Art, just like architecture, is the work of humans. We admire various places with amazing buildings just like we see museums filled with paintings and sculptures, we listen to beautiful music in concerts and we watch performances and films.
Since the times of prehistoric rock paintings, people could not live without art, they searched for ideas for their works in the surrounding world, especially in nature. They made sculptures and other items in ceramics, bronze, and later silver and gold. At first, people used natural resources to build small shelters, and with time also large magnificent buildings that are famous for their beauty to this day. Both in architecture and in interior and garden design, as well as in crafts, works are created from natural materials such as stone, wood, hemp concrete or clay.
People have been creative for thousands of years, which is why art was divided into prehistoric, ancient, medieval and modern, including contemporary, which includes painting, music, sculpture, theater, ceramics, photography, fashion, but also architecture.
Designing and building natural architecture is the art of fitting it into the landscape with the proper use of materials: stone, wood, hemp concrete, wicker or paper. Houses have various forms that imitate nature and are built for many years. Some are created only for exhibitions and taken apart, but are always remembered and are models for future projects.
The Waterfall House is an example of organic architecture. It fits in the surrounding nature and the place where it was created: in the forest, near a river and a waterfall. The architect is considered to be the father of 20th-century organic architecture. The house was built of concrete, but it looks as if it springs directly from the ground.
The wall is made of rammed clay with the addition of small stone elements.
The black painted façade blends with the surroundings, and the light windows and doors highlight the functions of the house.
The "wicker pavilion" was designed by architects from Kraków: Krzysztof Ingarden and Jacek Ewý.
The supporting structure of the pavilion is a truss made of cardboard pipes covered with paper. After the exhibition, the pavilion was taken apart, leaving no waste. With other exhibition halls it is a big problem, there is a lot of construction rubbish.
In buildings made of natural materials, internal walls are also made of them. They are not painted or covered with boards, they have natural colors and surfaces. Sometimes old brick buildings are finished with clay plaster (inside) or hemp concrete (outside). Hemp concrete is especially good for insulation in houses because we can avoid polystyrene. Clay in a concrete interior gives a warm and healthy climate, good acoustics and humidity in the rooms.
Houses made of rammed clay have a healthy climate (especially for allergy sufferers), constant air humidity, and no dust settles on the walls. Clay walls are fireproof, no mold or fungus can develop on them. The walls are thick, so the interior is not too cold in winter and not too hot in summer.
into a residential attic in an old brick tenement house with elements of wood and stone
Gardening is designing, establishing and maintaining gardens and parks. It is also knowledge about plants, the soil in which they grow and the weather conditions. It is a way of combining architecture with plants to create a harmonious whole and a place with a very nice atmosphere. We know parks, lawns, and paths in our surroundings. There aren’t many green areas in cities because new buildings are built rather than trees and lawns planted. Gardens designed and made on roofs, called vertical gardens, are more and more often a way to reverse that trend. Special structures equipped with automatic plant watering systems are placed on buildings and bridges.
It is located on the roof of the University of Warsaw Library, designed by architect Marek Budzyński. The architect's intention was to combine nature and science.
The green roof is reminiscent of broken tectonic plates.
vertical garden on a wall of a tenement house next to the Caixa Forum Art Center, a former city power plant
Patrick Blanc is considered the creator of modern vertical gardens. Vertical gardens are extremely useful for an urban environment. They have a positive effect on air quality and are a good solution for making concrete surfaces more attractive.
Artistic craft deals with the production of objects for everyday use, it is "applied art". Works of applied art are beautiful, elegant, attractive products, made of ceramic, wood, metal, stone, glass, gold or fabric.
the art of making objects out of fired clay - has been known for a very long time. The oldest products come from 13,000 years ago. It is still used to produce dishes and mosaics for walls, floors and sculptures. Ceramics is also important in construction (bricks, roof tiles, ceramic tiles, bathroom fittings), metallurgy, electronics, transport (cars, airplanes), and the space industry.
building material which has been connected with culture and art for centuries. Stone buildings and items were unique, and only rich people could afford them. Nowadays natural stone is a material that is very often used in construction as a finish for walls, stairs, interiors, as well as in gardens, on paths or in small architecture: benches, fountains, or sculptures.
Young shoots of several species of willow: American, flagellar, almond and purple willow, after soaking and removing the bark, are used in wicker (plaiting). Baskets, armchairs, fences, furniture and even buildings are made of wicker, such as the huge exhibition pavilion at Expo in Japan.
Fashion is a way of dressing, but there is also fashion in architecture, painting, and garden design. Fashion designers work with various materials and create collections for the seasons: spring-summer and autumn-winter. Natural materials such as linen, cotton and silk are used to sew clothes for warm days. Increasingly, designers are also turning to paper, which is interesting for "building" clothes.
Designing and making clothes from paper requires a lot of imagination, knowledge of paper, as well as skills in constructing such models. You can only wear them in fashion shows and you can’t wash them, but you can always admire them!
Painted silk from the Milanówek Silk Factory, collection of Polish Fashion Spring-Summer 1977, from the collection of the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź