Copernicus Science Centre – marvel of erosion logic or a functional machine? A case study of a public architecture building at the beginning of the 21st century

Throughout the recent two decades the issue whether architecture is still at its core a public art and whether construction in the public zone in all forms there of still remains the main purpose of architectural practice has been questioned. Given the crisis that has attended architectural language the last half of the 20th century, we have to acknowledge that one of the most difficult issues facing architects today is the way in which a public building is still able to express certain intrinsic values as these are embodied in (1) volumetric organisation, (2) structural order, and (3) representational form [2].The subject of this article is the presentation and analysis of author’s concept of the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw in terms of both formal and functional solutions - design as a reciprocal act and serving as models for ecological architecture. In course of the conducted studies various features required for proper functioning of a contemporary public building have been identified. These include: relations of the enclosure to internal space, spatial organisation, frontiers be-tween the interior and surroundings, and relations between the building and the landscape.