: Own Type: Competition

Landscape design and building at the Warsaw University Campus Year: 2019

Preferowanyprzekrój: pokrycie dachowe: blacha na rąbek stojący membrana wiatroizolacyjna: folia dachowa płyta OSB 15mm przestrzeń wentylacyjna 2 cm docieplenie wełna 20 cm między kratownicami membrana paroizolacyjna docieplenie: wełna 5 cm ruszt pod płytu GKf łaty 4x5cm płyta GKF

Preferowany przekrój: - płyta gipsowo kartonowa (GKF) 12 mm - ruszt pod płytu GK: łaty - wełna mineralna 50 mm na ruszcie - membrana paroizolacyjna 0,2 mm - wełna 20cm w konstrukcji - konstrukcja ściany 18x20 cm - płyta OSB 12 mm - membrana wiatroizolacyjna - pokonstrukcja aluminiowa pod okładzine zewnętrzną - okładzina zewnętrzna

Competition Proposal 2018/2019: Historical Courtyard of University of Warsaw + Work shop and Converence Building 1300 m2 -

Team: Project & Design Lead: Aleksander Nowak Construction engineering: Anthony Jus Landscape: Fran Álvarez, A.N. Visualisation: Taras Baran, A.N. Energy calculation: Lili Szabo

The project encompasses 2750 m2 of land scape plan within University of Warsaw Courtyard next to the main city axis and a 1300 m2 building hosting a welcome point for international students, cafe, conference halls and workshop rooms of various sizes and flexible space for administration work.

The main idea of the project was to create one open and widely accessible platform for in teraction. The main idea went hand in hand with the concept of rethinking of the edu cational system and spaces associated with it, with particular emphasis on the flexibili ty and evolution of space, as well as a literal, spatial reflection of the idea of non-hierar chical organizational structure, openness and communication between campus users, i.e. students and teachers, and administration as well as residents of the capital.

The simple plan, which at the same time cre ates one continuum with the surrounding courtyard, on the 0 level, as well as replicat ing the idea of the courtyard on the -1 level, enables both flexible, cost-effective and sus tainable distribution of the structure.

Double-insulation, timber frame structure of the +1 level, heat recovery ventilation / heat pump and sustainable lightning system make the whole project exceed the brief energy re quirements, by maintaining the reasonable costs of construction.

Forest as infrastructure space Post-soviet Microrayon. Riga as a shrinking city.

Forest as infrastructure space. This 200+ year speculative strategy treats the forest - Latvia’s greatest asset, as flexible infrastructure for fu ture.

The city of Riga is an example of a shrinking city. In this context, the project reimagines how future urban population fluctuations could be approached.

Together with the shrinking population - and econo my as its potential consequence - the patches of forest appear in the city, Every patch of this flexible, recon figurative membrane should be read as a stack of vari ous layers of value.

Forest in this case becomes more than a space-filler for the emptying urban tissue. It gradually creates a new type of re-countrysized urban scenario, embodies an economical asset, raw ressource and insurance for future generations. The forest, when curated, consti tutes an integral part of the city economy- when “left behind”, starts to expand on its own, overgrowing the dying city.

The forest infrastructure by encasing Riga, limits the urban sprawl and compresses the moribund society.

Park as installation was a primary concept al lowing for a high degree of Cybruna Square adaptability. Various exhibition modes create permanent landscape, which strengthen by

Experimental pavilion is an essential part of the the park concept. Following and learning from successful exemples like the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, the new Cybru

time. Perfect location allows for tighening collaboration between city cuncil, Sience Centre and University.

within the park and outside proposed design location.

Milestones

allowing for `green belt` connection along whole POWISLE district for local habitants and between most attractive points (scale from gray to black)

Public Square - Poland - 3rd Prize Compeition

Participatory workshops

Mood for Wood Workshop

Tutor, 2019

Mood for Wood are international workshops aimed for students of design degrees interested in actual project realisation. So far 4 editions of the project have taken place, with participation of the joint number of 210 students from Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slo vakia. During the workshops, stu dents, with the help of recognised architects and designers from all over Europe and experienced car penters, will independently create urban furniture for selected locations in Poznań.

Degrowth, 2019, Collaboration with

The challenge of the new de growth economy is how to provide a set of strategies on various scales, which sneak in between or hack nodes of socio-political regimes’ influence. The proposed shift in the future urban fabric pattern may sponsor the ongoing reconditioning or revolutionizing of a spa tio-political climate, as well as, break up monopolies and prevailing dichotomies such as private vs public, indi vidual vs common, wild vs urban, industrial vs cultural.

Current technological advancements have a real, physical impact on how people navigate, feel and socialize within the urban environment. The tech nological advancements, which make it to the urban mainstream become ubiquitous creating one con tinous layer of online connectivity, data gathering and surveillance. We took it for granted that the ‘hot spot’ needs to be uninterrupted and omnipres ent. The singals or the “eyes of the city” were never treated in the same way as the physical - ready to be shaped or regulated as e.g. urban density.

The project tries to question the ubiquity of this non-tangible digital city layer by proposing a BLIND SPOT - a place or a set of urban spaces - stripped of access to the global network and invis ible for the “Eyes of The City”. It treats this impal pable layer as an environmental condition, fullfilling the architecture’s main basic task to provide shelter and separation from the forces of the ‘new nature’.