ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses examples of Jerzy Sołtan’s design work in Poland. These modern designs show how modernism was able to develop during the Cold War in Central and Eastern European communist countries. Thanks to the role of the Workshops, an interdisciplinary design atelier within the Fine Arts Academy in Warsaw, Sołtan was able to apply in practice his beliefs on the importance of constructive teamwork and synthesis of arts, science, and technology in modern architecture. The discussion is illustrated through four case studies of built and unbuilt work – ‘Warszawianka’ sporting centre, Warsaw Midtown railway station, Polish pavilion for the 1958 EXPO in Brussels, and parish church in Sochaczew. It shows how theory and ideas are manifested in these designs – how they include other visual arts, how they build on Le Corbusier’s and Team 10’s legacy, but also how modern architecture conservation and maintenance can become a problem as many of his buildings, yet considered as heritage, still face problems and need proper attention. It concludes that these designs can be considered as few truly modern designs in socialist Poland, which was facing normative-based approach to architecture.
