The Faculty of Architecture of the Krakow Polytechnic has been existing for 65 years. Since the times of the first Dean – Adolf Szyszko- Bohusz and the first seat on the Wawel Hill a lot has changed. Today the Faculty is located in the buildings at Warszawska Street, as well as at Podchorążych Street and Kanonicza Street, training students to become architects in the curricula of architecture and urban design and landscape architecture. It also provides them with an opportunity to study in Europe and on other continents, it is an important academic centre with foreign exchange programmes, it has full academic rights to grant academic degrees and titles. But some things have stayed the same: the Faculty of Architecture still trains architects and.... architects beyond architecture.
Architecture stems from science and technology so its relation to the polytechnic studies is obvious. At the same time, the architectural studies offered by the Cracovian Faculty have a university character, with emphasis on holistic education, cultural factors, perceiving architecture as an art and preparing the future alumni to work creatively.
The basic education focuses on the fruit of an architect’s labour, namely on creating of a work of architecture – on notation of space, concept, thoughts, ideas leading to a completed work. The work may also concern the studies and research of an existing space, of a theoretical space or – of an architectural fiction.
The curriculum concerns – at first – professional and technical aspects, architectural, urban and building design – that is practical knowledge how to erect a house, a building, a town, to lay out a park, so that such an object of architecture is useful and durable; the conservation of monuments is a separate segment of the curriculum. The basis of these skills is the knowledge of the theory of architecture and design. This stratum of education is accompanied by another one – the study of humanities, history of architecture, history of art, knowledge regarding contemporary art, philosophy, aesthetics, ethics, foreign languages. The mastering of the skills in fine arts including: painting, sculpture, computer graphics and architectural drawing. The school also offers good sports facilities.
In the areas of technology, humanities and fine arts – the professors are the guiding persons. But still to the most vital question: what is architecture? no one will give an unequivocal answer. It has to be sought by everyone individually, in their soul or in their reason, hoping that such a knowledge it will eventually appear.
Academic schools are places, where one obtains a diploma in architecture, an indispensable requirement in our ordered reality. Krakow’s Faculty is also a place where one may acquire knowledge individually, it is a place conducive to gaining experience, to studying, to thinking, to reflecting; it is a place that makes travels possible. Such travels involve places, philosophies, theories, history and modernity and also enable one to meet the creators of the present and the past, to see the works and ideas – and to travel through the labyrinth of the world of art.
The architectural profession may be practised with a set of attitudes, including creative, professional, commercial, academic, didactic ones. In all the aforementioned areas the graduates of the Krakow Faculty of Architecture have reached a high status.
Making use of the knowledge gained during the studies, in the aura of faith –inspired by the Krakow school – in the power of art and the magic of the ethos of a creator, the architects practice other professions or follow their passions, revealing specific personal predispositions and talent. The graduates of the Faculty of Architecture of the Krakow University of Technology – the Cracovian architects beyond architecture – occupy the highest positions in different areas: in graphic art, painting, sculpture, set and stage design, photography, theory of art, music, sung poetry, haute couture, sports, politics... The presentations in this book are dedicated to these accomplishments.
Prof. Dariusz Kozłowski
Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Krakow University of Technology
Copyright by Konrad Glos, Rafal Zub 2010