The building design and permanent exhibition of Warsaw Ghetto Museum

The contract to design the building and permanent exhibition of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum was awarded to KB – Projekty Konstrukcyjne sp. z o.o., a company based in Kraków.

This Kraków-based design studio specialises in the preparation of building and construction projects and the performance of structural evaluations and assessments of technical condition of buildings. Construction works related to historic buildings and their adaptation to new functions, as well as all kinds of works related to the preservation of their historic nature, constitute a special area of activities. The company was formed by the members of the academic staff of the Cracow University of Technology, who have many years of experience in designing buildings in Kraków, Poland and abroad. In the years from 2014 to 2017, KB – Projekty Konstrukcyjne sp. z o.o. developed comprehensive design documentation, for example, for the Museum of Warsaw and the Hydropolis Water Knowledge Centre in Wrocław.

Two more bids were submitted within the tender procedure:

1. Consortium: New Amsterdam sp. z o.o., (Consortium Leader) Pracownie konserwacyjne Zabytków “ARKONA” sp. z o.o., (Consortium Partner)
2. Consortium: WXCA sp. z.o.o. (Consortium Leader) 22 Architekci sp. z o.o., (Consortium Partner)

Having evaluated, for example, the manner of meeting the substantive assumptions, the coherence and adequacy of the adopted design solutions and the scope and manner of implementing guidelines in relation to the substantive recommendations for the permanent exhibition, including the compliance of the concept with the principles of preservation maintenance, the tender committee chaired by Joanna Dudelewicz, Deputy Director for Investment, Economic and Organisational Affairs at the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, and composed of prof. Andrzej Betlej – Director of the Wawel Royal Castle; dr Eleonora Bergman – architecture historian and former Director of the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute; prof. Andrzej Koss – director of the Inter-Academy Institute of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, architect Krzysztof Ozimek – a member of the management board of SARP (The Association of Polish Architects), dr Hanna Węgrzynek – Deputy Director for Research and Exhibition at the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, dr Hanna Nowakowska-Sito, PhD – art historian, curator at the Polish History Museum, and architect Piotr Walkowiak – advisor on the project of construction of the Polish History Museum, awarded the highest score to the design proposed by the Kraków-based design studio (KB – Projekty Konstrukcyjne sp. z o.o.) managed by dr inż. Stanisław Karczmarczyk.

Having completed the procedures provided for by the Public Procurement Law, the Warsaw Ghetto Museum concluded a contract with KB – Projekty Konstrukcyjne sp. z o.o. as the Contractor to prepare the design of the building of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum along with the design of the permanent exhibition and obtaining of the required arrangements and administrative decisions , as well as the designer’s supervision.

This is the most demanding and challenging project. When the exhibition design team was dealing with the narrative, we realized that the symbol of a hospital bed best renders the role of this place in history, the enormity of the suffering and the scenes we know from the history of the ghetto. Another issue is to surround the hospital space with a formal cacophony. The fragile historic space is overwhelmed, crushed, and lost in today’s aggressive high-rise architecture. Hence the need to protect this place, to make it reflect this aspect and at the same time to impart “a sense of humanity” to the museum in which historical details provoke reflection and stimulate contemporary architecture. We would like this place to be twice as special: on a human scale and due to the clear message, clear content: “attention! – this is an authentic relic, and this – what surrounds it…(?)”

– dr Jerzy Wowczak, who is an architect working in the design team at

KB – Projekty Konstrukcyjne sp. z o.o., has 15 months, from the date of signing the contract, to develop the project, which mostly includes the preparation of complete design documentation for the investment entitled “Construction of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum”, including architectural concept, construction design, and interdisciplinary detailed designs, and to prepare complete design documentation for the permanent exhibition of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, including the concept and design of the exhibition along with detailed designs (including scenarios for multimedia presentations, their graphic designs and functionalities), investment cost estimates, bills of quantities, and technical specifications for the performance and acceptance of construction works. Moreover, the contractor is required to make all arrangements as required by law, issue or obtain the necessary expert opinions, and obtain a final building permit for the museum. The contract also involves the provision of support and advisory services at the stage of preparing for the initiation of and during the public procurement procedure for the implementation of the investment and the exhibition until the conclusion of the contract between the museum and the general contractor, and then the performance of designer’s supervision during the implementation of the investment and the exhibition until the signing of the final acceptance report relating to the works.