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NAWA

NAWA is the crowning piece of celebrating European Capital of Culture – Wrocław 2016. The inspiration for use of arc construction was inspired by the nearby Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Market Hall, The Ossolineum and its library. The form of bionic arch goes along with the shape of the very island and corresponds with surrounding architecture.

urban sculpture made os inflated steel nawa

Once inhabited. Later forgotten. Today is reborn.

NAWA is a part of revitalization programme for Daliowa Island – the smallest of over a dozen islands in downtown Wrocław. Aim of the programme was to turn neglected and forgotten space into an area open to meetings, concerts and artistic events, thus a reclamation to city inhabitants.

Beauty, durability, timelessness

This architectural, public sculpture consists of 35 bionic steel arches referring in form to the shape of the island and most of all to construction of nearby historic architecture of Ostrów Tumski originally established in XI century. The arches together create an ultralight, durable construction, its mirror-polished surface reflects the surroundings and gives the effect of a naturally growing sculpture that changes throughout the day and seasons.

Designed shape of the object was divided into individual pieces with original algorithm and in specialist software for parametric design. It allowed to adjust the force arrow and to optimize production, transport and endurance on the basis of real time (FEM Simulation). Because of location and size of sculpture, individual arches were executed in old dockyard, north-east of the city, and delivered riverine on barges directly to Daliowa Island.

nawa public sculpture made of inflated metal

Since unveiling in June 2017, the sculpture has been gaining recognition in architectural space, attracting the attention of critics and the most influential portals from around the world. During the finals of the competition organized by the Architektura-Murator magazine, she was chosen as the most innovative Polish architectural project of 2017.

In December 2018, the sculpture was nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 2019 - one of the most important and prestigious architectural awards in the world. A few days later, it was announced one of the ten best architectural pavilions of 2018 in the prestigious Dezeen portal ranking.

Since unveiling in June 2017, the sculpture has been gaining recognition in architectural circles, attracting the attention of critics and the most influential magazines around the world. At the finale of Architektura-Murator magazine’s competition it was awarded the most innovative Polish architectural project of 2017.

In December 2018, NAWA was announced as one of Dezeen’s top 10 architectural pavilions in 2018 and was nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 2019 - one of the most important and prestigious architectural awards in the world.