PKP is not slowing down. The new Olsztyn Główny station building is the next big "railroad premiere" in recent times, after the famous Metropolitan Station in Lublin. While Łódź Kaliska awaits its turn, and PKP boasts numerous renovations of 19th-century stations, we describe the effects of the construction of Olsztyn Główny according to the DWAA Architekci project, which replaced an old modernist building from the 1970s. Was it worth it?
Although plans for a new interchange center were mentioned years ago, the plans gained momentum in 2022, when the modernist building, where travelers had been waiting for trains for half a century, was slated for demolition. At the same time, the design process was underway, followed by the construction of the new facility, which proceeded not without slippage - the building was put into operation a year and a half after the originally planned date. The opening was also not without problems, which did not help the good reception of the station building. At the same time, residents are slowly getting used to the new infrastructure, events are being held around the building, and architectural barriers, dirt and the unpleasant smell of the old train station are becoming a thing of the past. What is it really like and what has changed with the new Olsztyn Główny train station?
Olsztyn Główny train station - proj.: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
A historical victim of modern neglect
The previous Olsztyn Główny station, whose partial demolition was completed three years ago, was opened to travelers in 1971. The modernist building, designed by Zygmunt Klopocki, was regarded as a modern and elegant building, a "showpiece of the provincial city." It was erected in the form of two halls joined to form an L-shaped building; one each for the PKP and PKS, which was also accompanied by an eleven-story office tower.
Olsztyn Główny railroad station - design: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
Olsztyn Główny fell victim to the same practice (or rather, lack thereof) as the iconic Brutalist railway station in Katowice and the postmodern railway station in Czestochowa. All three, once functional and modern, fell unnoticed into disrepair through years of neglect. The national operator has not found the means or the will to take care of the operating facilities and subject them to regular renovations. Olsztyn Central has not experienced a general overhaul even once. The result?
The found very poor technical condition and the impossibility of fully adapting the space of the existing building to the demands of the Investor and the requirements that are placed on this type of facilities today decided in favor of demolition and replacement of the existing station with a new one. The building was not included in either the records or the register of monuments.
- Oliwia Dec-Wolszczak of the DWAA Architekci studio explains.
Attempts to enter it in the register of monuments, appeals from residents, or circles focused on architecture and the city, including the Forum for the Development of Olsztyn, which supported (and even prepared!) a vision for a major renovation, did not help - the old train station building was consigned to history as a result of the demolition, which began in August 2022.
Olsztyn Główny train station - proj.: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
turn to new
Construction of the new facility, implemented according to the tendered project, started immediately after the demolition of the old building was completed and its remains were cleaned up. However, DWAA Architects, the creators of the new Olsztyn Central, decided not to overlook the lasting mark that the object designed by Zygmunt Klopocki left in the urban fabric and collective memory of the city. Although diametrically opposed at first glance, Olsztyn's new train station has something of the old modernist building in it.
In our design, we wanted to preserve what worked well in the previous station building. We kept the sense of scale, the main openings, the light and the sense of space of the previous main lobby. The staircase between the ground level and level -1 where there is a tunnel with access to the platforms also has a similar layout.
- writes the architect.
Olsztyn Główny train station - proj.: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
However, it was not without some modifications, which helped to resolve the problems generated by the previous building:
The previous layout of the plaza in front of the station greatly interfered with the safety of movement around the building and between different means of transportation, and was a barrier. The new station square provides a collision-free solution for the user and a pleasant urban space.
- He adds.
There are also tangible, much more conspicuous remnants of the old Olsztyn train station in the new building:
In a nod to the site's history, a wall mosaic has been preserved and introduced into the main lobby of the new building, as well as the placement of the Railway Station inscription, preserved from the previous building, which, after restoration, was mounted on the glass facade of the station building. There are also antique canopies and railings on the platforms, which were renovated in consultation with the preservationist and juxtaposed with modern solutions.
- Oliwia Dec-Wolszczak, a partner at DWAA Architekci, tells us.
Olsztyn Główny railroad station - proj.: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
olsztyn sail
The architecture of Olsztyn's new railroad station is not conservative. The DWAA Architekci team opted for a very dynamic form, oriented toward the station square. The facades are dominated by steel-gray cladding and a large corner glazing. Above it hangs a huge roof, built from a conglomerate of triangular planes, joining their vertices at a point above the main entrance:
[...] the form of the station building and its distinctive roof on the one hand refers to the sail - a characteristic element of the landscape of Warmia and Mazury, and on the other to the wings of a bird and transience, emphasizing the building's connection with nature and regional heritage. The station was designed on the plan of an irregular trapezoid, with a glazed facade, which gives the whole structure a lightness.
- explains the designer of the Olsztyn station.
Olsztyn Główny railroad station - proj.: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
The interiors of the new three-story station building are bright, full of light and space. The dynamism that is so important to the expression of the building's exterior form is also reflected inside, for example in the seemingly random arrangement of elongated fluorescent lights squeezed between black louvers under the ceilings. As with the facade, glass is also one of the main means of expression in the interiors. Just behind the main entrance, a section of the floor awaits travelers, with floor tiles replaced by glazing, through which the underground floor can be seen.
Olsztyn Główny Railway Station - design: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
The immediate surroundings of the new building have also been developed. The square in front of the station is basically a huge triangular ramp, leading to an underground open walkway, carried out under the body of Olsztyn Główny. The composition of the forecourt repeats the motif of a triangular sail, consisting of triangular planes, building up the facades of the building. The ramp has been organized in the form of triangular terraces, alternating green and paved, with sidewalks and benches and impressive lighting.
