Edgar Norwerth

Polish architect Edgar Norwerth was born the son of Polish parents in Switzerland and stayed during his early years mostly in Russia. He studied at the Institute of Communication Engineering in Moskva, and then at the Institute of Civil Engineers in St. Petersburg, where he became a professor from 1917-24. In 1918 he also became a professor at the Moskva School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, but in 1924 he returned to Poland and settled in Warszawa, where from 1926-30 he was professor at the Warszawa University of Technology.

In addition to architecture, Norwerth also produced graphic works, mostly etchings and woodcuts decorated in avant-garde style. He was also a well-known architecture critic, the author of numerous articles published frequently in Architecture and Construction, and he helped initiate environmental discussion, about the urban planning in Warszawa.

His Sports building was actually the Central Institute of Physical Education (Centralny Instytutem Wychowania Fizycznego, now officially Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego Józefa Piłsudskiego w Warszawie) in Warszawa-Bielany, built in 1928-30 with modifications in the second half of the 1940s. The unique sports hall was then the largest in Europe, 130 m long without internal support. Originally planned were also a representative stadium, an indoor pool, sports pavilions, a rowing track and other facilities, but not all of them were realized. Norwerth also designed the interior including the furniture. The school started operation in 1929. During World War II, the buildings were damaged but rebuilt afterwards.