honorable mention - Cracow philharmonic

We are delighted to share today’s news — our project has received an honorable mention in the international competition for the new seat of the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Kraków.
For us, this is an important signal that the way of thinking about architecture we propose is understood.

In our concept, we sought to bring order to a complex fragment of the city through rhythm, proportion, and relationships between elements. Instead of a single gesture — a sequence. Not an icon, but a structure. Harmony rather than dominance.
The building is part of a larger composition, a city understood as a score. In this context, the philharmonic becomes a place of transition from the urban noise and movement of the street to the concentration of music.

What happens “in between” was particularly important to us: the shared spaces, the foyer as a kind of urban living room, the way light shapes the interior, and the relationship between the building and its surroundings — guiding the listener from the noise of the city toward calm and the experience of music.

Behind this concept are several months of very intensive work. The competition was held in two stages — 54 studios were prequalified, 35 submitted proposals, and 5 teams advanced to the final stage, including ours.

We would like to thank our acoustic consultants for a fantastic collaboration: Müller-BBM Acoustic Solutions GmbH (main concert hall) and PAK Pracownia Akustyczna Piotr Kozłowski (other halls, technology, electroacoustics, and building acoustics); our structural engineers: Kuban i Salak Pracownia Konstrukcji Budowlanych; and our MEP designer: Tomasz Jeziorski.

Our visualisation team also rose to the occasion: XDWA Piotr Zieliński – concert halls and rehearsal rooms, TROCHA-IMAGES Bartosz Trocha – concert foyer, and PLANKTON GROUP – exterior visualisations.

It was a great and truly constructive collaboration!