In September 2023, the Polish architectural firm WXCA completed the Polish History Museum, one of the largest and most modern museum complexes in Europe. Located by the Warsaw Citadel, the 45 000-square-metre structure is part of a series of buildings spread across three blocks, including the seat of the Polish History Museum and the Polish Army Museum – also designed by WXCA. Installed across the museum, Rockfon Mono Acoustic ceilings complete the architects' monolithic design vision while providing acoustic comfort for over 500 000 annual visitors.
The Architectural Vision of the Museum
Referring to the eighteenth-century spatial composition of the place, WXCA designed a layout consisting of three blocks with the centrally located Polish History Museum and the two lower buildings of the Polish Army Museum, closing the inner square from the north and south. An important part of the complex is also a municipal park with approximately 30 hectares for recreational activities.
The architectural expression of the building of the Polish History Museum is determined by the properties of the materials used and the artisanal methods of working with them. WXCA designed it as a metaphor for history preserved in a monolithic block that resembles a precisely cut stone block. The façade of the building was lined with marble slabs of various patterns, which were arranged in horizontal stripes. By emphasising the layered, stratigraphic structure of geological matter, the architects symbolically referred to history as a succession of natural, social, and cultural processes.
"The interior design concept is coupled with the architectural vision of the entire building, especially its façade. The museum, being a stone monolith, looks at history as a process. This allegorical story is continued by the interiors", explains architect Krzysztof Budzisz. "We designed the interior plan so that you can freely meander between individual functional blocks, as if in a hollowed-out monolithic block. This meandering – penetrating the monolith – is an allegory of a journey through history. You can be in this building many times, each time rediscovering it".
Wide Spaces Across the Museum Interiors
The ground floor of the museum reveals itself in an open form in a circulation layout that allows visitors to flow freely in different directions. One can access and leave the building from different areas, each time rediscovering the "meanders of history". Due to the utilitarian nature of the facility, this required not only an interesting concept of space, but also the use of materials and technologies that would ensure comfort of use for over 500 000 visitors a year. It was necessary to ensure proper acoustics, which, with such high ceilings – about 8 metres, and about 20 metres in the central hall – have a fundamental impact on the space.
"Acoustically, the interiors are quite difficult because we have an abundance of sound-reflecting materials, particularly stone, across the walls and floors. It was necessary to soften this effect by using dampening materials", explains Budzisz. "However, we also needed an element that encompasses large areas. Rockfon Mono Acoustic monolithic panels turned out to be the solution, since they could be used to harmonise with both stone and concrete".
"It was a synergy of aesthetic and acoustic properties, which worked great in the case of our building. The ceiling has an acoustic effect, and visually – we’re still in the convention of a rather ascetic design, which is based on large surface areas finished in the same materials", he adds.
The Upper Floors of the Museum
Similar solutions were also used on the upper floors of the building, which include an exhibition space with an area of 7000 square metres and rooms with public and technical functions.
"Considering the size and the fact that historical artifacts do not react well to natural lighting, it seemed very inhumane to deprive future visitors of contact with the outside environment for such a long time. So, we designed a series of rooms, the exhibition pockets, which have huge openings to the outside and to the park that surrounds the entire building. This gives users the opportunity to be in touch with the exterior world", adds the architect.
Rockfon Mono Acoustic ceilings in grey, black, and white colours were also installed in the exhibition areas, banquet hall, restaurant, auditorium, and interpreter rooms to maintain acoustic comfort. The ceilings seamlessly match the stone wall cladding, and above all meet the acoustic parameters for different rooms.
