Maciej SIUDA

XYZ Structure

archiprix

The XYZ dimensional structure is a system to design a building in the most crowded parts of densely populated cities that are deprived of public, green and people-friendly places. It can be built on any location, where the small size of the plot doesn’t allow a large public square, a backyard, or a playground for kids. It is a multifunctional independent structure, which facilitates various public functions, such as cafés, restaurants, ice-cream shops, backyards, small football pitches or basketball courts, streets, footpaths, green squares, lawns or parks. An applied system of working with only one element and various incisions in different places allows us to devote every part to an independent function and, at the same time, obtain changeable sections. The result is not only an interesting architectural form, full of spaces of different proportions, measurements, heights, lengths or widths, with different quantities of light and shadow, but also something which seems to be impossible – an open and common public space, despite being limited by walls and ceilings. On the one hand, the various sections and gaps formed between stores combine them visually and, on the other, they allow all the sounds and scents to flow freely through the interior, so that one can hear the sound of children playing in playgrounds, or a ball bouncing on a basketball court in every part of the building. It can be built to every scale and size, from a small architectural intervention or house-size form to a skyscraper. It is a concept, a system, a way of thinking about architecture in extremely dense districts, rather than a finished solution. The scale is less important than the concept, the space and the architecture itself.