The housing estate Przyczółek Grochowski in Warsaw
German-Polish Design Workshops

The Przyczółek Grochowski housing estate in Warsaw designed by Zofia and Oskar Hansens will be the subject of Polish-German design workshops organized by Institut für Stadt- und Regionalplanung Technische Universität Berlin and the Department of Architecture at Warsaw University of Technology in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

Twenty one Polish and German students will take part in the workshops. Supervised by Prof. Sławomir Gzell, Florian Hutterer, Prof. Elke Pahl-Weber and Katarzyna Kierczyńska-Królikowska, the students will venture to “break a spell” on the Przyczółek Grochowski housing estate, being a subject of many urban legends.

Constructed in the years 1968-1973, the Przyczółek Grochowski estate attempted to bring the concept of the Linear Continuous System to life. In the communist era, this system was supposed to replace the centric towns by many kilometer long residential “bands”, spreading from the Baltic Sea to the Tatra Mountains. This innovation in the urban design was to guarantee that all the residents have equal access to nature, culture and urban infrastructure. One and a half kilometer long, meandering buildings of Przyczółek Grochowski were expected to partly make the utopia come true. However, the housing industry crisis and numerous design deviations have given the estate a bad name.

The participants of the workshops will attempt to revitalize the Przyczółek Grochowski estate in the spirit of the Hansens’ concept. The workshops accompany the conference OSKAR HANSEN – OPENING OF MODERNISM.