Renovation, revitalization, rehabilitation - these three words encapsulate the directions the Arche Group has taken with its latest venture. After several years of closure, the "Metalowiec" in Zlockie near Muszyna is already receiving its first guests. Will one of the youngest spas in Poland cope with the influx of visitors?
The Arche Group has begun work on revitalizing the modernist "pearl" of Zlockie, once called the "Star of the Mountains" in 2022. The building in question is the Sanatorium Metalowiec, which was built for the Association of Polish Steel Mills in the 1960s. Jerzy Szanajca, an architect who specialized in modernist buildings with medical functions, was responsible for its design. Although less well known than his nephew, Jozef Szanajca, founder of the Praesens group, he had a number of successful projects to his credit. His other projects include the Provincial Specialized Hospital in Biala Podlaska (1986) and the Tuberculosis Hospital in Czerwona Gora (1971), and he was also co-author of the SBO System, used in the construction of many housing estates built using large-panel technology.
Hotel Arche "Metalowiec" Muszyna in Zlockie - design: Piotr Grochowski
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The sanatorium in Zlockie was opened in 1968. The six-story building offered patients working in the metal works rooms with large balconies, allowing them to take advantage of the weather and scenic qualities, as well as the spa water, drawn from three wells belonging to "Metalowiec." It served as a sanatorium for decades, but the last dozen years or so have been a sad chapter in its history. The abandoned building would probably have fallen into disrepair had it not been for an experienced investor who decided to give it a second life.
Hotel Arche "Metalowiec" Muszyna in Zlockie - design: Piotr Grochowski
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history on equipment
Although "Metalowiec" was erected in difficult economic conditions, 50 years after its construction it still retains a lot of valuable architectural detail. As in other Arche Group projects, the decision was made in Muszyna to save as much of the existing fabric as possible. As we read in the publication accompanying the entire project, restoration treatments were applied to, among other things:
the characteristic wide entrance canopy, supported by filigree steel pillars, which retained its light modernist form; the use of noble "scratch" plaster, almost no longer used today, and reliably laid local stone on parts of the facade, [...] the original floors, wooden balustrade handrails and aluminum ironwork, which together created a coherent modernist architectural drawing.
Interestingly, preserved furnishings were also restored, including tableware, lamps and furniture, such as the seats of the iconic Armchair 366 type. What could not be restored to a condition that would allow it to be used in accordance with its original purpose, Arche reused in a new role. This is what happened, for example, with the fragments of parquet floors that ended up on countertops in the café.
Arche Hotel "Metalowiec" Muszyna in Zlockie - design: Piotr Grochowski
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Some of the elements have also been restored. For decades an inscription towered over the building, proudly announcing to visitors that they were just at the foot of the sanatorium called "Metalowiec." Although in recent years the only remnant of it was a steel frame, the project team decided to restore this piece. The first visualizations available to the public suggested some changes from the original state - the inscription was to be longer and proclaim "Hotel Arche Metalowiec." In the end, however, the shorter version, in line with the original from the early 1970s, fell.
Hotel Arche "Metalowiec" Muszyna in Zlockie - design: Piotr Grochowski
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Although when Arche began work the building was badly neglected, over the 50 years of its existence "Metalowiec" has undergone a number of major and minor renovations and alterations. One of the remnants of these interventions were the layers of paint, laid one on top of the other, created after successive "refreshes" of the interiors. The designers of the building decided to use them in a creative way, exposing stages in the history of the sanatorium in the form of a mosaic of exposed paintings.
Hotel Arche "Metalowiec" Muszyna in Zlockie - proj.: Piotr Grochowski
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sunny smile
When it comes to mosaics, those in the new Arche Hotel. The greatest pride of the "Metalowiec" is certainly Kazimierz Mann's composition from 1969, located in the pool building, which was saved during the revitalization. Bozena Kostuch, a researcher of post-war monumental painting, writes about it this way:
The only existing mosaic by Kazimierz Mann located in the former "Metalworker" is different both in terms of subject matter and color, as it is an abstract work dominated by a range of grays and blues, with accents of yellow. Its color scheme, therefore, perfectly blends with the place for which it was created. "In the Metalowiec resort in Muszyna a mosaic has been preserved, decorating a wall by the indoor swimming pool: a multicolored, abstract composition with the motif of a smiling sun disc, characteristic of the artist's postwar work," Wojciech Mann describes.
The "Metalowiec" also features several new mosaics, and one of them depicts Nikifor Krynicki, an artist known from another Polish resort.
