Warszawa: Projects for the Post-socialist City

Warszawa: projects for the post-socialist city is the second book in the cityspeculations series, and the result of a studio led by Mark Dorrian between 2007 and 2009. This volume showcases both an architectural pedagogy and a series of innovative and critical projects for Warsaw that engage with the complex historical and contemporary conditions of the city. The book incorporates interpretive texts by Ella Chmielewska (Cultural Studies, University of Edinburgh), Ben Cope (Laboratory of Critical Urbanism, European Humanities University, Vilnius), Mark Dorrian (Architecture, University of Edinburgh), Peter Salter (Architecture, University of Cardiff) and Gabriela Switek (Zacheta National Gallery of Modern Art, Warsaw).

"The architectural work documented in this book shows an interest in questions of energy, motion, timing and connection. In the urban projects for Warsaw produced - and here the influence of the extraordinary physical environment of Edinburgh, where the students study, seems important - the city is often treated as a complex geological substratum in which the new architectural pieces are incidents, serialising movement and producing a new syncopation. Possibilities for architectural work are uncovered because of the way the city itself is uncovered through the investigative processes used. Students look at the urban conditions in terms of connectivities, producing inventive and surprising re-readings that cut across conventional understandings and that unlock new potentials for their own cultural period." --Peter Salter