The Theatre under Construction in Lublin

Competition design: March 2009

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

Cooperation: M.Sc. Arch. Agnieszka Kowalczyk, M.Sc. Arch. Beata Tokarska, M.Sc. Arch. Jakub Kornecki, M.Sc. Arch. Magdalena Habrat-Rączka,

M.Sc. Arch. Marcin Gierbienis, M.Sc. Arch. Michał Rączka Orderer: The Marshal's Office of the Province of Lublin

Investment cost: 23 777 800 PLN
gross Theatrical hall: 1158 seats altogether
Parking spaces: 260 altogether

"The Theatre under Construction" is an unfinished work of Arch. Stanisław Bieńkuński including two active theatrical institutions: the Musical Theatre and the Henryk Wieniawski Philharmonic Hall. Such a long break led to a high extent of the technical and utilitarian wear of the construction and installation elements.

The accepted principle of the compositional layout of Theatrical Square is based on the elementary axis of the old course of Radziszewskiego Street and the preservation of a square which makes a fragment of a larger protected layout of the composition of urban greenery (including Saxon Garden). The location of a monument is introduced in this layout at the intersection of the axis of Krakowskie Przedmieście and the axis of the new location of the main entrance to the CSK.
This layout is complemented with a cascade of water which flows in front of the building and makes a composition of waving planes together with its elevation. The design preserves a double-sided row of tall greenery along Racławickie Ave. which closes Theatrical Square from the north. I

n order to separate the functional zones of the Centre of Cultural Encounters clearly, the functions in the western reception part of the object, closely related to the extension of the western part, were moved for the sake of this spatial layout.

The main entrance (originally designed in the axis of the hall), moved westwards, leads the spectators to the S-N entrance hall from where they can enter the internal green atrium. From the hall, there is access to the zone of audience service with the box offices and controlled entrances to the cloakroom hall. A small café bar with a view of Theatrical Square is introduced in the front part.

Three overground storeys in the eastern part include:
a restaurant/café with a separate entrance, the zone of audience service, a café bar and an external exit from the underground car park on the ground floor; a complex of conference rooms was suggested on the foyer level; separated exposition rooms on the balcony entresol storey; a mediatheque with a library.
These functions are combined with each other so that they can be incorporated into the foyer zone or act independently. The remaining corrections concern the elements of the layout of rooms and internal divisions which serve to gain readable and simple functional connections. The theatrical hall was transformed by the partial incorporation of the former side auditorium bays and changes resulting from the guidelines of new stage technology and two trapdoors in the orchestra pit zone which is also used as an extended auditorium.