Yarişmalar-Competitions

Part I
Preliminary Provisions

1. Type and formula of the competition:

1.1. Organiser of the Competition:
The Competition is organised by the Mayor of the City of Gdansk – address: Gdansk City Hall, 80-803 Gdansk, ul. Nowe Ogrody 8/12, hereinafter called the Awarding Authority.

1.2. Legal Framework
The Competition is organised in accordance with the Act of 29 January 2004, Public Procurement Law – Section İİİ, Chapter 1 – Competition (complete text in Journal of Laws 2004, No. 19, it. 177)

1.3. Subject of the Competition
The Competition concerns the development of a conceptual design of the facade and entrance terrace:
1) for one selected townhouse – to be presented in three variants, or
2) a block of three townhouses (adjacent on one another) and their entrance terraces for one location selected from the eleven indicated options – one variant

1.4. Type and Form of the Competition:
A one-stage architectural study competition.

2. Purpose of the competition
To create the contemporary vision for stage two in the process of rebuilding the historic area of Gdansk through accumulating information on new trends and solutions in architecture.

3. Participants in the competition
3.1. The Competition is open to natural persons, entities with personality at law,
organisational bodies with no legal personality, and any of the above acting jointly.
3.2. The Competition is addressed at architects with a university degree.
3.3. İn case of team of natural persons at least one must have a degree in architecture.
3.4. The rules applicable to a single entity participating in the Competition will apply, respectively, to team Participants.

Part II
Terms of reference
1. General information and the rationale behind the competition Since the Middle Ages when brick and stone made their way into the builders’ repertoire in Gdansk the Main City area grew to adopt the specific form of the narrow townhouse estate, typical for the Hanseatic cities. Arranged along three parallel axes, the household had the residential quarters in the street-facing section with a spatial hall on the ground floor. From there, stairs would typically lead up to the mezzanine reserved for the merchant’s office area.

Facing the street, the house was typically four storeys high, its top attic floor tucked under a steep gabled roof. The basement at the foundations protruded into the street and was used as a storage or shop. İts flat roof formed a terrace. The mid-section of the estate formed a small yard with a passage linking the front house to the utility buildings at the back of the estate.

The latter were typically two or three-storey high. Two estates of the layout, their utility buildings adjacent on each other, took the entire depth of a city quarter.
The neighbouring houses were separated with fire walls. The width of the façade was standardised by the law and could not exceed a certain value. Even though, we can come across some wider buildings. To obtain consent to exemption from the rule and a permission to build a house of a nonstandard width was very costly, hence few applied for it. The less wealthy city dwellers would even build houses narrower than the standard, with two windows across the front compared to the standard facade that would take three windows on each upper floor and two windows flanking the central portal on the ground floor. The existing standard-width houses with the front door placed asymmetrically were actually altered in the 20th century so as to make room for shop windows.

The crest of the roof over the front building would run perpendicular to the street and the gabled façade would continue up above the roofline. This blueprint of a townhouse stood fast over the centuries and up to the Second World War, irrespective of the changing architectural styles. İts permanence gave it the status of an implicit canon instantly identified with Gdansk. The impact of styles thereon could be compared to the impact changing fashionable clothes could have on a woman’s attractiveness. The variety and refined forms of the Gdansk facades were due to the type and significance of the role the City played in the European trade, and the related wealth in those times.

The City of Gdansk today, cherishing its tradition and willing to restore its historic districts, mainly the prime tourist area of the Main City, to their earlier grandeur, has embarked on the action aimed at completing the reconstruction effort. The project has been called stage two in the Main City restoration process. Towards the aim, the local spatial development plan was put together to specify the planning parameters necessary for any new developments to blend well into the conditions evolved through history. A widespread quality discussion evoked by the structures most recently erected within the body of the historic city reflects the need to find a solution to the controversies around the architectural form.

The aim of this Competition is to find an antidote to a peculiar stylistic pauperisation evident in the newly built houses. İt is also anticipated we can overcome the post-war stereotype perception identifying the unique Gdansk style with the style-less, boring, and ‘non-entity’ fronts of the so-called ‘gap-fill’ buildings. Their facades bear a closer resemblance to the back walls of the houses built centuries ago. İn the fifties, when the first phase of reconstruction was undertaken, the need to economise and the adopted assumption that the Main City would be re-erected in the Renaissance style, only dotted with a few Gothic intrusions here and there, limited true restoration work to few selected facades. The remaining lot that flanked the length of quarter after quarter was put up with nothing but a touch of stylistic marking. The evolution of the local facade over the last seven hundred years can be studied based on the illustrations enclosed below. They can also provide those in search of a new form (style) of the 21st century townhouse with specific food for thought. The rationale behind running this Competition as an international and European Project is twofold.

