Zofia Garlińska-Hansen

Zofia Aleksandra Garlińska-Hansen (13 May 1924 - 24 January 2013) was a Polish architect and co-author of the Open Form Theory as well as the Linear Continuous System (1967) with her husband, Oskar Nikolai Hansen. Zofia and Oskar worked together, producing architectural theory and built works primarily through the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Early life Zofia Garlińska-Hansen was born 13 May 1924 in Kałuszyn, Poland. Little is known of her family, other than that her father, Tadeusz Garliński, was a schoolteacher. with Oskar, the most important school of thought in Polish Modernist architecture. This theory acts in a response to what is described as "Closed Form"; that being the predetermined, unchanging perception of architecture in relation to those who live within that architecture. It grew from the theory in sculpture put forth by Polish Constructivist Katarzyna Kobro and Władysław Strzemiński, who described space as being shaped by human activities and "by leaving a margin for evoking one's latent essence". They desired for architecture to create a backdrop for the mundane and everyday of people, rather than simply project the static will of the architect. which organized the designs of cities linearly. They imagined a system of large cities which stretched across Poland from North to South in four parallel bands, in an effort to dissolve the idea of a city centre and surrounding periphery. This proved to be her most controversial completed project, which consisted of a series of buildings that housing 6,600 inhabitants. Interviewed in 1990 while at the housing project, Garińska-Hansen critiqued her own work, expressing disappointment by confessing that "I think that in a practical sense, Przyczółek Grochowski is not a success, because people are not happy there."

Career Zofia and Oskar's built work focused on the rebuilding of Poland following World War II through several social housing projects, primarily in Warsaw. These include:

The Juliusz Słowacki housing estate in Lublin (1961) Rakowiec (1961-1963) Bracławska (1964-1974) Przyczółek Grochowski 'The Grochów Bridgehead' (1968-1974)

House in Szumin A small, gabled summer house near an oxbow lake in the Mazovia region of Poland, the House in Szumin is the spatial manifesto of Open Form. It was initially constructed in 1968-70 but perpetually changed based on the habits and needs of those residing within it. This project was freed from the constraints of the Polish social housing industry and therefore allowed this site to more holistically reflect Zofia and Oskar's ideas about Open Form. The interior of the House in Szumin was transformable, used to serve domestic functions but also as a teaching space, containing didactic tools which the Hansen's used while teaching composition classes. It had also housed a steel structure which was exhibited at the 1977 Venice Biennale.

Unbuilt work Several projects of theirs which were never realised include the following:

Warsaw Town Tall (1952) "The Road" monument to the victims of the concentration camp in Auschwitz (1958) the museum of contemporary art in Skopje (1966) That same year, Filip Springer published a biographical report Zaczyn: about Zofia and Oskar Hansen about the duo. In 2014, their House in Szumin came into the custody of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland. A conservation strategy was developed to preserve both the idea and the physical aspect of the site. It has also been included on the worldwide Iconic Houses Network list, and is the only Polish edifice on the list. critics and journalists frequently ascribe their achievements solely to Oskar. Springer, the journalist and photographer who worked on the Hansen's biography, also stated that Oskar "frequently emphasized that Zofia was an outstanding architect in her own right. In their relationship, she never played the second fiddle."