Warsaw. Winners of the Architectural Award of the President of Warsaw 2023 list

He was awarded the Green Grand Prix of the jubilee edition of the Architectural Award of the President of Warsaw and the victory in the “public space design” category Czerniakowski Mound with the “Burza” Action Parkwhich was built from rubble transported during the post-war reconstruction of Warsaw.

“Now the entire area is more accessible to everyone. New pedestrian ravines with rubble concrete walls lead to the peak with the symbol of Fighting Poland. The memorial site has also become an attractive park with playgrounds for children. Wildlife refuges have been separated – unlit and accessible only to wild animals. animals. Varsovians and residents of Warsaw really liked this place of rest and memory,” indicate officials from the capital city hall.

Big changes have also taken place on Pole Mokotowskie and Ursynów's Górka Kazurka and the Cichociemni Paratroopers of the Home Army park, which were nominated in the same category.

This year, the first competition jury decided to award two prizes ex aequo in the “public utility architecture” category. Two extreme investments were appreciated: huge Polish Army Museum in the Warsaw Citadel and a small, wooden public library in the Choszczówka housing estate in Białołęka. “This facility is an ecological manifesto and can educate how to build better and smarter. It is also proof of the power of universal design. The library also received an award for solutions ensuring accessibility,” explains the town hall.

In the “residential architecture” category, the winner was the House of Our Lady of the Heart for people in crisis of homelessness. It was created in Italy thanks to the initiative of Sister Małgorzata Chmielewska and the Chleb Życia Community Homes Foundation. The city donated the plot for this investment. The home provides temporary stay for people with disabilities and the sick. “Its employees help with identity formalities, provide medical care, diagnosis and therapy. The architects, with a very limited budget, created a beautiful, functional, but also empathetic design,” the officials emphasize.

In turn, the categories “new life of buildings” and “architectural event” symbolically combined two conflicts: World War II and Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

– The activities of the BRDA Foundation, which we awarded for the new life of buildings, give hope that a better world can be built. Residents of Ukraine are repairing their damaged houses and can look with hope through pink windows obtained, for example, from a demolished office building in Wola. We will survive this terrible war in solidarity and we will pass on our experience of the “ruin of Warsaw” after 1945 to our colleagues in Ukraine – said Marlena Happach, director of the Office of Architecture and Spatial Planning of the Capital City of Warsaw and juror, quoted in the announcement.

The architectural event of the year was an exhibition at the Museum of Warsaw and a book “The Ruin of Warsaw 1945-1949”. They were also used in the arrangement of the area and the permanent outdoor exhibition on the square in front of the Czerniakowski Mound. The winner in the “new life of buildings” category, the BRDA foundation, is the author of the OKNO project. The initiative involves acquiring windows and sending them to war-ravaged Ukraine.

Also nominated in the “new life of buildings” category was the Socio-cultural Quarter EP 29-31, which received the most votes in the residents' plebiscite. The former thousand-year-old city school at ul. Emilii Plater 29-31 turned out to be a shelter for artists evacuated from a building at risk of collapse at ul. Lubelska. It has been the seat of the Komuna Warszawa Theater for four years.

Public utility architecture:

Library in Choszczówka, ul. Kłosowa 6, Ambient category winner and award for accessibility solutions;
Polish Army Museum, Warsaw Citadel, Plac Gwardii Pieszej Koronnej, WXCA – category winner (ex aequo with the Library in Choszczówka); Polish History Museum, Warsaw Citadel, ul. Gwardii 1, WXCA.

Residential architecture:

House of Our Lady of Charity, street Foliałowa 10, xystudio; Osiedle Nordic Bemowo, ul. Bolesława Orlińskiego 3 i 3a, Kuryłowicz & Associates; Rytm na Kabaty, Al. Committee of National Education 14, WWAA.

BRDA Foundation. OKNO and BUDO projects;
Socio-cultural quarter of Emilia Plater 29-31; Teatr Komuna Warszawa – Residents' Award; Open Jazdów. 10 years of operation; Open Jazdów Partnership, Partnership for the Jazdów Housing Estate, Association of Residents of Finnish Cottages Jazdów.

Public space design:

Action Park “Burza”, ul. Bartycka, Archigrest, topoScape – category winner, Grand Prix and award for pro-ecological solutions; Modernization of Górka Kazurki, Park named after Cichociemni Paratroopers of the Home Army, eM4 Architecture Studio Brataniec; Modernization of Pole Mokotowskie, WXCA.

Architectural event:

“The destruction of Warsaw 1945-1949”. Exhibition and book, Museum of Warsaw, Curator: Adam Przywara, cooperation: Katarzyna Jolanta Górska – category winner; Piece. Update. What can you see in the public space of Warsaw?, Puszka Foundation; Illustrated atlases of Warsaw architecture and architectural walks, Architecture Center Foundation.