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Warsaw and the chocolate factory. How will this "sweet" building transform Kamionek?

14 of January '25
w skrócie
  1. The E.Wedel Chocolate Factory Museum is located in Warsaw's Kamionek district.
  2. BiM Architekci studio was responsible for the architectural design of the museum, while WWAA was responsible for the exhibition.
  3. Modernization of the facility preserved the original cocoa silos, reducing CO₂ emissions in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.
  4. The museum's exhibition shows the chocolate-making process from bean to bar, acting on all visitors' senses.
  5. The Wedel factory in Kamionek is a place with more than a hundred years of history, firmly rooted in the architectural and social landscape of Warsaw.
  6. The museum offers unique attractions, such as a mock-up of Kamionek made of chocolate and an observation deck with a panorama of left bank Warsaw.

  7. For more interesting information, visit the home page of the A&B portal

From the very entrance it works on the senses and imagination - it invites you to enter with the smell of chocolate and a facade that resembles its cubes. The E.Wedel Chocolate Factory Museum has been open to visitors since September last year.

Muzeum Fabryka Czekolady E.Wedel położone jest na warszawskim Kamionku

The E.Wedel Chocolate Factory Museum is located in Warsaw's Kamionek district.

© E.Wedel

The museum on Kamionkowskie Lake was created in a 1960s building adapted for this function, which was part of Wedel's production complex. The entire complex, using existing silos for storing cocoa beans, today combines exhibition and production functions. Arup supervised the entire realization of the museum, BiM Architects was responsible for the architecture, and WWAA was responsible for the exhibition.

Fabryka Wedla na warszawskim Kamionku istnieje od lat 30. XX wieku

The Wedel factory in Warsaw's Kamionek district has existed since the 1930s.

© E.Wedel

Robert Zydel, director of the institution, talks about probably the largest chocolate museum in this part of Europe
and Maciej Maj, Senior Project Manager at Arup.


Ola Kloc: Please tell us a bit about the location of the investment and its connection to the history of the surrounding area.

Robert Zydel: The Wedel factory in Warsaw's Kamionek district has existed since the 1930s. It is well known to the citizens and residents of Warsaw, not only by its appearance, but also by the smell of chocolate that surrounds it. I think it is permanently inscribed in the architectural landscape of Warsaw. This is where all the Wedel products we know from the stores are made, and it was here that there was space to revitalize the silos that were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s. My boss says they were the ugliest buildings in Warsaw, so I'm glad we were able to revitalize them so beautifully and propose something that on the one hand is a continuation of the architectural tradition and the tradition of values with which the Wedel company is associated, and on the other hand propose something new - a new pro-social function - and change the space around, revitalize this part of Skaryszewski Park a bit.

Muzeum Fabryka Czekolady E.Wedel w Warszawie

E.Wedel Chocolate Factory Museum in Warsaw

© E.Wedel


Ola Kloc: What were the challenges involved in preserving and modernizing the existing silos?

Maciej Maj: Modernization was related not only to formal conditions, such as restrictions arising from the requirements of the local land use plan, but also to the fact that Wedel implements a policy of sustainable development, taking into account the impact of the emissions of its investments on the environment and taking into account social aspects.

As part of this investment, they wanted to keep an important part of the former silos' structure to reduce carbon emissions. The underground and first floor were preserved. This involved major technical challenges, as the new building, as a museum, has a completely different function, at the same time, thanks to this we were able to show what the original structure looked like. Among other things, the skeleton of the former building can be seen in the exhibition. In addition, solutions had to be applied for the use of the building in terms of fire safety, which somewhat affected the appearance of the old structure, but you can still imagine how powerful it was and get a sense of the old, purely industrial character of the factory.

Muzeum Fabryka Czekolady E.Wedel w Warszawie

E.Wedel Chocolate Factory Museum in Warsaw

© E.Wedel


Ola Kloc: You mentioned sustainable solutions in terms of social value - what does that actually mean?

Maciej Maj: It is mainly about recognizing the user and the local community in the implementation of the investment. At the stage of design work, the investment was consulted with the Praga Południe Municipality Office and the comments of the local community were taken into account. The factory has existed at the site for a hundred years and the local community was strongly attached to what happens on the plot and how it affects the neighborhood.
In order to make the E.Wedel Chocolate Pump Room more accessible to the local community, people walking in Skaryszewski Park along Kamionkowski Lake, it was placed on the first floor in the entrance pavilion. We wanted it to be an easily accessible facility, not just a museum facility where you go in, visit and leave.

Robert Zydel: I have museum experience from other institutions, and from my observations, we do indeed have an overrepresentation of people with special needs, and I'm glad that we manage to convince these people to visit us. I also often chat with people leaving our museum and ask them what they liked and what we can improve. I'm glad that people with wheelchairs and strollers often say that moving between floors, the accessibility of the facility, are at least satisfactory.

celem muzeum jest ożywienie fragmentu parku Skaryszewskiego

The museum aims to revitalize a section of Skaryszewski Park

© E.Wedel

In addition to the pump room mentioned by Maciek, placed on the first floor so that it is accessible to people using Skaryszewski Park, we also have a spring with water for both humans and our non-human friends, so that animals can also use the water. Small architecture - I can already tell you that the bike racks we installed in front of the entrance - theirs are too few! Despite the fact that we are well connected when it comes to public transportation, there is a subway, streetcar, bus, SKM and even a railway nearby, so I do not know what else could be, in Warsaw it is probably all modes of transport, the bike racks in the summer and early autumn months were totally loaded. And finally, the benches, which relate to the façade of the building, are such "chocolate" cubes - I was delighted to see how a few days after opening they were already annexed, with people sitting on them, picnicking, relaxing, waiting for each other, making dates. So this social function is certainly fulfilled, not only in terms of the building itself, but also its surroundings.

