On Wednesday, the president of Poland Bronisław Komorowski announced winners of the competition for the best building of contemporary Polish architecture completed between the years 2000 and 2012. The Grand Prix went to the Scientific Information Center and Academic Library (SICAL).
SICAL was chosen from amongst 1064 submitted projects. The superlibrary was also awarded the prize for the best public building of this century. The winners were selected by the jury composed of renowned architects and people of art.
“Thanks to the Academic Library, the Upper Silesia region got a building which will go down in history and of which our grandchildren will be proud of” – president Bronisław Komorowski said during a ceremony in Warsaw. The president also voiced an opinion that the SICAL has a chance to become a listed building in the future.
The competition – named the Life in Architecture Award (“Życie w Architekturze”) – was organized by the monthly magazine “Architektura – murator”.
The Library was designed by HS99 from Koszalin, Poland, and officially opened this year in October. Its most characteristic feature is a red Indian sandstone’s elevation and 4004 narrow windows. Previously, the building won the Grand Prix for the best building of the Silesian Voivodeship and was named the best building of 2011 by readers of bryla.pl. SICAL (the Polish acronym: CINiBA – “Centrum Informacji Naukowej i Biblioteka Akademicka”) is a joint investment of the University of Silesia and the University of Economics in Katowice.