A city is an organized space where various functions, interests, and people mix. It is a living organism. It never becomes a finished product, it constantly transforms and changes. Cities are perceived by their unique features that distinguish them. They create the identity of the place and are the pride of their inhabitants.
The idea of rugs in passage ways proposed by us and described below is an idea for an original feature in public spaces. It is a way to add an identity to the most important street in the city and to implement a concept that is unique on a global scale. On the one hand, it is a marketing campaign for Łódź, and on the other – another reason for tourists to visit Piotrkowska Street and admire works of art created by outstanding designers from around the world. We would like to invite artists from Poland and abroad to Łódź to take part in this project.
The project consists of lining the floor with colored ceramic tiles in the passage ways at Piotrkowska Street. Each passage has a slightly different style and different details that may be an inspiration for the creators. We would like to take our carpets outside the gates, onto the pavement, thus creating a clear sign for passers-by that it is worth visiting a given courtyard. A detail, a tenement house, a courtyard – each has its history, which can be an inspiration to create small works of art, from the floor to the ceiling. Each rug would be different, it would delight with its form, colors, but also be attracted by the name of its creator. In each gate, we plan to install a sign indicating the authors and partners of that project.
The result of the workshops conducted at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź (at the Faculty of Design and Interior Architecture) and the Łódź University of Technology, carried out under the patronage of the Mayor of the City of Łódź, Hanna Zdanowska, was the competition “Gate clearances”. The partners of the event are the Łódź District Chamber of Architects in Łódź, the Piotrkowska Street Foundation and Tubądzin Management Group.
About a hundred students at both universities worked the entire semester. Almost a hundred works were submitted to the competition. The quality of the submitted projects was very high and the jury had a big problem with selecting the winners. Ultimately, it decided to award Anna Malicka (1st place), Agata Blatkiewicz (2nd place), and Monika Mamos (3rd place). The winning design was that of the gate opening at ul. Piotrkowska 16. The winner received a high-class graphic laptop funded by the Tubądzin Group. The prizes for second and third place were professional graphic tablets.
The rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, prof. Jolanta Rudzka-Habisiak, when opening the exhibition, said: “I am delighted that we are showing the inhabitants of Łódź what the gates on Piotrkowska Street could look like. I am glad that Tubądzin was the catalyst for this idea. This exhibition shows how business initiatives can meet the expectations of architects. The implementation of this project will be a fantastic road map for visitors to Łódź as well as function as its showpiece ”. Moreover, as the Rector admitted: “without cooperation with business, producers, and brands such as Tubądzin, which move with the times, are innovative, focus on the most modern technologies, the education process would be incomplete. Without cooperation between science and business, the students would be deprived of practical tools and knowledge ”.
However, it did not end there. Half a year later, we were able to present the effects of the fifteen-week-long work of students by President Hanna Zdanowska. The result of this meeting was the selection of four gates where it would be possible to implement the project in the formula we proposed (Piotrkowska 17, Piotrkowska 36, Piotrkowska 61, and Piotrkowska 102).
Well, we took up the challenge again in the 2019/2020 semester, expecting equally unexpected and beautiful projects, albeit this time with the hope for their real implementation.
Konrad Karmański
Architect. Tubądzin Group Architect, Chairman of the Łódź district Chamber of Architects, Vice president of the Ulica Piotrkowska Foundation, lecturer at the Interior Architect Institute at the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz. He teaches at the Institute of Architecture at the Lodz University of Technology – Interior: “Plasticity in Architecture” and Drawing: “Hand drawing”. He is the originator and organizer and executor of the yearly “Przystanek Muzyka” festival for music playing architects from all over Poland. He is also the originator and co-organizer of the “Rugs competition – a new identity for the city” (pol. Prześwity Bramowe – nowa tożsamość dla Łodzi).
Robert Sobański
Architect, PhD Engineering, Architecture. He is a proffessor at the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz., Director of the Interior Architecture Institute at the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, lecturer at the Institute of Architecture at the Lodz University of Technology. He is also the vice chairman of the Łódź district Chamber of Architects, originator and co-organizer of the “Rugs competition – a new identity for the city” (pol. Prześwity Bramowe – nowa tożsamość dla Łodzi).
