zeppelin magazine | no #60

In the early 1990s, everyone thought that we could get rid of the House of the People. But some proposals, like to demolish it partially or completely, to bury it under a hill, etc, seemed utopian even then. In fact, it is impossible to destroy it, and actually, it is about an economic value that is supposed to be used. Moreover, maybe it is much better to assume your own history, even its ugliness, than to wipe it off. Nevertheless, I think that few could imagine back then what was really to become of this monster. No one would have thought that both Houses of Parliament would move in and the project would be completed by the very same designer.

The building is located on the outskirts of Katowice, near a forest, on land deteriorated by 4th category mining damage, where tectonic faults are a possibility. Hence the connotation of uplifted layers of soil, interwoven with one another, which was the inspiration for the form of the house.  Its structural design comprises rectangular solids contrasting with the ribbon – like structure which winds around them after it emerges from the ground. It is the leitmotif of the building, combining a variety of functions: starting with the swimming pool to the living room with a fireplace and then to the bedroom upstairs. A noteworthy feature of the ramp is elemination of stoops. Such a solution was achieved by bending the surface of the course, which made it possible to keep its outer edges straight, without bends typical for such structures.

Remix, our project for the Biennale in Venice, has now reached Basel, in a larger festival, which was dedicated this year to the Romanian culture: Culturscapes. www.culturescapes.ch.
It’s a combination of factors and events that thrill us. Not only for the sake of our egos, but for the real people and projects we’ve seen there. Since the simplest and the most surprising statement about Basel is that it has a real life, that it’s a real place. And when I say that, I mean that the social and cultural life of this city is deep, with serious ethical roots.