PROJECT 341

"PLANET LEM"

Jems Architekci

JEMS Architekci won the international design competition for the Planet Lem Literature and Language Center in Krakow, Poland, dedicated to the legacy of Stanisław Lem. The competition aimed to select a project for Poland's first multi-functional literature center dedicated to its own language. It involved the revitalization of an 18th century salt deposit and the construction of a new structure to the east. The building will house a state-of-the-art exhibition dedicated to the legacy of science fiction writer and futurist Stanisław Lem, the institution's patron. It will include exhibition spaces, classrooms, a media library, a bookstore and a café. Planet Lem is due to open in 2024.

A retro-futuristic vision of the modern cultural institution

The winning project is replete with subtle references to the futuristic visions of Lem's literary work. Parts of the structure and surrounding terrain will have protrusions that create a sense of tangency with the unreal. The complex's silhouette is created by the existing salt deposit building and the towers above it - periscopes that signal the complex's presence in Krakow's landscape. Five 18.5 meter spiers rise above the old barracks and stables in a way that does not dominate existing architecture, but enters into dialogue with it, thus making a symbolic statement about the purpose of "Planet Lem" - the cogitation of language and its history.

The "planet Lem" is itself a parallel world, but at the same time deeply connected to the space it occupies. The old salt deposit serves as a source of inspiration for the new complex. The structure of the old stables has been multiplied to extend across the grounds, into the gardens and creating a sense of infinity. Inside, the boundary between old and new disappears, and even the division between floors is blurred at various points. The structure of the complex is essentially logical and mathematical, and the repetitions introduced adapt the space to the changing demands of reality.

A series of repetitive cubic rooms allows the exploration of Planet Lem according to the exhibition's script or viewers' imagination - creating a large number of parallel narratives. Architecture serves here as a language that facilitates the visualization of our thought processes. Space - logical and understandable at first - gradually becomes deformed, obscuring our horizon and allowing us to perceive reality from new angles. Floor bumps are "system errors" - alienating reality and offering countless possibilities for interpretation. The building itself is fuel efficient, but not thanks to advanced technological devices, but simply to the sustainable and new use of the laws of physics.

Structural deformations connect the two levels of Planet Lem, creating a clearly visible "narrative axis" around which all elements of the exhibition are positioned. They find their continuation in the green hills that isolate the complex from the noisy streets and create a serene enclave within a bustling city. The square in front of the main entrance and the space around the building will be transformed into a leisure area with gardens, hills, ponds and organic benches.

A cultural district in the post-industrial Zabłocie

Planet Lem will be erected on the one-hectare plot of land on the Vistula River at 8 Na Zjeździe Street. Owned by the city of Krakow, it is close to other major cultural institutions, such as Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory, Krakow Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCAK) and Tadeusz Kantor Art Documentation Center, Cricoteka.  

Project team

Architectural design: JEMS Architekci – Paweł Majkusiak, Maciej Miłobędzki, Maciej Rydz, Aleksander Gadomski, Łukasz Krzesiak, Katarzyna Kuźmińska, Łukasz Stępnik.

Landscaping: Marta Tomasiak
Internal installations: Termostudio; Piotr Kiliński, Filip Pawlak Structural design: KiP; Piotr Pachowski.