Maciej Nowicki (1910-1950) was an architect from Poland. He served as a chief architect for the city of Chandigarh in India. On 1 September 1950, at 40, he died in a plane crash.
Wiki/Biography
Matthew “Maciej” Nowicki was born on Sunday, 26 June 1910 (age 40; at the time of death) in Chita, Siberia. He was brought up and taught in the Polish cities of Cracow and Warsaw. . In 1936, Macief got graduated from Warsaw Polytechnic. Due to his father’s job, the family moved around a lot, including Chicago, where Nowicki learned English.
Family
Parents & Siblings
Nowicki was born and raised in a wealthy Polish family. His father was a consul and the head of the Polish Agrarian Party. There is not much information about his parents and siblings.
Wife & Children
Maciej Nowicki got married to Stanislawa Sandecka in 1938. Stanislawa was also an architect. The couple was widely known for their drawing skills during their architectural studies at the Warsaw Polytechnic. They had one child together.
Maciej Nowicki’s wife – Stanislawa Sandecka
Relationships/Affairs
They were fellow students before Maciej got married to Stanislawa Sandecka, with whom he would later cooperate on a number of projects.
Career
Nowicki was a great educator, designer, and planner of international countries. His works range from terrace apartment buildings in Warsaw (1933) to a unique vision of rebuilding the center of the entirely destroyed Warsaw, Poland’s capital city (1945), to the entire layout and architectural concept of Chandigarh (1950).
Rebuilding the Polish Capital City – Warsaw, 1945
In 1945, Nowicki was appointed Chief of Planning for the central area of Warsaw. He created a vision of rebuilding and recreating the capital city of Poland, Warsaw. He wanted to create an urban atmosphere that also seemed friendly to the eye. As a result, he imagined a metropolitan city that had building heights and was structured to separate pedestrian and vehicular traffic. He designed terrance housing projects and sports centers in Warsaw and rebuilt the completely destroyed center of Warsaw.
In 1950, Nowicki along with American architect Albert Mayer, began to plan Chandigarh, the new capital of Punjab and Haryana in India. Together they designed the city as a leaf, with gently flowing pathways and an administration district surrounded by small neighborhoods. Regrettably, Nowicki’s plane got crashed while he was returning back from India in 1950. Later, the city was designed by Le Corbusier. Maciej Nowicki’s Master Plans
Awards, Honours, Achievements
- Nowicki was honored with the most prestigious environmental award in Europe – “The German Environmental Prize.”
Death
On 1 September 1950, Maciej Nowicki, at the age of 40, got crashed in a plane in the Egyptian desert while he was returning back from India.
Facts/Trivia
- Nowicki and his wife Stanislawa Sandecka were considered to be amongst the excellent graphic artists of Poland.
- After his graduation in 1936, Maciej got a position as an associate professor at the Polytechnic and established his own architectural firm.
- During the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, Nowicki temporarily served as an anti-aircraft artillery officer.
- He was appointed the director of the design program at ‘North Carolina State University’, gave lectures as a guest professor at numerous American universities, and at the end of the 1940s.
- After winning serval competitions during a small period of internship at the office of Le Corbusier, they built a tourist hotel in Augustw.
- Maciej collaborated with other co-designer for graphing the North Carolina State Archives and Museum Building, and the world-famous Dorton Arena in 1949.
‘Dorton Arena’ Master Plan by Maciej Nowicki