Building
The building of the BWA Gallery in Katowice (formerly the Bureau of Artistic Exhibitions in Katowice) is an excellent example of post-war functionalist architecture. It features a clear architectural form that distinguishes it from other buildings, as well as a lucid and legible layout. The expertise of both the architect and the sculptor ensured a high standard of architectural and artistic design, which remains one of the building’s distinguishing features despite the passage of time. The interior was conceived as luxurious, and materials that were scarce at the time were used in its construction. The building materials and functional solutions employed were bold and innovative. The design of the building was consulted with its future users.
The building forms a pendant to the Ślizgowiec, providing its compositional complement. With its horizontal massing, it balances the verticality of the high-rise. This effect is reinforced in the façades, where the vertical bands of the Ślizgowiec are counterbalanced by the horizontal frieze of the BWA. The glass mosaics heighten the sense of lightness created by the ground-floor glazing. Sunlight is refracted prismatically through the glass forms, intensifying the dynamism of the seemingly static façades.
The building is recognisable both to the residents of Katowice and to people from other parts of Poland. Its distinctive character also derives from its function, which is firmly embedded in the map of the country’s artistic life. Together with the urban ensemble of which it forms part, it is a recognisable landmark of central Katowice.
The BWA Gallery building has significant artistic and historical value.
Architect Stanisław Kwaśniewicz (1930–2006) was born in Kraków. In 1954, he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków. From 1956 onwards, he was associated with the Association of Polish Architects (SARP) in Katowice. For many years, he worked for Miastoprojekt Katowice, a municipal urban and architectural design office. Among his most important projects was the Ślizgowiec building in Katowice, constructed in the 1960s, of which he was a co-designer. In Katowice, he also designed the Separator building (Office for Studies and Designs of Coal Processing, 1968) and the building of the Silesian Library (1989, co-designer). In the 1970s, he was the chief architect responsible for the development of Jastrzębie-Zdrój. A significant part of his work consisted of religious buildings located throughout the Silesian Voivodeship, including the Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Drogomyśl, the Church of the Nativity in Ruda Śląska-Halemba, the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Wodzisław Śląski (2001, reconstruction), and the Church of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ in Wrzosowa (Poczesna Municipality). His completed projects are distinguished by an individual approach and have become a permanent part of the history of 20th-century Polish architecture.
Sculptor Jerzy Egon Kwiatkowski (1928–2005) was born in Chorzów. He was associated with Mikołów, where he lived and worked, and was a graduate of the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Wrocław. Among his most important works are Hutnik in the “A” housing estate in Tychy, Rodzina I in Grunwaldzki Square in Katowice, Zakochani in front of the Palace of Weddings in Chorzów, Macierzyństwo in the Open-Air Sculpture Gallery in the Silesian Park in Chorzów, and Chrystus Apokaliptyczny in Christ the King Cathedral in Katowice.
Originally, the building was named the Śródmieście-Zachód Katowice Artistic Exhibition Pavilion. The first conceptual work began in March 1958, while the preliminary architectural design was completed in May 1966. The design was developed at Miastoprojekt Katowice, the Municipal Building Design Enterprise (PW-11 studio), with the Municipal Investment Directorate – Katowice acting as the investor. The architect was Stanisław Kwaśniewicz. The building was initially designed as a service pavilion comprising an exhibition space with a 60-seat café, a Dom Dziecka department store, and a catering laboratory. The location of the preliminary design was in accordance with the urban development plan for the Śródmieście-Zachód housing estate approved for implementation; the building was to face the city’s representative thoroughfare, Armii Czerwonej Street. In 1966, the urban concept for this section of the development was changed, and space was allocated for the Bureau of Artistic Exhibitions and the Regional Sales Office of Cepelia, the Union of Folk and Artistic Industry Cooperatives. As a result, the entrance to Cepelia was moved from the northern façade to the eastern façade. In May 1966, the design was approved by the Presidium of the Municipal National Council in Katowice – Department of Construction, Urban Planning and Architecture.
The BWA building in Katowice is located on Wojciecha Korfantego Avenue, along its western frontage, between the Separator building and the [now demolished] Centrum Department Store. It is situated parallel to the street, aligned with the existing building line. It forms part of the larger Śródmieście-Zachód urban development designed by Mieczysław Król, which was implemented from 1962 onwards. The development consists of large-volume buildings serving various functions (commercial and residential), forming the main frontage along Korfantego Avenue, while on the other side they create intimate passages and spaces intended for pedestrian traffic. The principal feature of the development is the Separator high-rise, whose substantial mass is balanced by a group of two-storey service pavilions.
