“If architecture is music in stone, then music is architecture in the air.”
author: Louis Henry Sullivan, 1860s-1870s

These words, although attributed to Sullivan, have been used in similar forms by many architects, art critics, and musicians. Their meaning is undeniable. While it is easy to imagine music as “architecture in the air,” with its fleeting nature, search for abstract associations, emotions, and translation into sound, “music in stone” seems a surprisingly difficult concept to grasp. After creative, tumultuous discussions, the joys of first sketches, unexpected turns of ideas, and the pains of doubt, it inevitably must take on a spatial form, a form that is ultimately final…
The memory of an unsuccessful libretto fades somewhere in the genius and perfection of the entire work, the opera. Architecture, in this respect, is relentless—it remains for the next 50-100 years without fading and is evaluated by successive generations of users.
How to approach perfection? How to create architecture that would be “music in stone”? We don’t know the answer; we can only search for harmony, rhythm, discipline, and logic with open minds, hearts, and all our available sensitivity, expressed in successive musical phrases.
The Royal Łazienki is essentially a temple of art. Muses stroll along the avenues like playful woodland nymphs, occasionally teasing squirrels or scaring swans… Amidst centuries-old trees entertained by warm spring rays, delicate, calm music trickles through the morning mist. This romantic idyll is occasionally torn apart by the non-operatic sounds of unruly peacocks, causing the young, still-scared leaves to tremble…
We will try to blend into this story.

urbanism The Royal Łazienki is a space full of historical references. The layout is filled with axes, stories about art and its roots, which the Enlightenment sought in Antiquity. In a sense, it is a manifesto of the era, which remains readable and clear despite the passage of years. In this context, the new opera building should, above all, respect the existing urban relations, but also create new ones and rebuild those that have lost their significance over the years and through numerous changes in the city’s structure.
Starting from this premise, we decided to position the front (and consequently the foyer) of the new Polish Royal Opera House parallel to the axis of the Piaseczno Canal, so that the building could reflect in its mirror. This will restore the rank of the layout, which once, in its scale, grandeur, and concept, referred to the Versailles canal. Unfortunately, over the centuries and decades, the time of glory passed unnoticed, and the space significantly degraded. There is, however, hope that with the new investment, the historical water axis will regain its brilliance and significance, and the modern musical form will fit into the constellation of axes and historical connections smoothly and without dissonance.
An important urban decision was also to set back the building mass to extend the linear park strip along Józef Noji Avenue. This valuable spatial area for walking surrounds the southern shore of the Piaseczno Canal up to its rosette at Czerniakowska Street. Leaving this green ribbon undeveloped creates a spacious, representative opera square. Interspersed with low greenery of grasses, meadows, and shrubs, the space in front of the building will be an urban breath, a place of symbiosis for music lovers, walkers, nature, and architecture. From this point, the dignified silhouette of the Ujazdowski Castle will always be visible, and we will feel the multidimensional visual connection with the area extending at the foot of the Warsaw Escarpment.
The decision to locate the main entrance to the building along the Piaseczno Canal is also justified by the fact that this facade will be visible from the Łazienkowska Route (outside the leafy summer season). The new form seeks connections not only with the historic park layout but also with the contemporary urban fabric, to which it opens with the wings of its bright, monumental facade.
The simple and essentially compact silhouette of the opera dialogues not only with the royal axis and the castle. On an urban scale, it directly relates to the Palace on the Isle, positioning itself directly on its axis. This relationship is emphasized by the trapezoidal form, with a centrally placed stage tower narrowing towards the palace, which is further highlighted in aerial views by perspective convergences.
Interestingly, both buildings are turned to each other with their rear facades, exposing their fronts in opposite directions: the palace to the south towards the amphitheater and the island square, and the designed opera to the north, through the newly created public space, over the mirror of the Piaseczno Canal. The analogous principle of building location relative to water bodies and squares makes their relationship (though almost imperceptible to walkers, as it is isolated by high trees) undeniable and exceptionally strong. It is hard to imagine a more logical placement of both buildings and their main entrances relative to each other. Rather paradoxically, they create a clear bond by turning away from each other and paradoxically complement each other like Yin and Yang.