Firstly, Poland has joined the European Union; secondly, it is our desire to elevate Gdansk to its historic position of an important centre of economic and cultural  growth in Europe, and reach back to its cosmopolitan roots. This Competition is organised 101 years after an earlier one held in 1903. The aim of our predecessors was to obtain hints and recommendations on the form to be adopted for a new project of filling in the gap which was formed after the demolition of the western belt of fortifications. The works selected in both these competitions will be displayed at an exhibition to be arranged by the City.

The unique identity of the Gdansk townhouses was the function of the diversity of form and richness of décor found in their facades. To restore this early grandeur we must evoke and nurture the inner need of enhancing the beauty of the facades in the house owners. Doing so, we must keep in line with the architectural trends, though only in their most perfect and thoroughly studied form. We anticipate the Competition will set the line of future action based on the selected best studies.

2. The Gdansk Townhouse Over The Centuries – An Overview
The standard of building houses of brick in Gdansk set in for good only in the 15th century. İt was probably the outcome of years of locally amassed experience and ready solutions brought in from other European countries by Western settlers and craftsmen invited to apply them here. The outline of a typical homestead laid on the plan of a lengthy rectangle which faced the street with its shorter side had already been in place in the second half of the 13th century. The ground floor of the building in the front formed a spacious room later
developed into the typical reception hall. Beyond was the kitchen with the range and the living quarters opening onto the back yard. The attic or first floor were the storage areas. The houses were most probably erected as frame structures.

Fire hazard inclined the city authorities to issue regulations prohibiting erection of wooden houses. The regulations, combined with swift economic development turned the 15th century Main City into a largely masonry complex. The width of the plot varied ranging between 5 and 7 metres. İn their depth, individual estates stretched for up to 30-40 metres occupying half the length the housing quarter. Some plots would sometimes stretch over the entire length of the block, from one street to the other. The depth of the houses themselves was also varied, with the average of 16 metres and the extremes reaching 20 metres and more. Two neighbouring Gothic houses shared a common wall called the fire wall. One on
both sides, the walls also played the function of the key structural element on which the ceilings of individual storeys were supported. The system made it easy to replace the floors in case of need, and modify and adapt the front and back walls freed from any carrying functionin any desired way.

Gothic facades
The Gothic house was a single family home arranged along two or three parallel axes. İts characteristic feature was a high entrance hall which occupied the ground floor of the street-facing building and played the reception function. İn the mid-section stairs led up to the upper storeys. The high hall along the back axis, divided into floors formed two storey high living quarters. The upper floors were initially intended for storage, but later on they were transformed to living quarters. Thus, the entire ground floor had representative cum trading or crafts functions. The basements at the foot could not go down too deep because of the high table of the ground waters. Partly elevated, they had extra access from the street.

Entrance to the house was up a flight of stairs. Planned in combination, the entrance to the building and the descent to the basement formed a kind of terrace which, decorated with sculpted elements gave the beginning to the typical Gdansk entrance terraces. The back section of the plot was reserved for utility buildings, the so-called ‘annexes’. One of them, narrow and long, ran along the lot border. İts shorter sides bordered on the main dwelling house on the one side, and the other utility building in the back, stretching across the entire width of the lot. Between the residential building and the side and back utility buildings sat a small inner yard. This model layout of the estate and the spatial arrangement of the Gothic house survived in its core structure up to mid-nineteenth century.

Renaissance and Mannerist facades
Baroque facades
Up to the 18th century the high hall constituted the backbone of the interior
composition and its representative function. İn the Rococo era the latter function moved upstairs, to the sitting room. The hall was narrowed down to make room for e.g. the office, and a mezzanine was added along its back wall. The stairs to the upper floors were shifted towards the entrance. The hall was again compromised to the mezzanine in the early 19th century. The rooms used for trading were enlarged, and the main living quarters moved to the first floor. Home and social life followed suit. The storeys above had bedrooms, guestrooms and other dwelling areas. Over time, the basements were deepened to form another storey down. The ex-utility annexes were transformed to additional living cum utility areas with the kitchen, servant rooms, sometimes even representative chambers.

Baroque facades, cont.
The entrance terraces, evolved into their final shape in the 17th century, did not
change their layout or function to any significant extent. They continued to serve combined communication and recreation purposes. İn the most recent epochs, once the entrances to the basements had been liquidated, the recreational function remained.

