Project
| Location: | Lodz the New Center of Lodz |
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| Client: | The City of Lodz | |
| Area | 52 000 m2 | |
| Design | 2021 Concept project | |
The project covers the urban complex of the New Center of Łódź (NCŁ): Rynek Kobro, the main building of the Town Hall with the building of the City Council and the office building. Katarzyna Kobro's market square is to be "a place of daily activity of residents with the possibility of organizing special events.
With the location between EC1 and the Łódź Fabryczna Railway Station, with the New Town Hall along two walls of the Market Square and an 8-meter long "step" down to Kieślowskiego Street, as well as in the immediate vicinity of EC1, the NCŁ Market Square plays the role of a unique keystone of all these very important elements of the city and space.
When shaping the development of the area of the Market Square and the surrounding area, building spatial relations, we decided to use the "textile" symbolism of Łódź and used an intuitively read motif of a "thread" leading to a "ball".
The NCŁ market is in the area of completely new investment activities, it requires the development of completely new spatial relations and communication services. In creating these relations, we used the possibility of influencing our concept on a much larger area of the newly created NCŁ, which only "can be defined", and at the same time we decided to look for references to the symbols of Łódź and the people associated with it.
Hence the idea of threads and Katarzyna Kobro's sculpture gallery in the city space, the Open Gallery of Sculptures in Łódź.
Compositively, architecturally and functionally, we found it necessary to emphasize the diversity of functions of the three buildings of the "City Hall complex": the main building of the City Hall, the independent commercial part - the office building and the "sculpture", ie the unique building of the City Council on the Kobro Market Square. The consequence of this assumption is also the decision to separate the main building of the Town Hall from the office building. Thanks to this, both the office building and the Town Hall have their own architectural identity, and at the same time constitute a whole in terms of composition.
A new, intimate public space was created between the Town Hall building and the office building, "hidden" between the high walls of both buildings, in which we arranged a special entrance zone to both buildings. There is also an additional connection to this space by an attractive passage - stairs with the level of Kieślowskiego Street. In our concept, the role of the office building in this complex of buildings is to emphasize the prestige and values of the "TOWN HALL BUILDING", among others by a different form of architecture of the office building than the town hall building, but common compositional axes, or the constant "presence" of the office building in the view from the inside its glazed atrium roof. We proposed such a form of the main building of the Town Hall that it was subconsciously associated with the function of the Town Hall. We assumed that the Town Hall cannot be perceived as, for example, an office building. We chose the timeless architecture for the Town Hall, taking care that, thanks to this choice, the architecture will have a noble and still relevant effect over the years, and the image of the Town Hall will strengthen. Elevation: prismatic pillars and window frames made of sand-colored stone slabs.
The main building of the Town Hall is a reference to the historical architectural heritage of Łódź. A high glass atrium connects the two "traditional" wings of the building. The building of the City Council is a spatially and functionally separated part of the Town Hall. In our concept, the building of the City Council is a compositional dominant - the sculpture on the Market Square - the square of the sculptor Katarzyna Kobro and is surrounded by relatively high elevations of "traditional" planned buildings, creating the urban interior of the Market Square.
The building of the City Council "closes" the space of the Market Square on the north side, along the Kieślowskiego street, which is lowered by 8 meters (level - 2), which in the section adjacent to the City Hall will run along its attractive elevations and along a line of commercial and service premises at the pedestrian level Kieślowskiego Street. In this way, the urban interior of the Kobro Market Square from the north "does not disappear" unfavorably in the lowering of Kieślowski Street.
With the location between EC1 and the Łódź Fabryczna Railway Station, with the New Town Hall along two walls of the Market Square and an 8-meter long "step" down to Kieślowskiego Street, as well as in the immediate vicinity of EC1, the NCŁ Market Square plays the role of a unique keystone of all these very important elements of the city and space.
When shaping the development of the area of the Market Square and the surrounding area, building spatial relations, we decided to use the "textile" symbolism of Łódź and used an intuitively read motif of a "thread" leading to a "ball".
The NCŁ market is in the area of completely new investment activities, it requires the development of completely new spatial relations and communication services. In creating these relations, we used the possibility of influencing our concept on a much larger area of the newly created NCŁ, which only "can be defined", and at the same time we decided to look for references to the symbols of Łódź and the people associated with it.
Hence the idea of threads and Katarzyna Kobro's sculpture gallery in the city space, the Open Gallery of Sculptures in Łódź.
Compositively, architecturally and functionally, we found it necessary to emphasize the diversity of functions of the three buildings of the "City Hall complex": the main building of the City Hall, the independent commercial part - the office building and the "sculpture", ie the unique building of the City Council on the Kobro Market Square. The consequence of this assumption is also the decision to separate the main building of the Town Hall from the office building. Thanks to this, both the office building and the Town Hall have their own architectural identity, and at the same time constitute a whole in terms of composition.
A new, intimate public space was created between the Town Hall building and the office building, "hidden" between the high walls of both buildings, in which we arranged a special entrance zone to both buildings. There is also an additional connection to this space by an attractive passage - stairs with the level of Kieślowskiego Street. In our concept, the role of the office building in this complex of buildings is to emphasize the prestige and values of the "TOWN HALL BUILDING", among others by a different form of architecture of the office building than the town hall building, but common compositional axes, or the constant "presence" of the office building in the view from the inside its glazed atrium roof. We proposed such a form of the main building of the Town Hall that it was subconsciously associated with the function of the Town Hall. We assumed that the Town Hall cannot be perceived as, for example, an office building. We chose the timeless architecture for the Town Hall, taking care that, thanks to this choice, the architecture will have a noble and still relevant effect over the years, and the image of the Town Hall will strengthen. Elevation: prismatic pillars and window frames made of sand-colored stone slabs.
The main building of the Town Hall is a reference to the historical architectural heritage of Łódź. A high glass atrium connects the two "traditional" wings of the building. The building of the City Council is a spatially and functionally separated part of the Town Hall. In our concept, the building of the City Council is a compositional dominant - the sculpture on the Market Square - the square of the sculptor Katarzyna Kobro and is surrounded by relatively high elevations of "traditional" planned buildings, creating the urban interior of the Market Square.
The building of the City Council "closes" the space of the Market Square on the north side, along the Kieślowskiego street, which is lowered by 8 meters (level - 2), which in the section adjacent to the City Hall will run along its attractive elevations and along a line of commercial and service premises at the pedestrian level Kieślowskiego Street. In this way, the urban interior of the Kobro Market Square from the north "does not disappear" unfavorably in the lowering of Kieślowski Street.
