Ryszard Jurkowski

Ryszard Piotr Jurkowski (born 28 May 1945) is a Polish architect and urban planner. He is noted for his contemporary and embracing minimalism design , and for his fight against the monotonous and dreary architecture of the communist era.

Early life and career Ryszard Jurkowski was born in 1945 to a working-class family in industrialised Sosnowiec subsequently obtaining the professional qualifications to practice under the title 'architect'. It was there that in 1984 he designed Kokociniec residential complex, where buildings with high gable roofs, overlooking home zones and attractive, accessible spaces and environments for residents, radically differed from the typical communist-era housing estate. but it was this architectural style that inspired people’s hope for economic and social renewal. He, and his team, Janusz Kapitański and Jan Pallado, were ‘somewhat ahead of their time’ when they designed the school in 1988, situated atop a hill and surrounded by parkland. The building has an irregular shape, classrooms cascade across the sloping terrain, while the school entrance is fronted by wide stairs and marked by a turret. Through these features, the school became both a landmark and a focal point for the entire neighbourhood, simultaneously distinctive yet hidden among the greenery.

In the mid-1980s the first legal gateway for the autonomy of designers and investors opened. Architects gained the opportunity to set up cooperatives, i.e. legal entities freeing them from the work regime of state design offices, and finally gained design autonomy in 1988, along with the so-called ‘Wilczek Act’, which gave full freedom of economic activity. Thus, in 1990, Jurkowski left Investprojekt to establish, together with his wife, who also holds a degree in architecture, and he played a significant role in creating the Act of 15 December 2000 on professional self-governing bodies for architects.

In 2009, after winning an international competition, he designed the Home Army Museum in Krakow. For the project, Jurkowski integrated modern elements into historic buildings of the Krakow Fortress, constructed at the beginning of the last century. The basement, once a command bunker, now features exhibitions on the Polish Underground Movement. The first floor includes a library, a reading room, and an audiovisual conference room. The attic is used for administration and offices. The inner courtyard, covered with a glass roof with a lightweight steel structure , has been described by the critics from EUmies Awards as "a spectacular space for exhibitions and events". and published under the patronage of the National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning (NIAIU) with a foreword from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

He is also a member of the Polish Architecture Council, and of the Collegium of Architectural Design Competition SARP, taking on the roles of chairman or rapporteur of the Jury.

Honours and awards Ryszard Jurkowski is the winner of the SARP Honorary Award 1999, SARP Award of the Year 1987 and of the 1st and 2nd degree Award of the Ministry of Construction (now the Ministry of Infrastructure). In 2013 he was nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Award for the Home Army Museum in Kraków. He is also the winner of Brick Award Polska 2013. Getin Bank, Bytom (2000) Kamienny Dom, Katowice (2001) Ahold Shopping Centre, Wodzisław Śląski (2005) Mariacka Street urban redevelopment, Katowice (2008) Home Army Museum, Kraków (2009) Książęce Residential Complex, Katowice (2010) Main Town Square urban redevelopment, Katowice (2012) Music Centre, Kraków (2013) Przy Fontannach Residential Complex, Racibórz (2016) SGH Innovative Space Centre, Warsaw (2017) Dworcowa Street urban redevelopment, Katowice (2021) Mercure Accor Hotel, Katowice (2021)

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