Issue: Redesign an existing square
The aim of our project was to develop a square at the intersection of Smocza and Nowolipki streets in Warsaw. In a symbolic place, until 1943, there was a tenement house where Józef Rotblat spent his childhood and youth. With this project we wanted to bring closer the figure of the Polish physicist, an outstanding scientist. Together with a team of eminent scholars from all over the world, he worked on a secret project in Manhattan to obtain a new powerful weapon - that's how the atomic bomb was born. However, he gave up his participation in the project when he realized what effects this might have. During the Cold War, Rotblat became a leading critic of the concept of military deterrence through the possession of weapons of mass destruction. He argued that such a weapon threatens the continued existence of humanity. In 1957 he led to the creation of an international pacifist movement of nuclear demilitarisation called Pugwash. In 1995 Józef Rotblat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with the Pugwash movement. He was recognized for his nuclear disarmament work.
Our main goal was to create a place that would encourage interaction between residents of surrounding areas. Our main inspiration were the forms of the atom and ionizing waves, which Rotblat dealt with during its scientific activity. We proposed a system of benches, spreading around circles, surrounded by greenery.
2019 project made during workshop conducted by dr hab. Jarosław Kozakiewicz
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
