It was for a long time that I wanted to photoshoot this beautiful place. I knew it only from what I could catch a glimpse of through the holes in the fence, through the windows of the SKM commuter train passing by, or from a cruiser going through the Kaszubski Canal to Westerplatte. I could spot enormous KONE cranes from numerous vantage points in the city. I associated the interiors of the facility only from the rare photographs and TV snapshots. I had my own projections of what the shipyard might look like in close-up, and I wanted to confirm them. I have never been let down. 

The shipyard is an example of formerly mighty facilities, which through their intense development since the XIX century attracted workmen and their families into towns, becoming the driving force for the city development and welfare. In the XIX century and the first half of the XX century it was the industry that predominantly shaped the character of many cities. It concerned many branches, for which the steel and its processing became the common element. The state structure changes which took place at the end of the XX century led to the collapse of numerous Polish facilities, which earlier constituted the foundation of the existence of entire regions. The cradle of ‘Solidarity’ got also affected by the problems. The facilities started to crumble, the symbols of industrial culture faded away, the last builders and employees quit, and the residential building took over from the liquidated industrial facilities. Former factories were located on the outskirts of cities, whereas at present, with 200 years passed by, they are often located in the city centres, and thus, have become attractive in the city-creation sense, and are often subject to transformation into residential quarters.

Just before our eyes we are experiencing the emergence of a new waterside district – Młode Miasto, the very place in which you would like to live. There have been similar changes take place, for many reasons, in various locations in the world. The changes are not only driven by economic, political, or social tensions; these projects are often made possible by the change in the technology of ship-building. The first residential investment that is to take off in this very location accounts for a long-awaited moment as it will be accompanied by the inflow of new residents, and the new city life.

This area is a piece of a greater picture in which Gdańsk was born, after almost 10 thousand years since the arrival of the first people from the Pomeranian swamps. I believe that just as it was in my and your case, they were attracted by the sea, which over time, became their window to the world. I also believe that the oldest shipyard facilities will naturally become the pearls of the new district. What originally attracted me to them was their beauty that would reveal itself all year long, in different times and auras, and despite the lapse of 20 years, they keep attracting me with the same drawing power. All these facilities, buildings, traffic set-up, and the remainings of the former residential workmen colonies bear testimony to what has happened in Gdańsk over the years. A 170-year-long ship-building tradition is not a common feat on the worldwide scale by any means.