Classicist facades
İn the 19th century the burger house stopped playing the role of a one-family building. İt was turned into an apartment block, and finally changed its original function and designation. İnstead, an important new function developed - the house began to servecommercial purposes. Shops with large display windows, initially occupying the ground floors, expanded to the first and even higher floors.
The fundamental structural and functional plan of the house, rooted in the Middle
Ages underwent little changes. The street-facing façade, however, was prone to
transformations. The backbone of the façade composition was axial arrangement of the windows which marked the storeys. The ornate doorway was typically placed centrally shifting to one side in double-axis houses, though always axially. A particularly decorative gable top which hid a steep roof and the entrance terrace with a stonework or ironwork finish completed the picture. The type and abundance of ornamentation adorning the facades varied over the centuries from a modest version where only the portal, gable, and terrace were decorated to the currently prevailing style, through more daring use of ornamentation around the windows or in between the storeys, to utterly lush and virtually sculpted facades arranged to a rich iconological programme. The latter were often created by the most outstanding local builders and sculptors, plus artists specially invited from abroad. The back yard walls, considered secondary in status were frequently devoid any stonework decorations so that sometimes they featured nothing more but a modest doorway.

The model of the Gdansk townhouse, which took its shape in the 15th century, was followed until the mid-nineteenth century. Together with the rapid development of industry and capitalist economy, as well as the growing population there came the need for different urban architecture. The existing burgher houses, even though altered to suit the contemporary needs, did not always satisfy the growing expectations. They began to be replaced with new, tall tenant houses stretching deep into the lot. The new model was better suited to the then prime functions. Development of the mid-section areas within city blocks intensified. Many old portals had to give way to glazed shop windows on the ground floors. To facilitate access to the shops and make room for the developing transport entrance terraces, so characteristic of the Gdansk streets began to disappear. The nature of the facade decoration underwent a deep change together with mass application of various neo-style and eclectic forms. Frequently too, the composition of the façade with its characteristic gable, developed and followed for centuries, was abandoned. The gable was replaced with a horizontal moulding, and the steep ceramic roof gave way to a flat, tar-paper lined roofing.

Eclectic facades
As of the early 20th century, particularly before the First World War, the newly erected or revamped townhouses were given a far less ornate and more toned down decoration. İn the times of the Free City a number of attempts were taken to remove the 19th century transformations and restore the original air of the Gdansk townhouses. This is how things looked like when the city was destroyed in 1945.

3. The requirements of the local spatial development plan
The area the Competition concerns is included in the Local Spatial Development Plan for Gdansk – Centre, the Main Town area.

The land is designated to services and housing:
- service outlets,
- service and residential buildings,
- residential houses,

The lotting out principles:
- The lots available for the new development shall follow the historic land units or their multiples (for the historic lotting see the plan).
- Wherever possible, the new lotting must follow the historic units or their multiples.

The permissible building height:
- a newly-designed townhouse development that does not attempt at restoring the earlier structures the building height must be consistent with the historic sources or correspond with the height of the neighbouring structures and never rise above higher than the existing tallest house in the quarter.

For newly designed developments it is permissible to combine functions over the lot borders, though never more than the maximum of three townhouses. İnside, spatial division shall follow original historic lot borders.

Part İİİ
Formal rules of competition
1. The materials available to the participants
All Competition materials will be recorded on a CD in two languages: Polish and English, and in the printed form in the Polish language.

1.1 The Rules of Competition and Schedules thereto:
- application for admission to the Competition, Schedule No. 1
- declaration from the Competition Participant on meeting the prerequisites of Art. 22.1 of the Public Procurement Act dated 29 Jan. 2004 (Journal of Laws No. 19, it. 177), Schedule No. 2
- statement by the Competition Participant declaring that the copyright held is as required in the Terms Competition, Schedule No. 3
- entry submission receipt,
- sample repartition list,
- personal data form,
1.2 location plans, scale 1:500, of the 11 locations
1.3 architectural and urban planning parameters for the 11 locations,
1.4 photographs presenting the spatial context of the 11 locations

2. Explanation of the rules of competition
The Competition Participants can apply to the Awarding Authority in writing for explanation of the Rules of Competition no later than 6 days prior to the deadline for submitting the competition studies.

3. The requirements binding on the participants
All Participants shall submit their studies in the Polish or English language.

