About the project

Gdynia, which was designed and built from scratch in the interwar period, is a unique example of a cohesive and perfectly maintained modernist urban arrangement. Architecture experts have appreciated the beauty and value of Gdynia’s cultural heritage. Thanks to their efforts, in 2015 Gdynia Śródmieście (Midtown) was granted the status of a historic monument. Efforts have also been made for this area to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Protection, education and raising awareness on the modernist heritage is indispensable if we want to preserve it for the future generations. Therefore, The Gdynia City Museum fulfils its mission through various activities connected with the architecture of Gdynia. Another one is to create a compendium of knowledge on modernist architectural detail in Gdynia, in the form of a bilingual Polish-English website which applies the state of the art technology. The website Glass, Metal, Detail. Gdynia’s Modernism Online is a virtual trip into the buildings. It tracks construction materials, architectural details, modern technological solutions and – last but not least – producers and manufacturers.

The website is based on the materials prepared for catalogue of the award-winning exhibition Glass, Metal, Detail. Gdynia’s Architecture in Detail (2016). Thanks to moving the exhibition into the virtual world and extending it with more materials, we have a chance to reach a much more larger audience. The website is aimed at researchers, historians and restorers as well as architectural detail lovers, the inhabitants of modernist tenements, tourists and all the internet users who are curious about the world. It provides access to the photographs of architectural details, archive photographs of buildings, scans of archive press adds and architectural magazines, virtual walks, recordings of lectures on architectural history, instructional videos as well as educational elements for children. Texts for general public were added to the materials. The texts on architecture, urban planning, heritage protection, interwar technology, construction materials and architects’ biographies were prepared by architectural history experts.

Inviting people with special needs into the world of architecture is another goal of the project. It is possible thanks to features like audio description, translation into Polish sign language and easy read versions of texts.

More materials will be added to the website in the coming years. Thanks to this, it will become an extensive compendium of knowledge which eliminates the digital or geographic barriers and is available to everyone, regardless of location.