Jakub Wiązowski and Aleksander Janowski of Wydział Architektury Politechniki Warszawskiej designed a residential building that responds to the contemporary realities of downtown Warsaw. Their building included not only apartments of varying sizes, but also common spaces. The authors also took care to apply realistic ecological solutions.
Situated at the intersection of Towarowa and Grzybowska streets in Warsaw, the building with a multi-story residential tower is a proposal to create common and private space at the same time. The authors describe the project as a contemporary enclave of community life in a downtown context.
The designed premise is a story of interpenetrating spaces used by people to live, work together, study, and exchange views and ideas. "Dwelling" is not a phenomenon confined only within the "four walls" of a dwelling, but is considered in a broader context becoming a place for building a close-knit community. As a place to work, spend time with others, and the closest environment
- write the authors.
view of the establishment in the context of existing buildings
designed by Aleksander Janowski, Jakub Wiązowski
fully prefabricated building
The base of the building is a wide and low common area, with office and cultural functions. A library with a mediatheque, a reading room, a café, and a restaurant are planned on the first floor. On the following floors, different layouts of common and individual work rooms are repeated, and on the fourth level there is still a gym.
The building plan is based on a modular grid. Moving around inside the building is facilitated by sequences of portals and clear views of individual interiors. This is due to an interior patio carved into the mass, where tree plantings have been provided. Each side of the individual floors offers a view of the green courtyard.
structure of the two-story first floor
designed by Aleksander Janowski, Jakub Wiązowski
view from the fourth story to the light well
proj.: Aleksander Janowski, Jakub Wiązowski
A tall, multi-story residential tower rises from the basic block. The charter of possible apartment variants includes one-room studios of 26 square meters, larger ones of 35 square meters, with a living room, separate kitchen and one bedroom, up to the largest two-level apartments with a total area of almost 100 square meters.
chart of possible apartment variants
proj.: Aleksander Janowski, Jakub Wiązowski
two-level corner apartment
proj.: Aleksander Janowski, Jakub Wiązowski
live green, collective and futuristic
The authors envisioned placing a green terrace on the roof of the lower part of the building, as well as installing solar collectors. They also took care of the concept of rainwater retention, which would be used for watering and flushing toilets.
The building's facade was designed to visually shorten the building and give it lightness thanks to its trapezoidal shape. Covered with a green shell, it gives the building a unique character in the area. The material used for its construction is colored architectural concrete along with recycled crushed glass aggregate. On the Towarowa Street side, the rhythm of the facade has been fragmented to further emphasize the active corner. The two-story and six-story-high glazing on the last levels is intended to crown the designed dominant and visually shorten the tower, giving lightness to the whole structure.
With its simple, futuristic shape, the designed building fits harmoniously into the neighboring buildings, which are equally tall. Moving the tall residential tower away from the street makes the lower base much more pleasant in human scale.
block shaping scheme
designed by Aleksander Janowski, Jakub Wiązowski
The design by Aleksander Janowski and Jakub Wiązowski provides an interesting solution for placing additional residential development in the very center of a city as large as Warsaw. With a creatively resolved building base and high tower, offering a large number of apartments, the authors attempt to answer the question of how to balance the need to stop urban sprawl with the creation of human-scale architecture.
The work took part in the Residence competition and was selected for the public vote, in which it won 268 votes.