Olsztyn Główny railroad station - design: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
the wind can be heard in the station hall
Although new, shiny and fragrant, the Olsztyn Główny train station faces some problems, but they seem fairly simple to jump over. Some of them make it difficult to use the facility - travelers point out, for example, the timetable boards located above the stairs leading to the tunnel from which you can get to the platforms. The electronic board is indeed small, in addition to being suspended quite high above the flight of stairs. These, although they break down from time to time, are regularly serviced by the building manager , which is not so obvious at all stations.
Olsztyn Główny railroad station - design: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
The other, hopefully temporary, issue with the new Olsztyn station is the emptiness it hosts in its center. Since the opening of Olsztyn Central, few tenants have started doing business there. The PKP, however, assures that most of the space offered for rent has already found takers, and the station will see the addition of food, retail and service outlets in the coming months.
Olsztyn Główny train station - design: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
newcomer from the future
A problem of much greater caliber is the surroundings of the station. Here ownership issues come into play, as the PKP owns only part of the transportation complex at Olsztyn's 3rd of May Constitution Square. The entire area owned by the railroad was cleaned up during the project, but two other buildings and their immediate surroundings still haunt the area - a modernist railroad office building owned by POLREGIO and the "other half" of the former Olsztyn Central Station, the Bus Station, owned by private investor Retail Provider.
Although a shopping mall was previously planned to be built on the site of the bus station, at present none of the managers are balking at developing their part of the station complex, while the city is unable to agree on the purchase of the land due to wide variations in the estimated value of the plot. The stalemate situation does not inspire optimism, nor does it work well for the functionality of such an important space for Olsztyn , nor for the reception of the new train station, which against the background of the devastated architecture of the 1970s looks a bit like a newcomer from the future.
Olsztyn Główny train station - design: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
railroad puzzle
The surroundings of the station are a large transportation hub, with various forms of communication such as streetcar, train and bus lines intersecting here and with a specific, individual character. Around it are a variety of residential, service buildings, including a gas station, Mcdonald's and the station. All the buildings date from different periods, and present different architectural styles at different scales. There is a lack of spatial order. The new body of the station is to fit in with the scale of the surrounding buildings, to be a dominant feature with a distinctive architectural expression, with a timeless individual form, a little pavilion mediating communication between cities, but also between city districts. Become a symbol of development and change while preserving certain features from the history of the place.
- Oliwia Dec-Wolszczak of DWAA Architekci studio explains.
How does the new Olsztyn Główny find itself in this galimatias?
Advanced contextual analysis allowed for a building mass visible from every direction while providing a spacious, attractive foreground in the form of the station square. The multifunctional plaza connects to the tram-bus interchange and gently descends under the station building connecting naturally to the underpass and providing collision-free access to the platforms and to the Zatorze district. Such a solution is intended to allow users free access to level -1 of the station and further to the platforms increasing the feeling of being on the same level, and minimizing the feeling of descending to level -1 with classic stairs.
- writes the architect.
It is worth mentioning that the construction of the train station building was only a part of a much larger investment - a new layout was built at Olsztyn Główny, the whole thing was connected with the modernization of the Olsztyn railroad station, which cost more than half a billion zlotys.
Olsztyn Główny railroad station - design: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
Olsztyn Główny is stitching the city together
One other extremely important change brought by the construction of Olsztyn's new train station is the tunnel that was built under both the station building and the train station. This one helped to solve a problem that the city center had been facing since the end of the 19th century - the barrier created by the railroad that ran through Olsztyn. It is from it that the Zatorze neighborhood, the most densely populated part of the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, got its name. So far, the residents of this district, to get to the city center or to the station platforms, have mainly used the viaduct on Limanowskiego Street. However, with the construction of the new station, care was taken to create a 140-meter-long underground tunnel to connect Zatorze with the city center and the Kętrzyński estate.
Olsztyn Główny railroad station - design: DWAA Architekci
photo: Oliwia Dec
Olsztyn railway station opening without architects
Recent events in the history of the Olsztyn railway station are a bitter commentary on the position of architects and female architects in modern society. Although the projects created in architectural studios shape our living space, their creators do not always get the attention they deserve. Many of the buildings that surround us every day remain anonymous. This is striking, especially in the case of large public investments, which are financed with public funds and serve the general public. Although the team responsible for designing Olsztyn Central Station does not remain anonymous, neither the PKP, which is the investor, nor the city authorities, which are representatives of the main beneficiaries of this investment, failed to invite representatives of the design team to the grand opening of the station, which took place on February 27, 2025:
It is quite an unfortunate situation when several years of cooperation with the Principal at the stage of design, tender for the General Contractor and implementation end in such a way that we do not even get information about the planned opening. It turns out that in the end everyone cares only about their own interests, but without architects, without their designs, vision and determination at every stage of the investment process, there would be no facilities in the assumed forms. Now everyone is boasting about this station. The owners, the ordering party, the residents. The station and all the facilities have been very well received by travelers and local users. They are eager to use the multipurpose plaza, there are photo walks and whole tours from other cities. We have seen and heard comments: "a new space for Olsztyn", "a new quality of transportation". What can be done in the future? Simply invite to the opening. Ensure together as an environment that Designers are not left out of publications. The designation of authorship also stems from the law, but this is often downplayed by architects themselves. The lack of invitations seems to be a common practice especially if they were talking about investments with public funds. We hope this will change, so we are writing this more as an appeal.
- Oliwia Dec-Wolszczak of DWAA Architects concludes.
