BUDCUD

KOSMOS HETEROTOPIA . WROCŁAW

BUDCUD

"Micro-Kosmos" is a hybrid of housing and workplaces in the area of Gądów project in the western part of city Wrocław.

Designed structure densifies the tissue of Gądów Mały, establishing a heterotopia. Space so distinct from the one created by housing blocks nearby, that it emphasizes its totalitarian character. And inscribed into the context so it makes its statement. This is the structure which fuses utopia and escapism together, connects the introvert and extravert movements. The aim is to create a heterotopia as a kind of familiar place, which we use everyday, but which, due to its features, is distanced from reality, which is changing our perception of surroundings. The structure is divided into 5 parts, 5 different figures. Each floor/segment is another component. Segments vary in size and width due to fit differentiated housing typologies. The hybrid form is also inspired by fortification forms of medieval castles. Their functional-spatial structure is clearly visible, the strong hierarchy is inevitable. Castles are totalitarian heterotopias full of subdivisions. The entrance and exit are under constant surveillance, what makes the control on inhabitants possible, but still it is impossible to control their behavior. It is also a conscious modification of "gated communities". More its critics than result of positive inspiration. The shape of the project reflects the aesthetics of large-scale multifamiliar housing developments around- the new structure built from multiplied perimeters and stacked onto each other reinterprets popular perimeter block. The layered housing typologies are highly customized for marginal social groups or inspired by cultural archetypes, found in culture texts. The social structure is based on cliches and archetypes taken from modern world and culture codes. Five different figures constitute social engineering, based on archetypical hierarchy of queen, king, elders esteem, villain and randomized wild bunch. Their expected behaviors, customs and daily routines are transformed into sequences of spaces/rooms. The distinction between social groups is made with the characteristics of spaces, not with their quality. Some have panic rooms, some narrative sequence of spaces with differentiated character, building the architectural poem. Some are built around the fitness running path or are squeezed into "necessary optimum", giving the adequate "liebensraum". Other are freely put onto a plateau, creating small social village in the sky. They are always appropriate for the specified community. Besides differentiated housing typologies in a project , many miscellaneous workplaces are found there, such as: offices, bar, bistro, restaurant, bakery, flower shop, fitness and kindergarten. The colony inhabitants can use common spaces for throwing parties, green areas on the ground floor and terraces of the roofs of all the structure units. The result is maybe not a prediction of future large-scale housing developments in Poland, but a wishful thinking about densifying existing blocks full of voids. About the new era of customized social housing, which is supported by social engineering. And where the distinctions between inhabitants are made with the character of spaces for living, not with their quality.

YEAR 2011
CLIENT MUNICIPALITY OF WROCŁAW
LOCATION WROCŁAW, PL
PROGRAM URBAN PLANNING, PUBLIC SPACE, HOUSING, MIXED-USE
AREA 39000 M2
STATUS STUDY
TEAM BUDCUD
PHOTOS