Architecture

fot. Wojtek Olech

Centre of Contemporary Art is located in the immediate vicinity of the Old Town in Torun, listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage. This medieval town has the greatest number, right after Cracow (Krakow), of existing medieval buildings.

The location chosen for the CoCA determined its spatial and architectonic shape. The author of the building, Edward Lach, designed architecture which corresponds in its scale and character (the  brick façade) to Torun's historic buildings but it is also a modern architectural form.

The building, built on a square base (49 x 49 m), has a simple and modular shape. One of the nine modules which make the square base is a glass cylinder with a representational winding staircase. The building has three basic floors, with additional floors on the roof and under ground (car parks). The building provides 4 thousand square meters of exhibiting space, which makes the Centre in Torun one of the largest exhibiting venue in the country.
Ground floor contains: amphitheatre space, auditorium equipped for multimedia and cinema projections, a space for educational activities, a bookshop, library etc. The first floor is a set of exhibiting spaces with different heights: from 3.70 meter in annexes to 7.26 meter in the biggest, two-floor room which enables presenting large-size installations. On the second floor there are exhibiting spaces, each 3.7 meter heigh. On the roof, next to office space, there is a café and an observation deck.

The arrangement of the building enables organizing interdisciplinary activities on different scales. Its multi-floor and modular exhibiting space makes it possible to present a few projects simultaneously. Additionally, modern equipment facilitates organizing technically advanced presentations.

CoCA was built by the Council of the city of Torun with its own resources and thanks to the EU subsidy (as a part of the ntegrated Regional Operational Programme), as well as thanks to the subsidy granted by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

The concept of the building was designed by Edward Lach.

The architectonic project was realized by Leszek Rubik's R2 studio from Wrocław.