Excerpt from the competition description:
PALACES: ANDRZEJ MORSZTYN, THE SAXON KINGS, BRÜHL’S PALACE: WITNESSES TO HISTORY. PERMANENT INCORPORATION OF PRESERVED, SHELTERED CELLARS AND FOUNDATIONS FROM THE 17TH, 18TH, AND 19TH CENTURIES IN THE FUNCTIONAL LAYOUT OF THE REBUILT BUILDINGS, AS A MEMORY OF THE SPACE AND PART OF THE “GENIUS LOCI” OF THE PLACE.
We understand this reconstruction as a tangible remembrance for the Polish Nation and State of three centuries of Polish history, centuries of splendor, the difficult times of the Four-Year Sejm and the Constitution of May 3rd, the regaining of independence, Poland’s victorious war against the Bolsheviks in 1920, the tragedy of World War II and its aftermath, and the present-day renaissance of the Republic of Poland.
The memory of the rebuilt buildings will once again become a space of remembrance for Poland and Poles. Between the public-accessible basements of Morsztyn Palace and the Saxon Palace, we are creating a foyer and user-welcoming spaces. From the eastern underground parking lot, access to the Saxon Palace is via an underground foyer with zenithal lighting, located between the basements of the north wing and the south wing of the Saxon Palace. Further, from this lower foyer, via stairs and elevators, we are connected by visual contact with the archaeologically and functionally exposed basements to the foyers and entrance halls of the socially useful Cultural and Educational Institutions located in the south wing of the Saxon Palace, and to the entrance halls of the Senate Offices and Marshal’s Guard located in the north wing of the Saxon Palace.
The separating walls between the eastern parking lot and the lower foyer, as well as the basements of the north and south wings of the Saxon Palace, are constructed as glass walls, transparent along the entire length of the basements, foyers, and parking lot; as such, they allow for continuous visual contact between these spaces, which are additionally illuminated by zenithal natural light through the partially glazed portion of the square floor. Thus, despite being located underground and designed under the western part of Piłsudski Square, the centrally located foyer is flooded with daylight. It features minimalist architecture and a contemporary architectural narrative. It allows for perfect orientation for visitors and visitors, combining the functionally restored northern and southern wings of the Saxon Palace into a single, logical whole, while preserving the restored historical layout of the buildings.
The basements of the north and south wings of the Saxon Palace are accessible from this central foyer as historical and archaeological spaces housing natural, unique permanent exhibitions. Their potential use is, of course, left to the investor to determine. Access to the historic basements is one of the project’s unique attractions. Therefore, among other things, our design carefully provides technical support for these spaces, including appropriate ventilation with air conditioning, lighting, power systems, and telecommunications installations, including fire protection, sound systems, structured cabling, and access control. We understand that the potential placement of a given functional and utility program in the exposed basements of the north and south wings of the Saxon Palace, set against the backdrop of authentic archaeological architecture, would require separate, careful teamwork involving conservators and archaeologists.
Our project seeks added cultural value, combining the excitement of exploring archaeological artifacts with the excitement of a thematic usable space. This innovative, contemporary, functional archaeological space is designed to provide a programmatic impact on the viewer in all available areas: visual, including lighting scenarios, auditory, auditory, and olfactory.
We anticipate that the functional program of the underground section of the complex will include continuous or sequential contact, subordinated to the functional scenario, with the living environment of the outside world, achieved through the glass ceilings and glass roof of the basements, which form the floor of the western office of Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square and simultaneously the foreground of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In turn, the relatively small basement sections of the north and south wings of the Palace, respectively, are organized as entrance halls accessible from the central underground foyer and connect the basement level and the foyer, respectively, with the entrance halls of the Institution of Culture and Education (…) located on the ground floor, and the ground floor entrance hall of the Senate Offices and the Senate Marshal’s Guard.
The main entrances to the Education and Culture Institution, including the Multifunctional Hall and Exhibition Hall (in the south wing of the Saxon Palace) and to the Senate Offices (in the north wing of the Saxon Palace), are also designed at ground level from Piłsudski Square.
We anticipate the possibility of constructing a double, removable brick and slab technical floor with appropriate clearance and usable height, installed between the new foundations under the exposed basement walls, allowing for the routing of both supply and exhaust ducts, as well as power supply, telecommunications, and fire protection cabling, including structured cabling. This configuration of technical and technological spaces would allow for flexible installations and/or modifications to accommodate changing functional needs, as well as the reinstallation of air conditioning, power, and telecommunications systems, their maintenance, and the necessary ongoing expansion.
Meanwhile, the constant visual contact of the foyers and functional and utility spaces located in the archaeological basements of the Saxon Palace and Morsztyn Palace, dominating above with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and two symmetrical projections of the Saxon Palace colonnade, seen from a monumental perspective from the lower horizon, builds important, also symbolic emotions at the interface between history and the present.