Arche Hotel "Metalowiec" Muszyna in Zlockie - design: Piotr Grochowski.
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a manifesto of salvation
In telling the story of its new investment, Arche eagerly emphasizes the pro-environmental aspects of the circular direction taken in revitalizing the spa. It's hardly surprising, since the Mountain Star indeed preserved what it could, supplementing the rest with local products:
This ethical premise permeates the entire adaptation project: maximum preservation of the original structure is the rule - any interference with the reinforced concrete was limited to the minimum required by the new functions. The use of local materials is another point: Where possible, the project team sought to use materials that are either local, such as natural stone, or recycled, further minimizing the negative impact of transportation and manufacturing.
- reads the "Salvage Manifesto" by Piotr Grochowski.
"Metalworker" in white
The sanatorium in Zlotyń, although interesting and highly polished, was not on any registers or records providing protection against changes in its architectural expression. This one essentially remained the same - modernist, light, strongly linear. This does not mean, however, that Metalowiec looks exactly the same as it did in 1968, when it first opened. The compositional layout was enriched by the added wings, that's obvious. As for the facades of the original block, however, the devil is in the details.
Hotel Arche "Metalowiec" Muszyna in Zlockie - designed by Piotr Grochowski.
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In the original design, the southern elevations were dominated by bright planes of balcony screens, strongly emphasizing horizontal directions. In the new design, the horizontality of the "Metalworker" is mainly due to the proportions of the body itself, which is much wider than it is high. Already many years ago, the "white bands" disappeared from the balconies; today, sparing metal balustrades have appeared instead, so that the drawing of rectangular balcony niches plays the first fiddle. This is a change that has affected not only the perception of the external body of the sanatorium, but also its interiors:
our idea was to create panoramic views, which is why we introduced full-length vertical glazing both on the first floor of the building and on the upper floors, especially in the hotel rooms. This treatment is not only a step towards maximizing light, but radically changes the perception of the interior, blurring the boundary between the interior and the landscape. In the guest rooms, vertical glazing exposes the mountain slopes and Poprad valley, translating the modernist idea of "health through nature" into a contemporary, immersive leisure standard.
- writes Piotr Grochowski
"The metal building is also whiter than ever before.
similar, not the same
As mentioned, the original body of the sanatorium was enriched with two new wings, located on the south side. One of them adjoins the modernist building perpendicularly, while the other was placed equidistant from it, giving the whole an arrangement resembling the shape of the letter "Z". The new wings were designed in a way that makes it possible to distinguish them from the historic part, while maintaining consistency with the vision of Jerzy Szanajca. Both blocks have the same number of floors, flat roofs and high ground floors. Slightly less successful are the smaller, additional blocks that have been built around the hotel buildings. In this context, the "tent" building, located in the northwestern part of the complex, attracts attention above all.
Hotel Arche "Metalowiec" Muszyna in Zlockie - visualizations - designed by Piotr Grochowski.
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A significant increase in the volume of the building allowed it toaccommodate 373hotel rooms, with a total capacity of about a thousand people. Guests can enjoy two swimming pools, wellness and spa areas , a conference center, as well as a restaurant and café.
Promenade in Zlockie
© mat. UMiG Muszyna
rehabilitation in modernist walls
Can Zlockie withstand such an influx of tourists? The Muszyna municipality, like its residents, has long derived a significant portion of its income from tourism. The town itself is already preparing the infrastructure, announcing the construction of a promenade and a representative "gateway" to the resort a short distance from the "Metalowiec". That's not all, however:
At the junction of Muszyna and Zlockie, a "Sky Bike" will be built - a "tyrolean" tourist attraction unique in Poland. The project involves the construction of an above-ground route in the form of a loop of about 500 meters in length, suspended about 8 meters above the ground and supported by six supports. The ride will take place on special leg-powered devices, operating on the principle of a bicycle mechanism. The project will provide active recreation and unique views of the Family Park on the Szczawniczek stream. The route will be complemented by a building with a start and end platform, two tube slides and a climbing wall.
- explains Jan Golba, mayor of Zlockie.
As Vladislav Grochowski, president of the Arche Group, assures, the revitalization of the sanatorium will benefit not only the company and guests, but also residents, as the hotel is expected to employ more than 200 people. There is also an interesting rehabilitation theme in the whole project - as Arche reports, much of the interior furnishings were created or renovated by inmates incarcerated in prisons. Considering the preservation of the existing fabric and the quality of the design, one can cautiously conclude that Arche Group has once again raised the bar for itself.
