OLD BREWERY SHOPPING AND CULTURAL CENTRE IN POZNAN – URBAN CONSERVATION EXAMPLE

2002-2007

Dr Adam Nadolny Society of Polish Town Planners, Poland

Poznan University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture

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William Shakespeare wrote: „The people are the city”. These words may help to describe, in a metaphoric way, the peculiarity of the city, which we face every day.

We may perceive the city as a mixture of different spaces. Their meeting points and mutual dependencies shape the city's climate and character.

Over the years, these dependencies constantly evolve, some disappear forever, others change by acquiring a new meaning and some new come into existence.

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Old Brewery commercial centre, location map

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PoznanWarsaw

Poznan

I would like to use this example to illustrate how a new space can be created in the context of revitalising historical spatial structures of Poznan.

The urban layout of Old Brewery was tailored to the existing historical spatial context.

The body of Old Brewery, stylised and decorative, is easily recognisable from the Polwiejska street, which runs from the Old Market to the 19th - century part of Poznan where this unusual commercial centre is placed.

Old Brewery at the beginning of XX century and now

The characteristic atmosphere of this place comes from the original nineteenth century brewery, which has been adopted and included in the shopping centre's premises. Old Brewery is a mixture of historical and modern architecture

1. Cultural and shopping centre

2. Department store

3. Art Courtyard

4. Malthouse

5. Park

Old Brewery is nothing like other contemporary shopping centres; it should be rather associated with Paris shopping arcades and exclusive nineteenth century warehouses.

Poznan Milano Paris

Old Brewery is a unique example of a shopping centre which recalls the familiar archetypal "real" urban space.

Undoubtfully, the place was dressed in this period costume for success. The Old Brewery’s chief asset is its ability to create scenes, pictures, sequences or references to well-know spaces.

POZNAN FLORENCE

POZNAN MODENA

One may or may not agree with such an approach to the process of revitalisation, but the outcome should be rather positive.

It also needs to be mentioned, that the team who created the Old Brewery has been awarded several prizes, which proves that the decision to revitalise this part of Poznan centre was a good move.

Another benefit was raising the prestige of this place in the eyes of the city inhabitants.

All these factors speak in favour of Old Brewery commercial centre in Poznan. This place’s success shows that the past may inspire contemporary architects to create a totally new space.

At the same time, the historical perspective enables some detachment from the surrounding reality. As already proved, historical spatial arrangements perform very well against contemporary projects - all they need is some good will and readiness to make history part of the modern city's rhythm.

I do not want to call the above described method of creating a public space a determining factor of Poznan urban planning at the beginning of the 21st century.

But I would rather use the mentioned projects to initiate a discussion on the direction of the Poznan public space development so that such space could effectively compete with retail centres.

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OLD BREWERY SHOPPING AND CULTURAL CENTRE IN POZNAN – URBAN CONSERVATION EXAMPLE 2002-2007