ART BUNKER

New Life for the Bunker of Art

The Bunker of Art stands out significantly from the urban fabric of Krakow due to its size, material, and functional solutions. It is a unique place, in a style that is no longer found in the city. While we recognize many aesthetic qualities of the Gallery, the neglect of this place prevents the appreciation of the architectural ideas that once guided its design. Our proposal is to fully uncover the previously hidden front façade of the Gallery, which will allow the building to be viewed from a distance and create an interesting entrance space. By eliminating the café pavilion, which occupies a large space in front of the building, we gain an open square and a newly designed alternative space below ground level, which creates an additional entrance to the basement. This solution respects the historical fabric of the Bunker of Art.

Inspiration – Krakow Roof

One can assume that the Krakow roof is created by splitting a single roof plane in half and then vertically displacing the upper of the two resulting smaller planes. The gap between them creates a wall, often adorned with wooden ornaments or painted decoration.
If, during the design process, we only keep the movements of cutting and displacing (in any number of instances), and completely discard the resulting, historically imposed form of a two- or four-pitched roof, we arrive at a novel form that is nevertheless rooted in the traditions of Małopolska.
The tool used to create the form of the extension to the Bunker of Art was precisely such cuts and displacements, with the starting point being the roof of Drobnerówka. The form of the roof fits into the complex architecture of the roofs in the quarter, both in terms of the roof planes and divisions.

Roof Line

The first design direction for the extension was inspired by the sloping roofs that form a cohesive whole in the Krakow Old Town. The Bunker of Art, as a building that does not fit into the existing urban fabric, lacks a height that corresponds in scale to its neighbors or the space of Szczepański Square. Moreover, it has a contrasting flat roof. The new extension creates a spatial connection between the Gallery and the surrounding buildings, while still maintaining its characteristic contrast. The extension features elements that reference the ornamentation of the Bunker of Art, while the shape of this part is directly derived from the lines of Krakow’s roofs.

Ornament
The ornamentation of the extension stems from two components – the relief of the Bunker of Art’s facade and the non-existent Tower of Red Tanners.

Ornamentation of the Non-Existent Tower of Red Tanners
Most of Krakow’s towers featured zigzag patterns made from dark, almost black bricks. The winding pattern on the wall was meant to disrupt the aiming distance of the cannons of the besieging troops, leading to a higher likelihood of missing the target.

Ornamentation of the Bunker of Art’s Facade
The designers of the Bunker of Art’s concrete facade incorporated the texture of the long-gone city walls of Krakow, the foundations of which lie a few meters from the Gallery. A characteristic feature of the facade are the trapezoidal indentations, larger than the others.

Ornamentation of the Extension’s Facade
We wanted the facade of the new part of the Bunker of Art to reference both the demolished city fortifications and the concrete relief of the Gallery, creating a historical and artistic continuity. By ‘softening’ the zigzag pattern from the tower and the trapezoid from the Bunker’s facade and connecting them, we achieved a panelized effect.

Continuation of the City Wall Form – Public Space

To illustrate the continuation of the historical form of the wall, we assumed that the facade of the Bunker of Art is an element situated in the middle of the timeline, with the new extension at the end and the medieval city walls at the beginning. When the viewer sees only two elements—the facade of the Bunker of Art and the facade of the extension—they won’t perceive continuity, only a continuation or a dialogue. To reveal the continuity, we decided not to propose a new pavilion in front of the gallery but to expose the ruins that are still hidden underground.

The new public space will be created by laying out earth steps from the remains of foundations and structures buried beneath the ground. All bricks and stones will be sorted, cleaned, and arranged in a new configuration. The city wall will remain untouched and will serve as the boundary of the sunken area.

The café will be located in the basement, adjacent to the city wall, which will continue there.

Outside of the sunken area, a public square has been designed as the forecourt for the building’s entrances and as an expansion of the Planty park. The square may also feature café tables, which will be part of events held on the steps and in the basement. People strolling along the Planty park will be able to freely walk alongside the building and stop to take part in the new life of the Bunker.