3.1. The required elements of the study
1) location plan, scale 1:500
2) black-and-white view of the ground floor including the entrance terrace designed for the service function, scale 1:50
3) black-and-white drawing of the facade, scale 1:50
The design must reserve spade for an advertisement board so that if added later it does not placement does not imbalance the facade composition
4) a perspective view of the townhouse including a fragment of the frontage seen from the level of a passer-by

3.2. Optional elements of the study
1) the façade colour scheme, scale 1:50
2) a brief description in the A-4 format

4. The study volume and format
4.1. The drawings in the A2 format must be equipped with light but rigid supports
4.2. The number of drawings – as desired.
4.3. All drawings must be legible and reproducible, made in black-and-white (colour in case of the perspective
4.4 The competition study must also be recorded in the digital CD format.

5. Entry markings and packing
All drawings, descriptions and the entry submission receipt must be marked with the reference İD put in the top right corner. The drawings and pictures must not be marked with any identifying icons or signatures. The study must be compiled into a single file with the reference İD printed in the top right corner. The file should also bear the address of the Competition Awarding Authority.

6. Displaying the entries
The Participants in the Competition can indicate the order in which their drawings should be displayed, provided however that number 1 should be reserved to the location plan. The drawing numbering must be indicated in the top left corner of each drawing.

7. Application for admission to the competition
7.1. The Awarding Authority must receive the Application for Admission to the
Competition (Schedule No. 1) at its address, room 434, on or before the date indicated in the Rules of Competition.

The Application shall be bound into an A4 format booklet and contain all schedules provided together with the Rules of Competition (the Application and schedules shall be made in the Polish or English language). Photocopies of the degree diplomas shall be certified for consistency with the original, and translated to the Polish or English language.

The Application shall specify and include:
_ the name and address of the Competition Participant and the list of participating individuals enclosed with photocopies of the degree diplomas certified for consistency with the original; the name of the contact person duly authorised by the Team to liaise with the Awarding Authority, _ a statement by the Competition Participant on meeting the prerequisites of Art. 22.1 of the Public Procurement Act of 29 January 2004 (Journal of Laws No. 19, it. 177), (in case of teams of natural persons the statements are required from all team members) – Schedule No. 2, _ a statement by the Competition Participant declaring that the copyright held is as required in the Rules of Competition (to be submitted by all persons), Schedule No. 3, Attached firmly to the application shall be a sealed envelope containing the reference İD; the envelope shall prevent learning the İD before the evaluation of the competition entries.

7.2. The Jury will open the applications for admission to the competition immediately upon the expiration of their submission deadline. The envelope containing the study’s reference İD shall remain sealed.

7.3. Based on the documents enclosed to the application the Jury shall review the Participants for their eligibility for further participation in the Competition. Admission will be granted to the Participants who:
a) qualify for participation in public procurement procedures by virtue of the Act,
b) hold the qualifications required from the participants,
c) are not members in the Competition Jury, nor did they take part in developing the Rules of Competition or organizing the Competition,

8. Communication between the awarding authority and the
competition participants
The Contact Persons authorised to communicate with the Competition Participants are:
İn formal matters arising from the Public Procurement Act and organisational issues
- Gra_yna Popielarska, tel.: +48 58/ 32 36 434, fax: +48 58/ 32 36 483,
e-mail: [email protected]
İn matters relating to the subject matter of the Competition
- Renata Wi_niowska, tel. +48 58/ 32 36 444.
The English speaking Contact Person authorised to communicate with the Competition Participants is - arch.Bogus³aw Rutecki, tel. +48 58/ 32 36 447,
e-mail: [email protected]

9. Competition dates
29 October 2004 Competition announcement date and the date as of which
the Rules of Competition shall be available from the Awarding Authority’s Office, room 434 7 January 2005, 12:00 hours The deadline for submitting Applications for Admission to the Competition together with sealed envelopes marked
„Has³o rozpoznawcze” [reference İD].

7 January 2005, 13:00 hours The date and hour of opening Applications for
Admission to the Competition.

14 February 2005 The final deadline for filing inquiries on the Rules of Competition.

The inquiries can be sent in by fax to the following number: 32 36 481

21 February 2005, 12:00 hours The deadline for submitting the Competition entries at the Awarding Authority’s Office, room 434.

26 February 2005 Public announcement of the Competition results at a
research seminar on the Gdansk townhouse.

March – April 2005 Exposition of the competition entries, combined with a
discussion of the environmental issues.

10. Submission of entries
10.1. The entries shall be submitted in the file format in compliance with the requirements of point 5.

10.2. On entry submission the Competitors shall be issued a submission receipt which must be retained, since without its presentation it will be impossible to collect the award.

