Maciej Nowicki: Global Architectural Visionary & NC State Legend
1910-1950
The Polish-American Club of the Triangle is partnering with North Carolina State University’s College of Design to create an endowment to honor the late Maciej Nowicki. Funds generated from the Maciej Nowicki Polish Architecture and Design Endowment will support faculty and students to study Polish architecture, design, graphic design and landscape architecture in Poland and America. April 22, 2023 will be named Maciej Nowicki Day at North Carolina State, in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of NC State’s College of Design.
Background:
Maciej Nowicki was a Polish architect who fought for his country during the German Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. During the occupation, he taught underground classes in architecture and town planning under the guise a bricklaying course. Post-War, Nowicki designed the urban plan for the reconstruction of Central Warsaw. In 1946, he joined the design team for the new United Nations Headquarters in New York City, working alongside Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright and Oscar Niemeyer. Nowicki was recruited in 1948 to become the first chairman of Architecture Department at the then School of Design at NC State, a position he held until his tragic death in 1950. Among his many achievements was the design of the J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, an international landmark. He worked with Eero Saarinen, Albert Mayer and William Deitrick. His tremendously talented architect and designer wife Stanislawa Sandecka-Nowicki partnered with him on numerous projects, later becoming the first woman to be tenured as a full professor of architecture in America at University of Pennsylvania in 1958. She died in 2017 at age 105.
Nowicki wrote ‘’Man and his way of life become the main source of inspiration for a modern architect...[one of the aspects] deals with the constant change of human life... Now this change is rapid and conspicuous, and it demands constant changes in architectural forms.”
Please join us in honoring and building the legacy of this remarkable global architectural visionary.
Second Phase of Maciej Nowicki Endowment celebration on Friday night with Poland's Cultural Attachė Katarzyna Rybka-Iwańska
November 3rd, 2023 at 7:30 pm
The Faculty Research Commons 5th floor/Hunt Library/ Centennial
Campus/ NCSU
Reminder that a remarkable, one-of-a-kind event of the Polish- American Club of the Triangle is fast approaching. This special celebration of the club's new Maciej Nowicki endowment, along with a talk by Dr. Burak Erdim and Poland's Cultural Attachė Katarzyna Rybka -Iwańska will fill the program.
We suggest everyone arrive early - by 7:00 p.m. - to find parking and get a seat. Join us to celebrate a great Polish icon and major accomplishment of the club.
The new Maciej Nowicki Polish Architecture and Design Endowment will support students and faculty to study Polish architecture, design, art and landscape architecture in Poland or the US.
“We are excited to celebrate the creation of this new endowment and planning conference and exposition while recognizing one of the college’s monumental founders and first chair of the faculty of architecture at NC State, Maciej Nowicki” says Mark Elison Hoversten, dean of the College of Design. Among Nowicki’s many achievements are the design of the J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, placed on the national historic registry in 1972.
Donate to Maciej Nowicki Endowment
Online:
Send check:
Please make your tax-deductible check payable to: NC State Foundation In the memo line, write: “Maciej Nowicki Polish Architecture & Design Endowment” and mail it to: ATTN: Alli Mosco; NC State College of Design; Campus Box 7701; Raleigh, NC 27695.
Links
Polish Diplomat Tours ISE, Celebrates Design Endowment
https://www.ise.ncsu.edu/blog/2023/05/04/polish-diplomat-tours-ise/
Maciej Nowicki: Life and Legacy - slides
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wb4e_vp2WWKMoLMk0qt00RJIrOUJMJo1/view?usp=share_link
North Carolina Architects & Builders - NCSU
https://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/people/P000044
Matthew Nowicki Drawings and Other Material 1944-2011 - NCSU
https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00190/contents
Pencil Sketches Full of Promise - Alumni Magazine
https://magazine.alumni.ncsu.edu/2014/pencil-sketches-full-of-promise/
Dorton Arena's Incomplete Legacies - Southern Cultures
https://www.southerncultures.org/article/a-symbolic-project/
Maciej Nowicki Pionier Architektury Światowej - Wydawnictwo IPN
https://ksiegarniaipn.pl/pdf/549000/549501_Maciej_Nowicki_broszura_PL.pdf
Stanisława Nowicki - wife - University of Pennsylvania
https://almanac.upenn.edu/articles/stanislawa-nowicki-architecture