It's Time for the new Centre of Warsaw
Exhibition of the architectural and urban concept of the future building complex of the seats of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and TR Warszawa Theatre in Plac Defilad

It\'s Time for the new Centre of Warsaw

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and TR Warszawa Theatre are happy to present the effects of the many months of proceedings which have ended with the selection of the winning architect of the future building complex in Plac Defilad.

At the end of this two-stage process, announced in September 2013, 12 submissions presented by 12 architect studios have been chosen. The drawings, visualisations and descriptions of the proposed concepts shown at the exhibition present the tendering architects’ responses to the expectations of the Museum and the Theatre in terms of how these institutions see their future seats located in a single architectural complex in the northern flank of Plac Defilad.

In assessing the different proposals, the Selection Committee followed a list of criteria, with particular focus placed on the bidder’s understanding of the urban context of the two buildings, seeing that the concept proposed should invigorate this part of Warsaw, merging the functions of the two institutions with the quotidian life of the thousands of local inhabitants and visitors, opening up art to the city, and opening up the city to art. The exhibition presents the architectural proposals included in the offers submitted. The order in which the posters have been arranged correponds with the number of points the bidding studios have received for their design concepts.

In its assessment, the Selection Committee came to the conclusion that the studio which exhibited the best understanding on the functional programme of the Museum and the Theatre as presented in their offer was that of Thomas Phifer and Partners from New York. It is this proposal that proved to be the most city-generating and it is with this bidder that the Museum shall conclude a contract for the design of the Museum and Theatre complex. The collaboration, which is to begin as early as September this year, will involve the further development - together of the Museum and the Theatre - of the present initial concept and, later, the creation of the building design, followed by oversight and supervision of the project’s delivery.

Embarking on this joint project with the selected architect, both the Museum and the Theatre are convinced that thanks to the proposed concept, the architect’s vision, as well as the entire experience gathered thus far, it will finally be possible to create a complex of edifices which will transform the barren and unfriendly area in the very heart of the country into a vibrant space pulsating with culture and the everyday hustle and bustle of a big city, meeting the needs and expectations that Poles have of their capital in the third decade of the country’s independence and the second decade of the 21st century.

The architect’s understanding of such ideas as openness, transparency, as well as the convincing simplicity of the solutions proposed, give hope that these buildings, so long awaited, will finally become a reality – their construction is to be completed by the end of 2019. By means of the values they communicate and the attitudes they reinforce, standing in stark contrast to the monumental character and the architectural vanity of the neighbouring Palace of Culture, they will become the symbol of contemporary Warsaw.

The offers have been submitted by the following studios:

BLOND&ROUX architectes Francja/France,
Fiszer Atelier 41 Warszawa Sp. z o.o. Polska/Poland,
Foster + Partners Limited Wielka Brytania/United Kingdom,
Inżbud Tomasz Trepka: Andrzej Kadłuczka, Krzysztof Barysz, Piotr Obracaj Polska/Poland,
JSK Architekci Sp. z o.o./nsMoonStudio Sp. z o.o. Polska/Poland,
Biuro Architektoniczne Kaczmarczyk: Andrzej Kaczmarczyk, Sylwia Bartoszewska, Joanna Żabińska Polska/Poland,
Henning Larsen Architects A/S Dania/Denmark,
PAS PROJEKT ARCHI STUDIO Sławomir Golenko Polska/Poland,
Thomas Phifer and Partners Stany Zjednoczone/United States,
PROCHEM S.A.: Jacek Jedynak, Andrzej Masłowski, Andrzej Kikowski Polska/Poland,
UNStudio Holandia/The Netherlands,
WXCA Spółka z o.o./WXCA Group Spółka z o.o. Polska/Poland.

Selection Committee:

Mirosław Bałka – artist, Wojciech Gorczyca – director of TR Warszawa, Jerzy Grochulski - architect, Team Coordinator of SARP experts, Tomasz Thun-Janowski - director of the City of Warsaw's Culture Department, Wojciech Kwiatkowski – director of the Finance Department of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Marek Mikos – director of the City of Warsaw's Architecture and City Planning Department, Maciej Miłobędzki - SARP competition juror, Krzysztof Nowakowski - Chairman of The Society of Friends of the Museum and Museum Board member, Grzegorz Piątek – architecture critic, Ewa P. Porębska – editor-in-chief of Architektura Murator magazine, Magdalena Staniszkis - SARP competition juror.

Contracting Authority: Joanna Mytkowska – director of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

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