Postmodern architecture under socialism: the Ascension Church in Warsaw-Ursynów

Abstract

The Ascension Church, built in the tower block district of Warsaw-Ursynów (1980–1985) to a design by Marek Budzyński and Piotr Wicha, reveals the mechanisms of architectural change under the declining socialist regime in Poland. Based on archival documents, interviews, and press reviews, this article traces the process of form finding and construction of what became one of Poland’s best-known postmodern buildings. I argue that in the context of the building, postmodern design occupied and widened the cracks that had appeared in the authoritarian socialist regime since the 1970s. This is evident in the ‘speaking’ architectural forms that communicated nonconformist ideas, at the level of decision making and resourcing ‘outside the plan’, and in relation to post-functionalist city planning around the building. I also argue that the impact of the Ascension Church, and by extension of similar postmodern buildings in Poland, was based on a reception of postmodernism different to that in Western Europe and North America. Rather than being related to capitalist exuberance and ironic criticism of the architectural discipline, postmodern architecture became connected to a search for lasting values that transcended the mundane socialist everyday life in Poland. At the same time, it served as a vehicle for national/patriotic narratives that are influential in Poland to date.