Student participiants:
Tymon Wolender, Łukasz Modrzejewski, Michał Madeja, David Erik Bernátek, Lucie Zádrapová, Jarmila Martinkova, Žaklina Nježić,
Maria Napieralska, Bogusława Szlachciak
support: Wojciech Jenerowicz
Location: The Cieszyn Theatre
The Cieszyn Theatre in Český Těšín was founded in 1945. In 1951, the second (in addition to the already existing Czech Stage) stage of this theatre was created – the Polish Stage. The stage inaugurated its activities on October 14, 1951 with the premiere of Aleksander Maliszewski’s play Yesterday and the Day Before Yesterday directed by Władysław Delong and with stage design by Władysław Cejnar. In its beginnings, the Polish Stage comprised mainly of actors from numerous local amateur theatre groups, who often abandoned their previous, more lucrative jobs for the uncertain role of the new stage actors.During 62 seasons, the Polish Stage held 434 premieres, enjoyed by around 3 000 000 viewers. The acting team currently consists of 16 people, holds five premieres in a season, giving the total of about 150 performances. In addition to its permanent headquarters in Český Těšín, the theatre performs on tour in 6 cities, and has guest spots in several cities in Poland and the Czech Republic.
The Cieszyn Theatre is a peculiar phenomenon on the theatre map, because it offers performances in two languages: Polish and Czech. It performs for children, teenagers and adult viewers from both sides of the border Olza river. The Polish Stage was created primarily for the Polish national minority living in the Czech part of Cieszyn Silesia, Zaolzie. Currently, the theatre is a bridge between the cultural life of not only the two cities, Cieszyn and Český Těšín, but also of the entire border region.
At the beginning of the 60s. The present theatre building was designed by an architect Z. Vávra in the 20th century. In one theatre building there are three artistically independent acting groups under joint management and administration. The theatre also has extensive technical facilities, tailoring and hairdressing studios, and a recording studio. In the theatre, during the performances there is also a cafe open for spectators. The building also houses a gallery, where works of painters and sculptors are presented, and the city library is located here too.
NEEDS
The theatre is not located in the city centre, but rather on the outskirts, by the main road leading to the provincial city of Ostrawa, in the vicinity of a hospital and a shopping centre. The theatre is looking for opportunities to engage viewers and enable them to familiarise themselves with the programme. The proposed location is a space of approx. 400 square meters located in a close proximity to the main entrance to the Theatre building. The space is surrounded by urban greenery and the surface is paved. This place is visible from the road. We propose to design a small outdoor stage which would allow the presentation of teasers of performances or short theatrical performances. It is possible to use attachable theatre platforms, which are part of the theatre’s equipment. The designed piece of furniture could also be an interesting spot for children and teenagers, who often wait in this square before going into the Puppet Theatre for performances.
FINAL RESULTS
The main task was to create a structure which the theatre could use for open-air performances. Since for most of the year the square is a public space, not an open-air auditorium, the designers wanted to invite passers-by to change their usual perspective, to engage them and encourage to contribute to the scenery created.The designers proposed a composition of 3 elements, including a bench which was already present at the location before the workshop. When designing individual elements, the participants assumed that they must engage users — the furniture’s role is to draw attention and encourage a change of perspective by leaving room for free interpretation. This way, designers defined simple elements: horizontal, vertical and flat ones. The horizontal element closes the open corner of the square and constitutes at the same time a gateway to the square, through an opening which frames the theatre and the tower. As a vertical element, group proposed a structure which may be used by theatre employees during their plays. The flat element, which is the existing triangular bench, is the last ingredient of the composition which balances everything out, ensuring that the elements do not compete with each other.
Tutor: studio NOMAD/ Bence Pasztor, Soma Pongor
Architects from Hungary
Studio Nomad is a multidisciplinary design studio based in Budapest, Hungary. Bence Pasztor, David Tarcali and Soma Pongor are the founding members with background in architecture. The word ‘Nomad’ reflects the diversity of our creative work that spans from small objects to larger landscape architectural projects and spatial installations.
Our aim is to show the beauty and joy residing in the simplicity of structure and materials. What drives us is our curiosity to experiment and our intention to create something new and unseen.