District Court in Katowice

The openness of the state institution is due to the obligation to society, such a model of a modern democratic state is for us the main assumption by design. A favourable attitude towards the citizen must not, however, affect the safety of employees and the proper functioning of the justice facility. The proposed functional layout optimally opens up to the petitioner — the user and ensures maximum security for court employees. The form of the building is an attempt to respond to the symbolic content of court architecture. The building in a contemporary way refers to the archetypes associated with the judiciary and the culture of the ancient mother of democracy. The simplicity and scale of the division appearing on the facades refers to the architectural orders thanks to which the aesthetics of the object in its form becomes a timeless element of the identification of the city. The formation of the body of the building in the base on a plan similar to a square was dependent on the shape of the plot and the restrictions resulting from the danger zones located nearby. The base of the body has been given a correspondingly limited height due to the appropriate zoning of the function with the greatest user use and has been adapted to the area of concealment in accordance with the technical conditions. Inside the wide base is created a patio illuminating the main hall with the entrance and waiting rooms, there is a sculpture of Themis surrounded by water. The elevation of a part of the body from the side of the projected square constitutes a dominant height, giving the front facade the appropriate proportions of a representative facade, emphasized in the base by a decisive horizontal entrance of a character indicating the rank of the institution, opening wide to the public. A wide staircase leads to the main entrance, referring to classical examples of court architecture. Located above the entrance zone, the representative facade is formed by the appropriate scale and proportion of window openings dividing the facades in a way that clearly refers to the pillars — an architectural archetype reminiscent of the ancient tradition associated with the emergence of democracy. Such a solution in modern interpretation evokes clear associations with judicial architecture. The apparent narrowing of the window openings is the result of the application of a solution that positively affects the acoustic advantages and illumination of the object.