kacper gronkiewicz

Our aim was to create a symbolic space related to the historical background of the place. The bookstore is located in an ancient jeshiva and was adjacent to the Great Synagogue of Warsaw at Tłomackie Place. The synagogue itself had been demolished by Germans in 1943 following the liquidation of ghetto and has never been rebuilt while the unique remain of the pre-war urban structure is jeshiva – hosting today the Jewish Historical Institute. The other is a 18^th century classicist water tower, known as the 'reservoir' and we wanted to summon both to recreate the cultural space erased by war. The bookstore is located in an extension to the building accessed from the main lobby. Its floor was painted to imitate the terazzo of the lobby but it also looks like ashes. Two bookshelves were built of brass and plywood, each of them inspired by consecutive architectural sections of the buildings. To the right – the “sacral” synagogue, and to the left the “lay” reservoir. It created a sort of spatial “mould” shaping the void between them. In this symbolic space life goes on, people read books, discuss and drink coffee. We helped restoring the Tłomackie back to life.