Category

Region

PAVILION OF LIGHT IN RELATION TO SLAVIC CULTURE

PAVILION OF LIGHT IN RELATION TO SLAVIC CULTURE

Category
Daylight investigations - Region 2: Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Students
Szymon Adamczuk
Aneta Borowiec
Adrian Bożemski
Jan Bartłomiejczyk
Aleksandra Biszczan

School
Politechnika Lubelska

Country
Poland

Download
Download ↓

The architecture and culture of Central and Eastern Europe can be traced back to the Slavic tribes living there in the past, who contributed to its original formation. Folk knowledge was developed through observation of nature, on the basis of which the Slavic religion developed. The analysis of the daily wandering of the sun and the moon played an enormous role in the process of shaping spiritual culture. The play of light and shadow translated into identification with the struggle between good and evil, which was ultimately overcome. The sky was subjected to special observation – the Slavs sought in it a path leading to God. The horizon was interpreted as the end of the world and a place where the sky could be reached by hand. Observation of the sky was used to determine time, the direction of a gust of wind, or orientation in the terrain. Deepening spiritual culture was connected with the creation of sacred groves, in other words contemplative spaces. Prayers of the faithful and all rituals dedicated to the deities took place there. The rich symbolism associated with Slavic culture interprets a tree as a metaphor for life, hence it was a centrally located, key element of a place of worship. Based on these accounts of the Slavs, a pavilion was designed to promote the original culture of Eastern Europe. The concept is based on an analysis of the migration of the sun with particular emphasis on the days of the equinoxes. The whole assumption was calculated and adapted to the geographical coordinates of the chosen location, i.e. the area in the bend of the Wieprz river in the eastern part of Poland. The circular site is surrounded by two concrete rings, of which the southern ring has a key function. The most important place is the central square delimited by a circle forming a darkened corridor. It also serves as a buffer against the entrance to the observation space and alludes to the Slavic sacred groves. In the middle of the square there is a tall tree to emphasise the symbolism of ancient beliefs.The observer, standing inside the structure at the designated spot on 21 March and 23 September, is able to see the sunrise and sunset perfectly in relation to the corresponding directions of the world – a spot accentuated by the contact of the two rings with the ground. Both opposite points are surrounded by the riverbank, so that the sun’s lowly rays are additionally reflected off the water surface.The pavilion’s overhanging ring was designed at an angle corresponding to the angle of the sun relative to the earth on equinox days. This means that, from an observer’s perspective, it marks the axis in the sky along which the sun moves on that day. Thanks to the use of concrete as the leading material, the shadows that form are clearly delineated and their distribution changes every day. The central point of the ring has been interrupted to emphasise the highest position of the sun on that day – the moment when it finishes rising and begins to set.A break in the ring delineates a band of light that illuminates the subterranean storey through a narrow gap in the ground, which generates additional lighting effects. The subterranean storey can be reached by a staircase hidden in a darkened corridor, where an exhibition room that functions as a museum is located.In order to take full advantage of the nearby river and to intensify the lighting effects, a descent to the river bank was designed in the form of terrain stairs. The pavilion could serve as a tourist destination during the day and as an astrological station at night.