The Artur Malawski PHILHARMONIC HALL in RZESZÓW EXTENSION, REBUILDING AND REFURBISHMENT

Survey: 2008/2009 Implementation: 2010

Authors: Ph.D. Arch. Marek Kozień, Ph.D. Arch. Magdalena Kozień-Woźniak, M.Sc. Arch. Katarzyna Kozień-Kornecka.

Orderer: The A. Malawski Philharmonic Hall in Rzeszów

Development area: 2 806 m2²
Total area: 7 573 m²

Concert hall: 726 seats
Small audience chamber: 206 seats

This design included the rebuilding and refurbishment of the building of the Podkarpacie Philharmonic Hall as well as the construction of a new technical building and an underground car park servicing this object. All the activities were subordinate to the existing, strong urban layout. It is defined by two elements: the philharmonic hall and the music school making the walls of the square's interior. The technical building is located in a plot neighbouring on the square. Its front façade makes an extension of the school building line which runs along the philharmonic hall being adjusted to the modernistic character of the surrounding objects. The underground car park is located under the square outside the philharmonic hall. The descent to the car park and the entrance are situated so as to strengthen its character as an urban public space.

The philharmonic hall was designed by a team of architects from Warsaw (Wierzbicki, Mokrzyński, Kryszewski) at the end of the 1960s. The idea of the design of rebuilding and refurbishing it was to capture the climate of functional modernism applied forty years ago with the help of contemporary means increasing the quality and standard of the solutions. The facades as well as all the general interiors of the ground floor of the object make a precious and well-preserved image of an internal space from the early 1970s with high architectural and artistic values, especially that some grand solutions implemented by the previous generations are fading away in front of our very eyes. So, we must do anything to remain faithful to the assumptions adopted by their creators and – only by restoring actions and the unnoticeable interference of introducing contemporary technological accessories – raise the utilitarian values of this superb object.
The object included a concert hall for 777 listeners, a small audience chamber for 206 listeners, the spectator service zone with a hall, a foyer, cloakrooms and toilets, backup facilities for musicians with dressing rooms as well as administrative and technical backup facilities. The modernizing operations did not alter the manner of using the object or its architectonic form. A thorough change of the layout and décor was suggested in the small audience chamber which considerably increased the acoustic values of this interior. The seats layout was planned differently on a segment of the circle. A fan was spread out over the house from above the stage. An intimate space was created.