<Aleksandra Czupkiewicz>, <Maria Wawer> & <Patryk Kusz>: <pavilions>

The initiative pawilony_pavilions focuses on exploring forgotten buildings that offered shops and services and were built in the 1960s in the Polish city of Wrocław. As objects, these structures touch on two significant topics in Polish architectural discourse, which are gradually disappearing from the landscape of Polish cities: the issue of post-war modern heritage and local services. In the lecture, we will consider why there are so few buildings constructed after 1945 in Poland that have the status of a monument, and why these "pavilions," despite their unique architecture, have little chance of obtaining this title. We will focus on the story of several such exceptional objects. In the 1960s, when monumental architecture was far from creating streets (as it had during the industrial era), pavilions became a substitute for streets and a guarantee of the identity of a given neighborhood. They served as meeting places, shopping venues, and also provided services such as hairdressing or tailoring. Today, some of these buildings are abandoned or are facing demolition. Others thrive, even though they are covered with advertisements and posters. We will show how we envision the pavilions after their renovation and reflect on the possibilities of what their new function might look like and what events and activities could help them become "cool" again.
Aleksandra Czupkiewicz (1991) works as an architect at the Maćków Pracownia Projektowa studio. She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Wrocław University of Technology. She is a co-author of books on Stefan Müller and Jan Szpakowicz, and her work often appears in Polish architectural magazines, including Architektura Murator and Zawod Architekt. She also designs set designs and various installations. Last year, she led a panel on Women in Architecture at the Młodzi do Łodzi conference and initiated a series of lectures titled Architectural Plot Twists in Film, which were part of the MIASTOmovie film festival in Wrocław.
Maria Wawer (1991) is an architect working at the Ch+ Architekci studio. She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Wrocław University of Technology. She also has international experience: she stayed in Belgium during her internship at the Brussels architectural studio JDS Architects (Julien de Smedt Architects), and in Portugal, she studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon (Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa). She designs installations and focuses primarily on mid-scale cultural projects, educational, and community centers.
Patryk Kusz (1992) is an architect at the Major Architekci studio. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Wrocław University of Technology. He collaborated with the Unit of Architecture Foundation and VROA Architekci on several exhibitions, such as Patchwork: The Architecture of Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak, and on projects for the revitalization of post-war modernist architecture. He is interested in photography, and his images have appeared in Designboom, Fresh from Poland, and in Polish architectural magazines (ARCH, Architektura Murator, and Architektura & Biznes).
Since 2018, he has been forming an informal group pawilony_pavilions. They catalog these objects with photographs and projects, showing how they could look after renovation, and debating about them.
The lecture is organized as part of the year-round program of Galeria VI PER within the Future Architecture platform.