Małgorzata Petelenz
Housing Environment, 15/2015, 2015, pp. 178-185
It is common knowledge that architecture and urban planning are largely shaped by political ideologies and doctrines. This paper is an attempt at answering a question how contemporary space recipients perceive architectural and urban composition of cities whose foundation was based on ideologies. The research focused on Nowa Huta in Cracow and Neustadt in Strasbourg, and the study group consisted of adult users of these spaces, staying there only temporarily.
Małgorzata Petelenz
Housing Environment, 22/2018, 2018, pp. 121-129
https://doi.org/10.4467/25438700SM.18.023.8704Karol Borowiecki, Maks Baum and Moryc Welt - a Pole, a German and a Jew - the heroes of “The Promised Land” - embody the layering of cultures that have been forming Łódź already since the eighteenth century. The city is currently facing subjects of restoring the memory of its past inhabitants. The yearly Łódź of Four Cultures Festival, the revitalisation of sites of genocide or the establishment of new memorial sites like Survivors’ Park and Grey Ranks Park are but a few of the efforts that initiate dialogue with the past and that activate contemporary space. In the landscape of Bałuty, one of the districts of Łódź, we can see a combination of the unrealised dream of an urban planning revolution and glimpses of the past identity of the city of Litzmannstadt, which gives a chance for green areas to become their binding element. The author studied the dependency between memorial sites and green spaces in the landscape of Bałuty in terms of composition as a narrative tool within space.
Małgorzata Petelenz
Housing Environment, 18/2017, 2017, pp. 58-66
https://doi.org/10.4467/25438700SM.17.007.7597Juhani Pallasmaa wrote that the mist and twilight stimulate the imagination. The XX and XXI century is a time of constantly increasing light pollution. The darkness that is observed in nature is currently a state that cannot be encountered in the city. At the same time, creative activities that constitute themselves through experiments in lighting are being developed. The limiting of light currently fulfils the role of an intentionally used formal measure that defines the narration of the sense of a work. Architecture exploits both light and darkness, and the interpretation of both of these categories can be performed through referring to their opposite. The author analyses the use of total and partial darkness in architecture, as well as the symbolism of light and shadow, both as opposing measures, as well as those that mutually shape the fullness of a composition.
Małgorzata Petelenz
Przestrzeń Urbanistyka Architektura, Volume 2/2019, 2019, pp. 61-74
https://doi.org/10.4467/00000000PUA.19.022.11442When visiting Paris, one can notice how the memory layer of urban space creates a polyphony of institutionalised activity and dispersed commemoration – from the martyrdom museum, through the mausoleum, to interactive monuments and street art. The author, using the example of Paris, tracks how urban space is steeped in various forms of commemoration, which at the same time are destinations for thanatotourism, which is growing in popularity.
Małgorzata Petelenz
Housing Environment, 25/2018, 2018, pp. 18-28
https://doi.org/10.4467/25438700SM.18.074.9990Today art is not confined to exhibits enclosed in museums. The contemporary image of the city is co-created by colourful murals and graffiti. They are saturated with information and meaning, and thanks to their egalitarianism and ever-presence in public space—everybody becomes affected by them. They can bestow a persuasive function upon urban space, in which information intensely resonates. Murals, using architecture like a canvas, constitute smart, contemporary details in space. Apart from an aestheticising function, they convey information and meanings, entering into relationships with residents. The author investigated various complexes of murals of selected cities and made an attempt at categorising the causes of their creation.
Małgorzata Petelenz
Przestrzeń Urbanistyka Architektura, Volume 2/2017, 2017, pp. 217-231
https://doi.org/10.4467/00000000PUA.17.039.7220The trends in the development of the hotel industry are the evidence of an intensifying drive to expand the amount of services they offer. The dominant are the multifunctional, hybrid, flexible ones, which are able to meet the expected financial expectations. Cooperating with Wiśniowski company, the Cracow University of Technology enabled the students of the Architecture Faculty to create conceptual designs for a hybrid hotel by the Rożnowskie Lake. Participants were able to meet the architectural requirements from the business planning point of view, trying to reach a compromise between the principles of good craftsmanship and the economics of use.