We sincerely invite you to participate in an exciting, thrillingly fast-paced project: The Knotted Archiblabla at the Konopacki Palace in Praga, a high-speed architectural competition fused with an architectural bazaar.

WHAT?

The plan is simple: we announce a competition for professionals involved with planning and thinking about the city - architects, teams of architects, artists working with public space, critics and activists to submit a proposal to develop the Konopacki Palace, a dilapidated mid-19th century industrialist’s residence in the run-down, right-bank Warsaw district of Praga Północ. What distinguishes this architectural competition is the intense pace at which it will be carried out, as well as its format. In the open competition we will accept 5 participants (individuals or in teams, who will announce their participation by email, on a first-come, first-served basis. We have also invited 10 prestigious architectural practices, artistic collectives, individual architects, artists and theoreticians to take part in the Architectural Bazaar.

The invited guests will be invited to visit the site on the afternoon of Friday 9th July at 10.00. They will have one day to draw up a simple, elastic but serious proposal for developing the Konopacki Palace, consisting of pencil drawings and a model made from any material (we will provide plasticine, cardboard and similar materials.  The competition conditions will also be handed to the participants on Wednesday afternoon. The next day, on Saturday 10th July, the participants will present their projects at the Architectural Bazaar, on the grounds of the Konopacki Palace.

WHY?

We are confident that the project will be rewarding and will be in a position to illustrate and influence a variety of issues at the intersection between architecture, art, bureaucracy, politics, participation and expert knowledge. We also hope that the dialogical formulation of several creative ideas will simply help to develop a frutiful, workable solution for the Konopacki Palace and to integrate it with the local community. Please see the BACKGROUND information below for more details.

HOW?

On Saturday 10th July, each participant/team (“archi-traders”) will take up residence at their own market stall in the grounds of the Konopacki Palace. Guests (“archi-marketgoers) of the Knotted Archiblabla will then make their way around the archi-traders' stalls, commenting on the various proposals and suggesting possible alterations, entering into a dialogue with the designers. The archi-traders will have drawing materials as well as plasticine at their disposal, and will be able to make alterations to their design on the basis of their conversations with the marketgoers. Each marketgoer whose proposal results in a substantive alteration to the trader’s project will have their name included on the final draft of the design. The market will take place between 1pm and 5pm. By 5:30pm, each participant/team must have prepared the final draft of their project. They will then present their design to the public, in a two-minute sales pitch. The public will vote to select the best design – either the work of one team, or a combination of proposals offered by several of the teams. The winning design will be submitted to the district authorities of Praga Północ as well as the President of Warsaw.

We look forward to hearing from you VERY soon! The number of places is limited!

Markus Bader  – email: mb@raumlabor-berlin.de

Maciej Czeredys – tel: 606926075; email:maciejczeredys@wp.pl

Michał Murawski – tel: (+48) 514 583 639; email: g.m.murawski@googlemail.com

Kuba Szreder – tel: 501371631; email: derszer@gmail.com

BACKGROUND

THE KONOPACKI PALACE WAS BUILT BETWEEN 1861 AND 1866. IT HAS BEEN IN DECLINE FOR SEVERAL DECADES, ALTHOUGH IT IS LISTED IN THE REGISTER OF HISTORICAL MONUMENTS. THE PRAGA DISTRICT COUNCIL HAS VAGUE PLANS TO ESTABLISH A MUSEUM OF LITERATURE IN THE PALACE, ALTHOUGH VERY LITTLE HAS BEEN DONE TO TAKE THIS PROJECT FORWARD. THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE COMPETITION CAN CHOOSE TO EITHER DRAW UP PLANS FOR A MUSEUM OF LITERATURE, OR TO PROPOSE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FUNCTION FOR THE BUILDING. MORE INFORMATION WILL BE SENT TO THOSE DESIGNERS WHO CHOOSE TO ACCEPT OUR INVITATION TO TAKE PART IN THE PROJECT.

The aims of the project are both local and global.

LOCALLY we hope to suggest a viable proposal which will help to breathe new life into the Konopacki Palace and its surroundings, and to integrate it into the local community.

GLOBALLY the project is conceived as a critique of the slow, unaccountable, expensive and paralysingly bureaucratic manner in which architectural competitions are carried out in Warsaw, as well as of ineffective participation and consultation procedures in the design of public buildings.