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I.R. Sztormowski
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2 records found
1
Before the Stage
How a contemporary theatre can become embedded in everyday urban life rather than exist as an isolated cultural institution
The project “Before the Stage” investigates how a contemporary theatre can become embedded in everyday urban life rather than exist as an isolated cultural institution. The project is situated within the former HEMA urban block in the centre of Delft. By removing the commercial store function, the block is reimagined as a social and democratic public interior: a place for gathering, studying, working, making, waiting and performing. The existing HEMA building is retained as the civic core of the proposal. Its familiar position in Dutch city life, accessible character and open structural framework form the basis for a new theatre environment. Therefore, the old HEMA becomes a generous urban room situated between the city and the stage. It operates as foyer, workplace, café, study environment and public interior. Two new auditoria are placed adjacent to the HEMA, allowing them to meet their own acoustic, climatic and technical requirements. The smaller auditorium functions as a flexible black box, while the main auditorium, the red box, supports a larger audience and multiple performance configurations. Between them, the covered workshop space becomes the productive heart of the complex, connecting theatre-making, logistics, education and public life. Steel plays a central role in the architectural language of the project. Rather than relying on expensive or refined theatre materials, the proposal uses steel as a direct, industrial and expressive material. Exposed structure, partially visible technical systems and demountable assemblies present the theatre as an active piece of infrastructure rather than a finished monument. In this way, steel supports both the circular ambition of the project and its broader social idea: theatre as an open, adaptable and collective urban framework.
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The project “Before the Stage” investigates how a contemporary theatre can become embedded in everyday urban life rather than exist as an isolated cultural institution. The project is situated within the former HEMA urban block in the centre of Delft. By removing the commercial store function, the block is reimagined as a social and democratic public interior: a place for gathering, studying, working, making, waiting and performing. The existing HEMA building is retained as the civic core of the proposal. Its familiar position in Dutch city life, accessible character and open structural framework form the basis for a new theatre environment. Therefore, the old HEMA becomes a generous urban room situated between the city and the stage. It operates as foyer, workplace, café, study environment and public interior. Two new auditoria are placed adjacent to the HEMA, allowing them to meet their own acoustic, climatic and technical requirements. The smaller auditorium functions as a flexible black box, while the main auditorium, the red box, supports a larger audience and multiple performance configurations. Between them, the covered workshop space becomes the productive heart of the complex, connecting theatre-making, logistics, education and public life. Steel plays a central role in the architectural language of the project. Rather than relying on expensive or refined theatre materials, the proposal uses steel as a direct, industrial and expressive material. Exposed structure, partially visible technical systems and demountable assemblies present the theatre as an active piece of infrastructure rather than a finished monument. In this way, steel supports both the circular ambition of the project and its broader social idea: theatre as an open, adaptable and collective urban framework.
The Visual Language of Socialist Propaganda in the Postcards from the Polish People’s Republic
Iconographic and semiotic investigation of propaganda language on viewcards from the Polish People's Republic
This thesis investigates Polish postcards (1952–1989) as tools of socialist propaganda. Using semiotic and iconographic analysis, it reveals how urban and architectural imagery subtly conveyed ideological messages. Themes like monumentality, collectivism, and modernization were embedded through visual framing, realism, and symbolism, shaping public memory in support of state ideology.
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This thesis investigates Polish postcards (1952–1989) as tools of socialist propaganda. Using semiotic and iconographic analysis, it reveals how urban and architectural imagery subtly conveyed ideological messages. Themes like monumentality, collectivism, and modernization were embedded through visual framing, realism, and symbolism, shaping public memory in support of state ideology.