Jerzy Witeczek (1941-) is an architect and lecturer, a professor at the Silesian University of Technology, and one of the founders of the Silesian School of Architecture. Author of over 150 completed constructions in Poland and abroad. Winner of almost thirty awards and distinctions in national and international competitions. He was born in Tworków near Racibórz, one of the first post-war architects with true Silesian roots. He graduated from the Technical School of Construction in Racibórz and then studied at the Faculty of Industrial and General Construction at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, where in 1967 he defended his degree under the supervision of Professor Zygmunt Majerski. From 1967 a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Architectural Design at the Faculty of Architecture at the Silesian University of Technology. Between 1965 and 1969 he completed architectural design internships in the offices of eminent Austrian architects Prof. Arthur Perotti in Steier (1965), Wolfgang Radler in Vienna and Linz (1968-1969) and Reinhold Baron in Wuppertal, Germany (1985). He defended his doctorate in 1977 under the supervision of Prof. Wiktor Jackiewicz, and in 1993 he acquired the title of associate professor at the Silesian University of Technology. In parallel with his activities at the university, he worked in the Voivodeship Project Office in Katowice (1977-2003). Organiser and moderator of many architectural exhibitions, workshops and conferences in Poland and abroad. Member and Competition Judge of SARP and the J. Eichendorff Foundation. Athlete and member of the KLAN Skiers Architects Club. Educator and promoter of several generations of architects.
The project ‘A collection of film portraits of architects of Upper Silesia from the second half of the 20th century’ presents profiles of the following architects: Stanisław Niemczyk, Marek and Ewa Dziekoński, Jerzy Witeczek, Janusz and Bożena Włodarczyk, all representatives of post-war architecture in Upper Silesia, and also architect Tadeusz Barucki – art historian and documentarian – who sets out the achievements of world architecture of that period. It is important in this project to not merely present post-1945 architectural heritage and associated surviving design documentation, but also, and perhaps first and foremost, to display profiles of their creators and their complex biographies and personalities. Our collection of film portraits constitutes a part of the documenting, archiving, research and popularisation activities of the Institute of Architecture Documentation at the Silesian Library.
The project is co-financed by the Polish History Museum in Warsaw as part of the ‘Patriotism of Tomorrow’ programme.
Thumbnail photograph by Tomasz Wagner
(Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Poland licence).