The Keret House is an art installation in the form of an insert between two existing buildings

In Warsaw, Poland in the district of Wola lies a small crack of space between the buildings on 22 Chłodna Street and 74 Żelazna Street. Jakub Szczęsny of Centrala, recognized the potential to create something unique within this narrow area, and derived a design of an art installation entitled Keret House. The house upon completion shall be­come the narrowest house in Warsaw, measuring an interior that will vary between 122 centimeters and 72 centimeters in its narrowest spot.

The Keret House is an art installation in the form of an insert between two existing buil­dings, representing different historical periods in Warsaw’s history. Keret House is planned to be located on a plot measuring 92 centimeters in its narrowest point and 152 centimeters in its widest point. The project was launched on Saturday 20th of October in Warsaw. It is led by the israeli writer Etgar Keret.

FUNCIONALLY SPACE

Keret House is fully functional space in which one can live as well as create. It is located bet­ween buildings at Chlodna 22 Street and Zelazna 74 Street. “We deeply believe it will become a symbol of modern Warsaw ingrained in its com­plicated history. The House attracts attention of media from entire world. He hope it will show the most fascinating side of Warsaw”, say Sarmen Beglarian and Sylwia Szymaniak form Polish Mo­dern A rt Foundation, the curators of the project.

Ermitage will be a workplace, a hermitage created for an outstanding Isreali writer, Etgar Keret. Besides, it will also fulfill a function of a studio for invited guests – young creators and in­tellectualists from all over the world. The residen­tial program, conducted in the heart of Wola, is supposed to produce creative work conditions and become a significant platform for world intellec­tual exchange. The House is located on the plot measuring 92 centimeters in its narrowest point and 152 centimeters in its widest point.

“That is why at first it seems that the cons­truction of living space within such premise is impossible. Keret House is to contradict that false image, simultaneously broadening the concept of impossible architecture”, says the architect Jakub Szczesny. The house itself is 72 centimeters in the narrowest and 122 centimeters in the widest point. The house is located between two buildings from two historical epochs. “The first is a brick building on Zelazna Street – a fragment of the pre-world war II city, almost no longer existing. The second – a cooperative concrete apartment building, an element of an “imposed structure”, which was aimed at nega­ting the previous city landscape. Their adjacency is coincidental – like many architectural structu­res in Warsaw. Keret House is a perfect example of the so-called “non-matching” in the city’s urban fabric. Another reason is the city’s war history – where the house is located, two ghettos – the large ghetto and the small ghetto met. Only a few steps from the house, a bridge connecting the two closed spaces, stood”, explains Jakub Sz­czesny.

Today Keret House proves to be a possible venture, thus it costed The Fundation of Polish Modern Art and me a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Everything seemed to stand on its way: the space narrowness, the infrastructure, law and money. But since its creators were persistent and devoted to the vision, they’ve managed to convince and persuade other people: neighbors, authorities, administrators, sponsors and builders. Today the house, or rather an art installation of some 14m2 stands between two buildings by Żelazna St. in Warsawi