In the early years of World War Two the British Council approached the University of Liverpool with a scheme to set up a Polish School of Architecture in Liverpool and to offer sanctuary to a group of architects from Poland. The Polish School was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Poland and Commander-in-Chief, General Wladyslaw Sikorski at a ceremony held in the Philharmonic Hall on 6 November 1942 - although the school had actually been in operation within the School of Architecture from June 1941. Service men from the Polish forces studied between tours of duty following what was largely a curriculum based on the Liverpool model with a number of modifications to accommodate particular studies applicable to the rebuilding of Poland. In a volume that was published in 1945 to commemorate the disbanding of the Polish School, Professor Lionel Budden noted that 'From the opportunities of collaboration that have been afforded us we have learnt much. There has been a fruitful exchange of ideas between the two schools and our students have in particular appreciated the stimulus they have received from the participation of their Polish contemporaries...' The prize was named after General Sikorski who was killed on 4 July 1943 whilst returning from an inspection of Polish forces in the Middle East. His plane crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from Gibraltar Airport. Sikorski was buried at the Polish War Cemetery in Newark-on-Trent where Winston Churchill delivered a eulogy. General Sikorski's remains were exhumed in September 1993 and transferred to the royal crypts at Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland.
The Sikorski Memorial Prize for Interior Design is offered to BA3 and MArch5 students each year.
Further Reading
Przesmycka, Elizbieta & Jablonski, Wojclech, Studies at The Polish School of Architecture in Liverpool 1942-1946, TEKA, Vol. 13, No. 4, 2017
Szmidt, Boleslaw Polish School of Architecture in Liverpool, Art Notes, VIII, I, 1944, pp2-3
The Polish School of Architecture 1942-45, (Introduction by Professor Lionel Budden), Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, 1945