Maciej Maj: To the means of transportation that Robert mentioned, we can also add a canoe, which can be used to sail across Kamionkowskie Lake from one shore to the other and reach the chocolate factory.


Ola Kloc: That's just the scenario for a date! Let's talk more about the facade resembling chocolate cubes.

Robert Zydel: The facade, in addition to alluding directly to the products that come out of our production lines - chocolate cubes or pralines - with its gray brick, refers to the rest of our factory complex. It was wildly popular at the time the factory was built. Editor Maniewski of Gazeta Wyborcza many years ago wrote a paean to gray brick, which was a distinctive material for Warsaw between the wars. We on the facade also pay homage: homage to Warsaw, homage to Kamionek, which in the interwar period was an area where many industrial and factory establishments were located. We know of the optical factories that have survived to our days, there were also factories producing telephones, the "Pocisk" factory, as the name suggests producing ammunition, and so on.

elewacja nawiązuje wprost do kostek czekolady

The facade refers directly to the chocolate cubes

© E.Wedel

Maciej Maj: As far as the facade is concerned, it was agreed with the conservator of monuments, who put a premium on the appearance and integration of this investment into the skyline of Warsaw. As for the reference to the chocolate cubes - I am glad that we managed to combine the historical issue with the substantive one, and the elevation refers to what this object serves and what it is associated with.


Ola Kloc: Please tell us more about the rather unusual formula for carrying out a design&build investment.

Maciej Maj: To create an interesting museum, the most important things are the exhibition scenario and the target group, i.e. who will use the museum. This is what we put the main emphasis on. That's why we decided to announce a competition for the design concept, which placed emphasis not only on the visual aspects, but also on the scenario. We invited a number of renowned design studios, mainly from Warsaw. The process was multi-stage and took almost a year.

In the first stage, we conducted a client brief, that is, presenting the assumptions of the marketing team on Wedel's side. We discussed expectations and marketing idea related to the exhibition. The concept, presentation and scenario were then developed by the design studios. First, the design teams developed a concept of what they wanted to talk about in the exhibition, and then, based on the already selected scenario, architectural documentation with technical assumptions was created.

przestrzeń wystawiennicza Muzeum Fabryki Czekolady Wedla

The exhibition space of the Wedel Chocolate Factory Museum

© E.Wedel

Arup was responsible for the proper organization of the competition process - from the scenario, to the architectural solution, to technical and quality considerations. Based on these arrangements, an investor cost estimate was created, followed by a design&build contract, i.e. development of the concept with detailed technical solutions, and then implementation.


Ola Kloc: A museum and a chocolate factory - it works on the imagination and sounds like a child's dream come true! What is the exhibition in the museum about? What can visitors experience? What senses does it work on? Who is it aimed at?

Robert Zydel: The exhibition is not a classic exhibition, where artifacts are hidden behind armored glass and we can look at them from a distance. It works on all the senses! The chocolate museum not only smells of chocolate, we can also taste it in several places. As for the narrative structure - we learn about everything that happens to chocolate: from cocoa beans to packaging. The whole rather long process is presented in an accessible way. It is, of course, a story about the history of how chocolate found its way to Europe and how it went from being the drink of the gods for the Aztecs in America to becoming a chocolate bar. It is also a story about the E.Wedel brand, about three generations of Wedels. For me, it is not only the story of Polish chocolate. The Wedels, especially Emil and Jan, is also a story about Polish entrepreneurship, creativity, design history, collaborations with artists. Everything Jan Wedel did before the war, in terms of marketing, we do the same today. Only the tools and technology have changed, but we use similar "tricks," such as collecting cards, collaborating with celebrities or artists.

wystawa opowiada o wszystkim, co dzieje się z czekoladą: od ziarna kakaowca do opakowania

The exhibition tells the story of everything that happens to chocolate: from cocoa beans to packaging

© E.Wedel

One of my favorite parts of the exhibition is the huge (30 square meters, 300 kilograms of chocolate used in preparation) model of Kamionek, or our immediate neighborhood. It depicts our neighborhood in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

The tour lasts about 90 minutes, and takes place only with a guide, as we are in an industrial space. In the building, in addition to the museum floors with an exhibition, workshop rooms, museum store, there are also floors where production is in progress, which we can see through the windows from the staircases. The tour is crowned by an observation terrace, from which we can see the left bank side of Warsaw, we can see the magnificent skyline of a modern European city. Usually the observation decks are placed on the other side, so it's hard to capture the overall view of the city. This place is great for admiring Warsaw.

zwiedzanie fabryki wieńczy taras widokowy, z którego rozpościera się widok na lewobrzeżną stronę Warszawy

The factory tour is crowned by an observation deck that offers a view of the left bank side of Warsaw

© E.Wedel

Ola Kloc: Thank you for the interview.


interviewed:
Ola Kloc

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