Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak

Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak (October 29, 1920 – June 4, 2018[1]) was a Polish architect active between 1954 and 1993.[2] She is known for designing housing and schools, and for her contributions to the post-WWII reconstruction of Wrocław.

Life

Grabowska-Hawrylak was born in Tarnawce.[2] She grew up in Przemyśl, in southeastern Poland, as the daughter of two teachers. She graduated from high school in 1939.

In 1945, after World War II, she moved to Wrocław.[3] The city had been within German borders since 1740, but was returned to Poland after the war,[3] when 60% of it was in ruins.[4] Rebuilding the city was secondary to rebuilding the more thoroughly destroyed capital of Warsaw, and did not begin until 1952.[5]

In 1950, Grabowska-Hawrylak graduated from the Wrocław University of Technology, after having completed a thesis on interior design. Her first professional work was a historic reconstruction of Burgher houses in Wrocław's market square.[3] She joined Miastoproject-Wrocław, the government-operated architectural group for the city, and worked on residential projects in the city center.[3] Her work – especially "Manhattan", the residential estate at Plac Grunwaldzki, perhaps her best-known project – became emblematic of Brutalism, but unintentionally so: her planned white balconies filled with greenery were built with gray concrete and left unpainted.[3]

Grabowska-Hawrylak's unbuilt works include a tourist center in Como, Italy, residential development in Manila, the Philippines, and a New Urbanist housing estate in Oleśnica, in southwestern Poland.

After decades in architecture, she began quilting in the 1980s.[2] Her last project was the postmodern Millennium Memorial Church of the Diocese of Wrocław, built in 1996.

Personal life

Her husband was Henryk Hawrylak, a mining machinery specialist. She had three children: Katarzyna, Maciej, and Paweł.[4]

Notable works
    Name Location Years(s) Description Photo
    Scientist's House (Dom Naukowca) Wrocław 1957 Ten-story residential building built to house affiliates of Wrocław universities; the first modernist building in the city; designed as part of the Miastoproject group[6]
    Galleried Housing (Galeriowiec) Wrocław 1958–1960 On Kołłątaj Street; nine stories, with first floor retail with duplex apartments on floors above; registered as a protected historic monument in 2017[6]
    Plac Grunwaldzki housing estate Wrocław 1967-1972 Six 16-story residential buildings built in the center of Wrocław, near the Grunwaldzki Bridge; buildings are linked with commercial pavillions; entire complex is built on a platform above parking infrastructure; nicknamed "Manhattan" or "Sedesowce" (toilet seat buildings) due to the distinctive, rounded shape of balconies[6]
    Church of Christ the Redeemer of the World (Kościół Chrystusa Odkupiciela Świata) Wrocław 1996 On Bałtycka Street; an active Catholic church designed in part for the Millennial of the Diocese of Wrocław[7]

      Awards and legacy

      Grabowska-Hawrylak was the first female graduate in Wrocław after World War II.[6] In 1974, she became the first woman to be awarded the Honorary Award of the Association of Polish Architects (SARP), the most prestigious architectural award in the country.[3] The American Institute of Architects' Center for Architecture hosted a retrospective exhibition titled "Patchwork: The Architecture of Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak" in 2019.[2]

      References
      1. "In memoriam – Pamięci Architektów Polskich – Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak". www.inmemoriam.architektsarp.pl. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
      2. "Polish modernist Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak is celebrated in Manhattan retrospective". Dezeen. 2019-03-20. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
      3. "Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak's Architecture For a Postwar Poland". Bloomberg.com. 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
      4. "From communist brutalism to aesthetic modernism: Fascinating New York exhibition examines the work of the 'woman who built Wrocław'". www.thefirstnews.com. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
      5. "ONE. May 1945 – Japan Alone", The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II, Princeton University Press, pp. 1–60, 2015-12-31, ISBN 978-1-4008-6826-1, retrieved 2020-11-21
      6. "Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak". Culture.pl. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
      7. "O parafii – Parafia pw. Odkupiciela Świata we Wrocławiu" (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-11-21.
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