Liberating with Open Forms. Shaping the human imagination

Oskar Hansen (1922–2005) was an architect, while Teresa Kruszewska (1927–2014) was an interior and furniture designer. Although they worked in different fields and never created a project together, we decided to show their works side by side, as juxtaposed they highlight each other’s most salient features.

‘Apparatus for Exercise II–2’ is one of the tools Hansen developed for working with students. The task at hand was to arrange a composition on a plane using identical cubes, first with a minimum number and then a maximum number of elements, so that the positioning of the individual elements was clearly differentiated. In this way, Hansen exercised the spatial imagination of his students. The photographs and designs show residential developments containing green spaces, playgrounds, and outdoor common spaces all planned in accordance with Hansen’s concepts of Open Form and the Linear Continuous System. According to Hansen’s principles, they were to be based on flexible structures, forever undefined. In doing so, the architect left room for decision-making not only for the users of the time, but also for those in the future whose needs may have changed in line with changes in society.
Kruszewska’s work combines the educational aspect of the Apparatus and the utilitarian aspect of Hansen’s architectural realizations. They enable the child to learn about space using basic solids through an open and variable arrangement of elements. They also allow various configurations to be created depending on the user’s needs—stools and tables for mealtimes and drawing sessions, or tunnels and towers for physical play. Neither the furniture-toys nor the Sphere have a permanently defined function; everything depends on the child’s current needs and inventiveness. Both Hansen and Kruszewska were interested in shaping the human imagination through actions that used simple solids in space. Both employed an open form that left users free to decide their own surroundings.