Kindergarten no. 43 in Zabrze

Zabrze, Poland

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Other Projects by Projekt Plus Architekci, s.c. G.Tkacz, T.Borkowski

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State Fire Service, Voivodeship HQ Entrance

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Kindergarten no. 43 in Zabrze

Zabrze, Poland

Firm

Projekt Plus Architekci, s.c. G.Tkacz, T.Borkowski

Type

Educational › Other

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2018

SIZE

10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft

BUDGET

Undisclosed

Photos

Piotr Łukasik (14)

To realize a different world - how one building might change child's perspective
Through the Art-Glass, a story
We have nearly forgotten how it was like - the building - prior to its renovation. The only reminder are old records - hundreds of pictures taken beforehand. The moment that we've envisioned the Art-Glass however, is a far more vivid memory.
The City of Zabrze, where the kindergarten is located, is a city full of contrasts. Lush and verdant greenery blends with facades darkened with soot at every corner. Friendly, cheerful faces of the children and harsh, stern looks of those who pass-by clash. That Silesian mood inspires countless artists and accompanies children on their everyday route.
And what if this peculiar chaos could be framed, ordered with a window, that could give those who peer through it a different view, a new perspective to the world outside?
That thought gave birth to an idea of separating the incongruous cityscape and the newly built kindergarten classrooms with a wall of glass, a set of windows, a frame.
A snow-white frontal facade has been fashioned with a large, abstract composition of windows. Vibrantly colored frames shone with positive energy, a quality so common amongst the children. A rose-colored detail of the entry portal embodied a mother's goodbye kiss and a lipstick's mark it leaves on a cheek.
The windows embedded into the clean, white walls of Baumit plasterwork reminded of an art piece enclosed in a passe-partout, an Art-Glass. Thus the building began stimulating the bystanders, effectively becoming a work of art in the cityscape, mesmerizing its surroundings with serene, yet cheerful aesthetics.
And what with little Gregory and other children, for whom the Kindergarten was contrived that way? The Art-Glass began influencing Gregory's imagination while he was staring through it, sitting on a carpet with a cup of hot chocolate. The world outside, although the same as the one he was passing by on his way from home every day, seemed different. Little Gregory noticed a tree, a bird nesting within its branches, a ray of sunlight dancing upon the leaves, a fragment of an old tenement house and a clear, blue sky.
Gregory soon realized, that was he now sees is something that he so often preserves on paper. That what he does is also type of art, the same kind he now sees through the window - a glimpse of time, a flickering moment in the ever-changing world.
Building's execution has a major role in positively influencing its users. To give them something that will change their lives for better, is a goal every architect should have. Without an idea and proper materials, such endeavor will surely be forfeit. Gregory's life was improved thanks to the Art-Glass and a proper use of plasterwork - at a glance, something very simple.

The building won Facade of the Year prize in a Baumit's competition, category Renovated buildings.
[https://fasadaroku.pl/?Page=konkurs-2018-obiekty-zwycieskie]