The exhibition was appreciated for the most outstanding overall contribution to the Biennale ("awarded to the most outstanding overall contribution"). Adam Mickiewicz Institute is the organizer of the Polish exhibition.

This year's London Design Biennale is held under the motto “Remapping Collaborations”, putting international, interdisciplinary cooperation in architecture and design first.

The Polish pavilion is a story about social solutions crystallized in times of crisis and how recycled materials can significantly change the way we think about architecture. The center of the pavilion consists of recovered windows – an installation inspired by the Polish collection of reuse windows, sent to the residents of Ukraine rebuilding houses destroyed in rocket attacks. The windows come from a collection that was conducted in England. After the exhibition, they will join those sent from Warsaw to Ukraine by the BRDA Foundation. This will be another form of aid in-kind provided to Ukrainian organizations dealing with bottom-up reconstruction. In this way, the collected windows – initially waste, then exhibits – will turn into utility items, thus becoming synonymous with security and the foundations of dialogue.

In addition to windows, part of the installation "The Poetics Of Necessity" are also objects created from simple building materials and boards presenting the ways of using materials from the second cycle and trajectories of European social activities around the shipment of windows to Ukraine. The exhibition is complemented by a film made of materials provided by Ukrainian non-profit organizations. In turn, in the exhibition catalogue, the curatorial team included talks around material reuse, architecture and social assistance with representatives of Architectes de l'urgence, the Kyiv District #1 Foundation, Assemble and Bauburo in Situ offices, placing the exhibition in a wider, global context. The catalogue is also available online.

– We are thrilled to be able to share a project that is very close to our hearts with a broad, international audience, the exhibition's curators said. – The reuse of materials is definitely the future of architecture and has enormous social potential. This is evidenced by the Polish-Ukrainian solidarity.

Curators of the exhibition and Barbara Krzeska - deputy director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, photo: Iona Wolff

The Polish pavilion was awarded one of the 4 prizes awarded at the Biennale. This year 40 countries are represented there.

The exhibition “The Poetics of Necessity” can be seen at London's Somerset House until June 25, 2023.

Curators of the exhibition:

photo: Jędrzej Sokołowski

Zofia Jaworowska has been a social activist associated with the third sector for many years. She is a graduate of MISH at the University of Warsaw, social anthropology at Goldsmith's College London, screenwriting at the FAMU and Wajda School in Prague.

At the intersection of activism and creative work, she has developed communication strategies and coordinated projects at the Roman Czernecki, Kościuszko Foundation and SEXED.PL. She developed the Polish program – Refugees Welcome Poland. She later transformed this experience into the establishment and coordination of the work of the Resource Group – one of the most effective initiatives supporting refugees from Ukraine in Poland. President of the BRDA Foundation, within which she sends retrieved windows to Ukraine and expands the space for good, safe and affordable housing.

photo: Jędrzej Sokołowski

Michał Sikorski is an architect-urbanist, founder of the TŁO (BACKGROUND) (www.tlo.archi).

After obtaining his diploma in Paris (École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris-La Villette), in the years 2008-2017, he collaborated with the Belgian architect Xaveer De Geyter (XDGA), for whom he led numerous projects, including the master plan of the French city-campus Paris-Saclay. In 2014, he curated and designed an exhibition dedicated to this project in the Maison de l'architecture d 'Ile-de-France. In the years 2017–2021, he co-created visions of spatial development of the University of Warsaw as the architect running the Office of Innovation in Academic Space (BIPA UW - UW Office for Innovation in Academic Space of Warsaw University).

In addition to design, he also conducted research and teaching work, including at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. He currently teaches urban design at the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology and runs his own architectural office TŁO.

photo: Jędrzej Sokołowski

Petro Vladimirov is a Ukrainian architect and multidisciplinary artist, project leader in the Direction office, a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture of the Wrocław University of Technology.

He worked in Ukraine and Denmark in the architectural office of Henning Larsen. He co-created the OKNO (WINDOW) project with Zofia Jaworowska and the BRDA Foundation. Curator of the exhibition “Ukrainian Reconstruction Bureau” at the Museum of Warsaw.

Nominated for this year's PinchukArtCentre Award for Ukrainian artists under 35 years of age.