Opacka. Story about home.

In a beautiful interior filled with emotion

Text written by: Izabela Zięba

Architecture, painting and sculpting have been considered fine arts since ancient times. They refer to beauty understood as the positive attributes of a given object. In the context of architecture, these positive attributes can be ideal building proportions, a building’s harmony, expertly chosen colours or the right amount of light. When describing architecture, we often find ourselves using the same type of language that we use to talk about a painting or a sculpture – paying attention to its composition, light, colour or accent. When pondering the same thoughts in his book “Experiencing Architecture”, Steen Eiler Rasmussen writes: “An architect works with shape and form in the same way as a sculptor, and with colour in the same way as a painter”. 

A key difference between architecture and other disciplines is the concept of functionality. After all, architecture is an art form, but a functional art form. This functionality is not something that can be seen – in contrast with artistic brush strokes on a canvas – you have to come into contact with it on a daily basis in order to experience it. This appears to be a crucial aspect of architecture, whether we are talking about designing a house, a museum or a train station.

In one of his most well-known books entitled “Toward an Architecture”, Le Corbusier wrote: “Architecture is an art form, it evokes emotions that go far beyond building practices”.

It is therefore possible to find architecture whose aesthetic beauty and functionality can stun at first sight. How does it feel? Like walking inside a piece of art? Like touching a sculpture? We can try and describe it by talking about the Opacka housing development in Oliwa, a historical district of Gdańsk. The complex of cosy buildings was built on the site of the former Cistercian gardens (an area of 10 hectares) near Park Oliwski – one of the most picturesque green spaces of the Tri-City area.

Designed by Jakub Bladowski from Roark Studio, the shape of the four three-storey residential buildings, the slightly sloping roofs and the dormers on the top floors represent a reinterpretation of a Gdańsk building development, which makes them blend in harmoniously with the surrounding spaces. The light colours of the buildings (whites and greys) come from the buildings that you can find nearby, such as the mill. The copper roofing on the balconies also looks spectacular. The simple and functional shape of these buildings fits in perfectly with the atmosphere of the city, subtly referring back to its historical heritage.

The above quote is taken from the exceptional “Story about Home” album.