Bolko loft in Bytom is one of the most famous and original architect's own houses in Poland. A residential development inspired by the post-industrial character of the district is being built in the vicinity of Przemo Lukasik 's house supported by eight reinforced concrete pillars - a former lamp room located on the site of the Bolko shaft.
The Bolko estate - a complex of single-family terraced houses - is being built according to a design by the medusa group on land at Północna and Witczaka streets in Bytom.
This is another chance to disenchant Bytom, which many still associate with a post-industrial sinkhole. Meanwhile, it is a place with enormous potential like the former Berlin. The new housing estate we designed will offer great starting conditions for young people," says Przemo Łukasik of the medusa group studio.
The 
The estate will consist of twenty-four residential segments arranged in two rows.
© medusa group
The estate will consist of twenty-four residential segments arranged in two rows. The buildings, as Przemo Lukasik emphasizes, will have two faces - one delineating the frontages, more formal with narrow, rhythmic and overscaled jambs that will form the entrances, and the other with a cascade layout, opening the apartments to greenery and ground-floor gardens. The three-story blocks will house smaller, three-room apartments with gardens on the first floor and larger, four-room apartments with terraces, on the first floor.
The whole development will be given a rather austere, industrial character - the facades will remain gray, revealing block walls, broken with bright yellow on the set-back walls in a cascading layout and, on the other hand, in the cutouts marking the entrances to the buildings.
north elevation
© medusa group
As befits us, it will be quite austere, not everything will be finished and pimped out like other developers. This does not mean that it will be inferior in quality. With our realizations we have already become accustomed to architecture that is somehow sophisticated, but also rational, where structural elements become interior finishes at the same time. This will also be the case this time. Of course, everyone will be able to finish their own walls inside, but if they feel - as we do - that the industrial character of the interior is of value, they may leave it in the aesthetics we propose. The facade will be brick with blocks, without plaster, and the railings will be inspired by industrial fences. The natural gray of the facade will be accompanied by a fresh pastel yellow color. Also energizing will certainly be the greenery that will appear over time in the gardens," says Przemo Lukasik.
visualization of the interior of the apartment
© medusa group
The estate, in addition to good communication and availability of infrastructure, is to create a friendly space for residents - low-rise buildings, a playground adjacent to the buildings, terraced layout of houses conducive to living by multi-generational families are to help create a place, as the investor assures, where architecture will serve, not hinder.
Before anyone dismisses this place on principle, let them go there and try to look at it with the eyes of an informed observer. All it takes is a little imagination to see the future of the place in its potential. We can create something completely new there, giving hope and guaranteeing a high quality of life and neighborhood relations. It will be so Silesian gritty there," adds the architect.
