International Conference Centre, Katowice

Architects: JEMS
Text: Eszter Götz
Photos: Juliusz Sokołowski

The Katowice conference centre is a multifunctional, complex service facility designed for congress, conference, exhibition, fair and performance. However, it also has an area which is fully available for the public – it is a green passage which goes diagonally through the building’s roof where it takes on the shape of a valley, as well as the main foyer – the connecting area between two entrances: from the Honour Square’s side (in front of the Spodek arena complex) and the second from the side of Olimpijska Street (which is under design). Marking these spaces as public is a vital city-forming element for a post-industrial area where the MCK complex was designed. The general idea of the project was creating a complex of which the value is being built not only by assuring programmatically-functional utilitarian solutions, but also by creating conditions for its cooperation in the city’s social space. The edifice with its simple, distinctive and explicit form is integrated into city’s public space. The idea has led to formation of a device which consists of the following compositional elements: the roof (the “green valley”) integrated into the system of terrain escarpments and naturally diverse area, and the space of the hall and foyer which is situated below and looks unique because of its ceiling deformation, a negative form of the “green valley”.

Architect: JEMS
Fellow architects: Olgierd Jagiełło, Wojciech Kotecki, Paweł Majkusiak, Maciej Miłobędzki, Jacek Mroczkowski, Marcin Sadowski, Jerzy Szczepanik-Dzikowski
Client: Katowice Város Önkormányzata