Winner announced for National Museum's new “forum”

National Museum forum site; photo - Marcin Zieliński

Michal Bernasik triumphed over 40 other contestants in the so-called “Museum Forum” project, which covers approximately 1.5 hectares of space in front of the hallowed institution.

Both the museum authorities and members of the public have long harboured a desire to remodel the area, part of which has served for many years as a municipal car park.

According to the dictates of the competition, which was held by the city, the new forum will be “an external territory for the activity of the museum, a place for meetings with art and audiences, but also a place for everyday relaxation and recreation for the inhabitants of Krakow.”

One of the prerequisites of the contest was that the project should not compete with the imposing modernist facade of the building, an edifice that was founded in 1934 during the years of Poland's interwar independence.

The winning design accentuates the vertical thrust of the facade, with white bands running across the plaza in line with the columns of the building itself.

The city will be maintaining car parking space – albeit subterranean – and in keeping with the criterion of the contest, the architect incorporated this eventuality into his scheme.

Besides funding from the city to realise the project – the specifics of which have yet to be finalised – Michal Bernasik was awarded a prize of 25,000 zloty (6200 euros). (nh/pg)