The pavilion has a rectangular solid with a floor plan roughly resembling the letter “L”. The ground floor has an elongated rectangular footprint. Above the pedestrian passage, part of the upper floor is supported on columns. The building has two storeys, with a partially basemented section, and is covered by a flat roof with skylights. It has a reinforced-concrete frame and column-and-beam structure infilled with PGS cellular concrete block walls. Due to mining damage, the structure was based on segments measuring 12 × 17.40 m and 12 × 12.1 m, connected by hinged elements. Akerman ceramic floor slabs were used, except for the floors over the mezzanines, which consist of reinforced-concrete slabs with two-way reinforcement, and the floor over the top storey, which is a reinforced-concrete slab. Above the upper storey is a ventilated flat roof.
The layouts of the individual floors were closely adapted to the functions of the building. The ground floor was divided between BWA and Cepelia. The southern part of the ground floor housed the sculpture gallery (now a café), the entrance hall and ancillary rooms. This section had a height of 4.3 and 4.85 m. The hall was connected to the gallery, whose space was distinguished by lowering the floor by the height of three steps. This was intended to create a sense of separation from the surrounding environment. The lower gallery was illuminated by direct lateral light. The windows of the lower gallery were designed to create an optical connection between the interior and exterior of the building, inviting passers-by inside. The main entrance, located on the street side, led into the hall; aligned with it was a second entrance from the side of the arcade. The rear entrance was provided with a hexagonal vestibule, terminating in a fountain on the exterior side. The ancillary rooms on the ground floor were arranged to the right of the entrance hall and comprised two sculpture storage rooms (accessible both from the hall and from outside the building via separate entrances), a cloakroom, toilets and a secondary staircase. The compositional focal point of the hall is the main reinforced-concrete staircase with a spiral flight of steps, originally finished with marble tiles and terrazzo.
The mezzanine level is located between the ground and first floors of the building. In the gallery section, it was intended for a coffee bar with seating for 40 people (now the bookshop and ticket desk). Part of its floor area was to remain open to the first floor, as the mezzanine provided a spatial connection between the lower and upper galleries. The coffee bar was connected to the ground floor by both the main and secondary staircases. It was to be equipped with mechanical ventilation creating negative pressure to prevent odours from spreading to other parts of the building. The mezzanine in the shop section was intended for staff welfare facilities.
The first-floor plan is more extensive than that of the ground floor and additionally occupies the area above the arcades, which has no equivalent on the lower floor. This space was allocated to the gallery’s office and staff welfare facilities, as well as a storage room. The largest part of the first floor is occupied by a spacious exhibition area. The design also provided for the flexible arrangement of the exhibition space using modular screens. The upper gallery was illuminated by skylights in the roof and a strip of glass blocks positioned beneath the ceiling. Artworks were to be brought into the upper gallery via an emergency staircase located next to the Ślizgowiec; for this reason, the packing room and conservation studio were located on the first floor. The upper exhibition gallery was also intended to be connected to the conference room located in the Separator.
The façades of the building are composed of horizontal bands of glazing and solid walls. The glazing is located on the ground floor, while the first floor is occupied by a band of wall enriched with a sculptural frieze by Jerzy Egon Kwiatkowski. It consists of representations of ancient muses and deities rendered in abstract forms. Above the frieze is a horizontal band of glass blocks, topped by a section of solid wall that completes the composition of the façade. Between the ground-floor windows are mosaics made of irregular turquoise-tinted glass forms. The building is crowned by elongated rectangular skylights with glazed sides, forming a separate structure.
Prepared by: Anna Syska, Agnieszka Woźniakowska, 2010
Gadgets inspired by the reliefs are available from the gallery bookshop (online and in person).
Bibliography
Jerzy Egon Kwiatkowski. Rzeźba , Mikołów 2005.
Katowice. Ich dzieje i kultura na tle regionu , Warszawa 1976.
Kozina Irma, Obok tyskiego eksperymentu, [w:] Sztuka Górnego Śląska, pod red. Ewy Chojeckiej, Katowice 2004.
Pawilon wystaw artystycznych O.B.W.A. na oś. Katowice Śródmieście-Zachód Katowice, ul. Armii Czerwonej , Katowice 1966 (wstępny projekt architektoniczny, maszynopis)
SARP 1925-1995, 70 lat działalności organizacji architektonicznych na Górnym Śląsku, pod red. Jana Boberskiego, Katowice 1998.
Kwaśniewicz Stanisław, 20-kondygnacyjny „ślizgowiec” w Katowicach, „Architektura”, R. XXV, 1971.
Suita śląska, Katowice 1973.
Szaraniec Lech, Osady i osiedla Katowic, Katowice 1996.