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IN SEARCH OF NAVAL BEAUTY. HISTORICAL STUDY OF SHIP ARCHITECTURE

Elzbieta Marczak, P. Burba

Abstract

Designing ships is no mean achievement. In the old days, constructors focused on making their ships visually appealing, while paying scant regard to the living conditions of the crew. Such an approach reflected the state of the art in ship building at the time as well as the social order prevalent in those days. A breakthrough came no earlier than at the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries. The industrial revolution brought along advances in technology and contributed to greater social awareness. The living conditions for the crew and increasing numerous passengers, as well as naval aesthetics, became an area of primary concern for architects and an object of study for scientists. Professor Jan Witold Urbanowicz was the pioneer of the Polish school of ship architecture, who defined the new scientific field by elevating to first-rank importance the shipВ’s silhouette as well as its functional and spatial considerations throughout the shipbuilding process, from the drawing board to construction. A combination of his passion for the job and an inborn sense of aesthetics enabled the search for naval beauty to run in parallel with the development of user-friendly ship designs featuring freight and passenger vessels in civil service with comfortable working and living conditions. This article presents professor UrbanowiczВ’s most important achievements in ship designing: his activity as an engineer, educator and scientist as well as his thoughts about the re-definition of the discipline.

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