11. Study evaluation criteria
11.1. Consistency with the architectural and urban-planning parameters of the
selected location - 15 points

See: Part V. The Locations and Their Architectural and Planning Parameters.
11.2. Link to the ‘Gdansk’ nature of the architecture - 35 points See: Part II. Terms of Reference.
11.3. Architectural and aesthetic values of the architecture - 50 points See: Part İ. Preliminary Provisions. Point 2: Purpose of the Competition
12. Competition results and their public announcement
12.1. İmmediately upon expiration of the entry submission deadline the Jury will produce a record of the number of entries submitted and the physical condition of the files.
12.2. The Jury will evaluate the studies entered for the Competition at closed door sessions, in accordance with the criteria defined in the Rules of Competition.
12.3. The Awarding Authority will cancel the Competition in the event no Application for Admission to the Competition is filed, or no Entry submitted.
12.4. The Jury will produce an opinion on each awarded study, select the winners, and compile the arguments justifying their decisions.
12.5. The envelopes containing the reference İD will only be opened after the winning studies have been selected. The Awarding Authority assures that identification of the submitted entries by their authors will be impossible until the Jury selects the winners.
12.6. The Competition results will be published through:
_ displaying an announcement note on the notice boards at the Awarding Authority’s Office,
_ placing an announcement note on the Gdansk City Hall website
_ posting a written notification to all Participants in the Competition.

13 . The jury
a) Chairman of the Competition Jury
1. arch. Wies³aw Bielawski (Poland, Gdansk)
b) Members of the Competition Jury
2. Prof. Jorg C. Kirschenmann (Germany)
3. Prof. Benedict Tonon (Germany)
4. Prof. Heike Buttner (Germany)
5. Prof. Fons Veeheijn (Netherlands)
6. Prof. Tadeusz Zipser (Poland, Wroc³aw)
7. Prof. Maciej Z³owodzki (Poland, Kraków)
8. arch. El_bieta Sieniawska (Poland, Gdansk)

13.1. Secretary to the Competition Jury
Gra_yna Popielarska
The Jury can call in experts to advise the Jury in their works.

14. Awards and distinctions
14.1. The total pool for the awards and distinctions amounts to PLN 40 000 gross.
14.2. The Jury shall distribute the above amount as follows:
İ Award PLN 15 000 gross
İİ Award PLN 10 000 gross
İİİ Award PLN 5 000 gross
Distinctions (total of all distinctions) PLN 10 000 gross

14.3. The Jury may decide on another distribution of the awards within the allocated pool in the event:
- one of the awards is not granted,
- two ex equo awards are granted.

14.4. All awards and distinctions shall be awaiting collection within 2 months following the Competition closure.

14.5. The awards shall be paid on presentation of the so-called repartition, i.e. the list of individuals authorised to collect the award or distinction (the list should name at least the same persons as those listed in the application for admission to the Competition), its gross amount, banker’s name and bank account number. Since the awards/distinctions are taxable income, the list should be appended with a note providing the following data: NİP (tax İD), PESEL (personal İD), date of birth, address, relevant tax office (applicable to the Polish Participants). The repartition list must be signed by all Participants in the Competition. 15. Additional provisions

15.1. The Awarding Authority reserves the right to publish and exhibit all studies.
15.2. The Awarding Authority, on request from the non-winner Participants, shall return their studies entered for the Competition.
15.3. The Awarding Authority declares it accepts its obligations arising from the Rules of Competition.
15.4. The Rules of Competition can be obtained from the Awarding Authority’s Office, i.e. Gdansk City Hall, ul. Nowe Ogrody 8/12, room 434.

Part İV
Obligations of the winners and the awarding authority on closure of the competition

1. Upon closure of the Competition and disbursement of the awards the winning (awarded and distinguished) graphic and textual studies shall become the property of the Awarding Authority. Their authors retain personal copyright consistent with the principles set forth in the Act of 4 February 1994 on Copyright and related rights (complete text in Journal of Laws 2000, No. 80, it. 904)

2. Upon receiving the awards the Winners shall transfer the copyright onto the Awarding Authority free of charge. The Awarding Authority reserves the right to use the Competition entries to the following extent:
- use the competition entries (concepts) in developing the technical documentation
- use the studies at the implementation stage,
- recording the studies,
- exhibiting the studies,
- duplicating the studies.

3. The Awarding Authority and the Participant in the Competition shall refer any disputes to the Competition Jury (or a judicial panel including some of the original jury members) final resolution and shall bear the consequences of any such resolution relating to the provisions hereof.

4. Any matters not provided for herein shall be governed by the regulations of the Civil Code.

5. The Participants in the Competition enjoy the right to avail themselves to means of contest, i.e. protests, complaints, and appeals to the court, consistent with the rules of Section Vİ of the Public Procurement Act.

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