Oskar and Zofia Hansen
Open Form

Presented by Oskar Hansen during the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM) held in Otterlo in 1959, the theory of Open Form proposed to open architecture up to its users and allow them to co-create it. Hansen fought against what he defined as Closed Form, that is fully designed structures leaving no space for users’ creativity and constituting rather a monument to their authors than a comfortable living space. Instead, Hansen put forward a radical change in the perception of the architect’s role which, in his opinion, should consist in creating a passepartout, a background for everyday life. The mission of architecture should be showcasing people and the richness of their daily activity in space. Architecture should highlight subjectivity and create a framework for individual expression, become an instrument that can be used and transformed by its users and that can easily adapt to their changing needs.

Oskar Hansen expanded on the concept of Open Form in projects of varying scale: from designs of temporary exhibition pavilions and residential estates to the Linear Continuous System, a design of linear cities stretching across the entire territory of Poland, from the Baltic to the Tatras. His wife, Zofia Garlińska-Hansen (1924–2013), was the co-author of many of these designs, in particular the residential estates that were built. Affiliated with the Warsaw Residential Cooperative, she typically remained in her husband’s shadow, but he often stressed her involvement in creating Open Form.