Museum of WWII in Gdańsk Competition proposal / Brochet Lajus Pueyo

Courtesy of Brochet Lajus Pueyo

Last week, we featured the winner of the Museum of the Second World War Competition in Gdańsk, Poland. The project was designed by Studio Architektoniczne Kwadrat. Now, French architects Brochet Lajus Pueyo shared with us their proposal for the competition, designed with associates architects Alice Wijnen & R-architecture. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Courtesy of Brochet Lajus Pueyo

Obligation of remembrance, desire of remembrance, memorial monument…

The intention of the city of Gdansk to build on the exact confluence of both the canal Radunia and the river Motlawa the Museum of the Second World War shows its desire for recognition of its twentieth century history.

It is truly the understanding and recognition of these patrimonial injuries that are part of its heritage that are the foundations of this new part of the city: a space and time warp for the visitor.

Courtesy of Brochet Lajus Pueyo

The objective is therefore to offer in this place, the knowledge and the memories without consigning the site towards a sole museum.

A place to gather its memories, opening up towards the city:

The program requested a total built area of 23 000m2 for a plot of the same size.

The staging of the museum designed by TEMPORA, the spatial configuration and zoning laws applicable to the area required a building, occupying nearly the entire plot.

Courtesy of Brochet Lajus Pueyo

The urban base being both a memorial and an open space to the city, we are suggesting that the museum will be buried, integrated under the ground of the city of Gdansk, thus leaving the ground as an unconstructed, open space.

On the remaining ground of the freed space, the pre- war constructions resurfaces in the form of thick mineral layers, designed and imagined by each and everyone as being as many possible platforms. This scared crust reveals the past and the memory of the venue and identifies this new public place as a visible entity that encloses the remains of the war.

Finally, on this very place, three huge abstract cubes are hosting the requested city programs.