Building of the Year
John Hill
19. November 2016
All photographs courtesy of WAF
The National Museum in Szczecin – Dialogue Centre Przelomy, Poland, has been declared the 2016 World Building of the Year at the ninth World Architecture Festival, held in Berlin.
Designed by Robert Konieczny - KWK Promes, the project comprises an undulating public square above the below-grade museum. The museum is the second building in Szczecin to receive a major award: Barozzi / Veiga’s Philharmonic Hall Szczecin won the EU Mies Award in 2015. Fortuitously, the Philharmonic overlooks the museum/public space and is visible in the three of the photos here.
The World Building of the Year was judged after two days of crits (day one winners, day two winners) that determined the winners in seventeen Completed Building categories. (The Future Project of the Year and other award winners can be seen here.) Following that, the so-called Super-jury – made up of Angelene Chan, David Chipperfield, Louisa Hutton, and Frederic Migayrou – selected the "best in show" winner.
“This project enriches the city and the life of the city,” said jury chair David Chipperfield. “It addresses a site with three histories: pre-World War II, wartime destruction, and post-war development, which left a significant gap in the middle of the city. This is a piece of topography as well as a museum. To go underground is to explore the memory and archaeology of the city, while above ground the public face of the building, including its undulating roof, [can] be interpreted and used in a variety of ways.”
