WXCA Wins Competition for the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan
John Hill
19. August 2024
New facility of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan (Visualization: Piotr Banak/WXCA)
Warsaw's WXCA has won the competition to design a new building for the 104-year-old Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, Poland.
The results of the competition for the new home of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań were announced last month during a conference, with the competition jury revealing three prizes and two honorable mentions:
- 1st Prize: WXCA, Warsaw
- 2nd Prize: PL.architekci, Poznań
- 3rd Prize: PROLOG, Wrocław
- Honorable Mention: CDF Architekci, Poznań
- Honorable Mention: 22Architekci, Poznań
First prize comes with 100,000 Polish złoty (PLN; approximately 24,000 euro) and an invitation to negotiate a contract for the development of the design documentation, while second prize receives 70,000 PLN, third prize receives 50,000 PLN, and 30,000 PLN goes to the two honorable mentions.
New facility of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan (Visualization: Piotr Banak/WXCA)
The competition, which was launched by the Paderewski Academy and the Association of Polish Architects in November 2023, asked entrants to design a new cultural and educational center aimed at both students and residents of Poznan. The program consisted of an opera and theatre hall, a playhouse and performance stage, a chamber hall, an ambisonic hall, recording studios, and ballet and drama studios, among other academic and performance spaces.
WXCA describes their winning proposal as “a timeless structure harmoniously integrating with Poznan’s traditional architecture and urban fabric while addressing the city’s contemporary needs.”
New facility of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan (Visualization: Piotr Banak/WXCA)
“WXCA architects aimed to design a building whose form serves as a medium between Poznan’s past and present. The structure continues the street’s historic alignment, while breaking down its mass into smaller functional blocks of varying heights, injecting dynamism into the composition. Gaps between these blocks engage with the surrounding environment, inviting pedestrians inside. Transitioning from a compact arrangement at the city’s core to a more open composition, the boundary between interior and exterior is blurred, emphasizing the building’s public utility. The dominant composition at the street intersection acts as a spatial marker, asserting the institution’s presence in the city. The volumes of individual blocks scale in reference to adjacent 19th-century buildings and their restrained expression is achieved through geometric simplicity and rhythmic facade articulation reminiscent of traditional urban townhouses.”
New facility of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan (Visualization: Piotr Banak/WXCA)
The competition jury's reasons for awarding WXCA first prize (translated from Polish):- Skillful integration in the complex urban context;
- Shaping the elevation from the side of Grunwaldzka and Skryta streets in the form of sculpted blocks that refer to the scale of existing buildings;
- A functionally and spatially coherent dominant feature on the side of Grunwaldzka and Matejki streets;
- Properly located and solved technology of the performance halls and stage service;
- Well-designed delivery area and backstage facilities for artists;
- Proper functional layout of rooms in terms of acoustic requirements;
- The best response to detailed acoustic and technological guidelines;
- Flexible and activating use of internal communication;
- Effective operation of natural light within compact buildings.