direct relationships The new opera was inscribed into the extensive urban layout of the Łazienki Park, respecting spatial arrangements built over several centuries. However, equally important are the new direct relationships that will be created on the plot scale. The context of the closest connections, such as building communication, its perception from a pedestrian’s perspective, and the readability of created openings and frames, play a primary role in the daily functioning of the object in the city and in the awareness of its users.
Pedestrian access to the opera area from Myśliwiecka Street is planned across the entire width of the green strip, continuing the park along the Piaseczno Canal. This design decision allows reaching the opera square at any point. The same principle applies from the direction of Ujazdowski Castle and the Piaseczno Canal. The new square invites from all directions, not designating only one correct path or passage.
The administrative entrance is planned on the eastern elevation. Its advantage is its location in a green window (in this area, trees grow only lower shrubs) near the alley leading to the Hermitage and Agrykola, which also allows for planning a path directly from the park, not just from the investment area.
Car traffic is eliminated from the opera’s front courtyard, moving it southward to the boundary of the investment area. Access to cars, decoration deliveries, and essential building services is provided by the shortest possible route, removing only one tree in poor condition (the only one designated for cutting in the entire concept).
The project retains all parameters specified in the development conditions decision, from the building’s height to the non-exceedable building lines and distances (including underground) from the canals.

architecture Architectural decisions are a logical consequence of the outlined urban principles relating to the site’s history, the unique nature of the landscape, and the rank of the Polish Royal Opera House institution. The proposed facades are an emanation of these rules.
In seeking harmony with nature, we arrived at the image of a facade that is interrupted by an alternating play of light and shadow, mass and void, slits and walls arranged almost like an equation in a mathematical rhythm. Someone saw swan wings in this plasticity, another “Le Corbusier’s” Chandigarh, or a flower, fan, ruffle, and even, surprisingly, The Oath of the Horatii by Jacques-Louis David… However, through ancient Rome, chiaroscuro, and composition aligned with the spirit of classicism and the Enlightenment, it can be said that this association is very close to the Royal Łazienki. We enjoy this game of seemingly abstract associations.
In our imagination, we see this object primarily theatrically. The arched, rhythmically spaced walls are nothing but backdrops or curtains from which an actor steps onto the stage. In this context, the stage is the surrounding park or foyer, depending on the direction. Through these “slits,” the mystery seeps outside and tempts with its magic. It invites, draws in, and attracts like a magnet. It’s hard to resist satisfying curiosity and peeking inside. Meanwhile, the foyer, hungry for emotions, awaits this moment and at the slightest opportunity, draws the curious into the fantastic world of opera.
The search for the tectonics of the facade was also directed at clarifying the principles that shaped and embedded the new royal opera house in the terrain. The symmetrically arranged backdrops of the front facade gradually open up, emphasizing the main entrance and its noble scale. Importantly, looking from Myśliwiecka Street, we will see large open glass panes because, in this view, half of the solid walls will disappear in perspective, revealing the vibrant foyer. The other part of the main facade overlooking the Royal Axis will be muted, subdued, and closed at that time. This situation will reverse for music lovers approaching from the Escarpment, as the warm glow of the foyer will pour towards them. From afar, from the foot of Ujazdowski Castle, the opera will lure them with its luminous song. Walkers along the northern shore of the Piaseczno Canal will be in a “model” situation. They will see the opera in an almost elevation view. From here, the classical symmetry of the facade, its rhythm, and the refined proportions of the arched walls will be readable. The new park form will play a romantic melody to which light will dance with the shadows of trees and the shimmering reflection of the dreamy opera.
The facade and its rhythm also introduce elements of surprise. Virtually at any moment, someone could emerge from between the backdrops, perhaps a bass-baritone or a soprano. Similarly, in the other direction. Imagine that we can almost always penetrate between the backdrops and get inside. This idea, apart from the “scenic” aspect, also responds to the location of the building in the park,