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Folding Shadows
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Folding Shadows
Between 1939 and 1956 Poland
was under the oppression of the Soviet regime. This was a period of turbulent,
unstable, military conflict. In 1952 Joseph Stalin commissioned the
construction of the Palace of Culture and Science an gift from the Soviet Union
to the city of Warsaw, a symbol of political subjugation.
Historically Plac Defilad, the parade ground on
which the Palace stands, was used for soviet propaganda in the form of military
parades. Today, the military armament is no longer physically present but the
ideas of oppression associated with it still exist within the shadow of the
Palace. The area is empty but not empty of tension. The shadow parades itself
on this stage that surrounds the palace.
The brief sought projects that would take a conceptual and
theoretically informed approach to a highly contested building in contemporary
Warsaw. The brief takes the form of a problematic or question to which students
were asked to develop responses, as opposed to a definitive breakdown of
requirements.The aim of the project was to propose an
architectural intervention that did not hide or destroy the Palace, but one
that catches its shadow and that stops its absolute lightness and intolerable
weight from falling upon the city of Warsaw. Students were asked to develop a
shadow-catcher for the palace of Culture and Science and a repository in which
to house the shadows collected. The objectives were to develop a response to the shadow and define the
spatial qualities of the project and its architectural consequences for the
greater architectural discourse.
Catching shadows is a
fictional concept. A shadow cannot be physically caught. Catching the shadow of
the palace is therefore a fiction. A shadow catcher is then developed within
the realm of fictional architecture. It tells a story or in this case
represents a history. The entrapment
of the shadow happens in the project itself as representation of idea. It is
captured in its representational form, drawing, lines that compose the
narrative of a fiction developed from a real history, lines that move back and
forth between fictional vectors and representations of a virtual reality.
The shadow is frozen at every hour of its
birthday, 22nd July 1955.
The interface between shadow and city is
materialized. In its materialization the shadow absorbs the qualities of the
city fabric and structure. It gains its texture.
The shadows peel off from the city, unfold then
fold away from the Palace to the furthest point of reach.
12 shadows are folded into regular cages that
have the proportions of 12 different military vehicles present in the soviet
propaganda parades. It freezes the parade. The vehicles’ essence is captured
within the self-caged folded shadow. These cages then go through a process of
hybridization where the shadow takes within its folds characteristics of the armament
it cages. It is therefore a case of fold upon tank and tank upon or within
fold. Each cage captures the shadow in itself, caging its essence in its
fictional embodied/represented state.
was under the oppression of the Soviet regime. This was a period of turbulent,
unstable, military conflict. In 1952 Joseph Stalin commissioned the
construction of the Palace of Culture and Science an gift from the Soviet Union
to the city of Warsaw, a symbol of political subjugation.
Historically Plac Defilad, the parade ground on
which the Palace stands, was used for soviet propaganda in the form of military
parades. Today, the military armament is no longer physically present but the
ideas of oppression associated with it still exist within the shadow of the
Palace. The area is empty but not empty of tension. The shadow parades itself
on this stage that surrounds the palace.
The brief sought projects that would take a conceptual and
theoretically informed approach to a highly contested building in contemporary
Warsaw. The brief takes the form of a problematic or question to which students
were asked to develop responses, as opposed to a definitive breakdown of
requirements.The aim of the project was to propose an
architectural intervention that did not hide or destroy the Palace, but one
that catches its shadow and that stops its absolute lightness and intolerable
weight from falling upon the city of Warsaw. Students were asked to develop a
shadow-catcher for the palace of Culture and Science and a repository in which
to house the shadows collected. The objectives were to develop a response to the shadow and define the
spatial qualities of the project and its architectural consequences for the
greater architectural discourse.
Catching shadows is a
fictional concept. A shadow cannot be physically caught. Catching the shadow of
the palace is therefore a fiction. A shadow catcher is then developed within
the realm of fictional architecture. It tells a story or in this case
represents a history. The entrapment
of the shadow happens in the project itself as representation of idea. It is
captured in its representational form, drawing, lines that compose the
narrative of a fiction developed from a real history, lines that move back and
forth between fictional vectors and representations of a virtual reality.
The shadow is frozen at every hour of its
birthday, 22nd July 1955.
The interface between shadow and city is
materialized. In its materialization the shadow absorbs the qualities of the
city fabric and structure. It gains its texture.
The shadows peel off from the city, unfold then
fold away from the Palace to the furthest point of reach.
12 shadows are folded into regular cages that
have the proportions of 12 different military vehicles present in the soviet
propaganda parades. It freezes the parade. The vehicles’ essence is captured
within the self-caged folded shadow. These cages then go through a process of
hybridization where the shadow takes within its folds characteristics of the armament
it cages. It is therefore a case of fold upon tank and tank upon or within
fold. Each cage captures the shadow in itself, caging its essence in its
fictional embodied/represented state.
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