Modernism as a particularly important Polish 20th century heritage. Criteria for selection and protection of modernist resource on the example of Stalowa Wola architecture

Grażyna Stojak

Abstract

In the publication the author presents the problems related to the conservatory protection of the modernist buildings in Stalowa Wola. The city,originally designed in the spirit of the prevailing ideas of modernism, has been built in the 1930’s of the interwar period. Ideological-conceptual coherence and its implementation determine the representativeness of the Stalowa Wola urban complex as a modernist cultural heritage.
The ongoing transformation processes force actions aimed at protecting this heritage. The author presents the necessity to analyze and evaluate the entire urban complex presenting assumptions to establish possible criteria and areas of analysis and evaluation. Among the others, it has beensuggested that the design concept and its implementation should be taken into account as a basic assessment criterion in the context of the changes that occurred after the Second World War.
After a brief reminder of the assumptions used in the design process of residential and service constructions, the author draws attention to the need to assess the impact of the currently ongoing investmentswhich have impact on the completeness and integrity of the architectural and urban complex of Stalowa Wola.
Intangible assets: the names of the streets, buildings, squares, the non-material values of the architectural sites and the architectural design of particular buildings and the cities as a whole, is another area that requires both research and protection. The problems resulting from the low awareness of the residents appear in this issue, and also appear in the proposed solutions for the design of the renovated and modernized buildings.
To solve most problems related to the protection of the conservator of modernist architecture and urban planning of Stalowa Wola, the creation of the Cultural Park is proposed. Both the arguments for its creation and its scope have been here presented.