News
Properties under special protection
According to Gazeta Wyborcza w Katowicach, the modernist Kosmos cinema was destroyed when it was converted into the Film Art Centre. A few years earlier the sports hall of the Baildon steelworks with a valuable roof structure hanging on steel cables was knocked down. Now, the main railway station is facing redevelopment and its unique structure of raw concrete may disappear.
Is it possible to put the buildings that were erected less than half a century ago under special protection? The scandalous demolition of Supersam (property considered by specialist as a masterpiece of modernism) in Warsaw initiated discussion on the modern architectural heritage. The discussion ended with creating a list of Achievements
of Modern Culture that are to be protected in the local plan.
Katowice has a chance for a similar list. Currently, the land use plan of the city (document which defines directions of site development for many years) is being changed.
Barbara Klajmon, Silesian conservator, has applied together with a conservation committee for making an entry in the land use plan on protecting properties built after 1945. So far, three eminent examples have been chosen, but the list is open.
The Katowice branch of the Association of Polish Architects also has some suggestions.
Suggestions of the Silesian conservator:
- Spodek – symbol of Katowice. This sports and entertainment arena was built almost 40 years ago, but it did not grow old. Its futuristic shape and dome with
a diameter of 126 m are still very impressive.
- Railway Station – one of the few works of brutalism, i.e. architecture focused on materials in raw condition, in Poland and Europe. The concourse consists
of 16 reinforced-concrete tubes which look like a huge, fossilised forest.
- Monument of Silesian Insurgents (Pomnik Powstańców Śląskich)– on the one hand, it is a sculptural masterpiece by Gustaw Zemła with three dynamic wings symbolising three uprisings; on the other hand, it is architectural and landscape work by Wojciech Zabłocki, who created a kind of an artificial hill instead
of an ordinary pedestal.
Gazeta Wyborcza suggests to add the following properties to the list:
- Zenit – department store that dates back to 1962. This ordinary rectangular prism is decorated with unique details. The elevation features a glass block on
the corner of Warszawska Street.
- Press House (Dom Prasy)– first Silesian building with a glass wall with
no structural function.
- Skarbek – department store with elevations covered with aluminium panels with holes in the shape of eyes. This work by Jurand Jarecki of 1975 became a symbol of Katowice design.
- Youth Palace(Pałac Młodzieży) – example of noble elevation covered with sandstone panels, famous for modern form and function.
- Trade Union Centre (Gmach Związków Zawodowych) – monumental building with window arrangement resembling modernist office buildings more than authority headquarters.
- Church of the Elevation of the Holy Cross – temple which stands out against the blocks of flats on the Tysiąclecia housing estate. It has brick walls, but they are rolled like sheets of paper. The church is crowned with a high spiral tower. Today, even Frank Gehry, the most famous deconstructivist, would not be ashamed of this masterpiece.