Students from the Gdansk Academy of Fine Arts decorate Riverview
Vastint Poland supports young artists. The common space of the Riverview residential buildings includes seating in the form of a beautiful urban sculpture and wall artistic installations created by students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk. This is the result of a competition organized by Vastint Poland in cooperation with the university, the premise of which was the realization of interesting concepts by young artists and the production of new elements of landscape architecture by the developer. The idea for the competition is a consequence of the developer's approach to creating space while thinking about people.
Joanna Kwiatkowska, Marketing Manager of Vastint Poland explains: "Riverview is a space for living. And art is a very important part of it. Guided by this premise, we organized two editions of a competition. As part of this, students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk designed and created wonderful works for us, which are a unique element of interior decoration and garden decoration of the newly built housing estate on the Motlawa River. Thus, we gave young artists the opportunity to develop professionally by implementing creative ideas and verifying their usefulness in real conditions."
The subject of the first edition of the competition was the design of the outdoor seating. The creators of the winning project were Natalia Magalska and Marianna Grabska, students of the Faculty of Sculpture and Intermedia, whose work was distinguished not only by original design and ergonomics, but also by a beautiful form of urban sculpture. Their design enabled the incorporation of art in an urban space, and what's more, it is fully functional art.
Natalia Magalska and Marianna Grabska, winners of the first competition say: "The inspiration for us was the movement of water. It was important that the shape and material of the seating, located at the junction of the river and urban architecture, alluded to the movement of water, giving the impression of communing with it. That is why our seats take organic and abstract forms. At the same time, we wanted our project to correspond with the Riverview estate. That, against the background of a simple, Hanseatic form of buildings, they would form a decorative point, like jewellery. Hence, simple materials were used to make our sculptures.”
The subsequent edition of the contest concerned the preparation of artistic installations that could be displayed in corridors and staircases. The jury was surprised not only by the high quality of the art works in this edition, but also by the creativity of students in the choice of technique. Young artists submitted works created with ceramics, graphics or recycled wood. From among all the works, the jury selected eight, which were awarded three main prizes and five distinctions.
Riverview is the first housing estate in the long history of Vastint in Poland. The project consists of a grouping of seven residential and service buildings with 282 apartments. The design is distinguished by a high construction standard, as well as carefully delineated landscape architecture. A number of construction and technical design solutions reflect the concept of sustainable construction, which supported the application for the first LEED certificate for a housing project in Poland. The estate is located just opposite the island of Olowianka and in the vicinity of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic in Gdansk. The project is situated between Na Stepce, Angielska Grobla, and Jana Dziewanowskiego streets.