Archinect - News

Construction underway in Poland on one of Europe’s largest museum complexes

2023-05-30T11:48:00-04:00

Construction is underway in Warsaw on a new complex for the Polish History Museum and Polish Army Museum, designed by the Warsaw-based architectural design studio WXCA.

Located at the Warsaw Citadel, on the site of former 19th-century fortifications, the museum and an associated park are intended to create “a place of culture, remembrance, and recreation.”

Polish History Museum. Image credit: WXCA

Three structures are to be built on the site: the headquarters of the Polish History Museum, and two buildings for the Polish Army Museum. When combined with the already-existing Museum of the 10th Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel and the Katyń Museum, the “park of museums” is expected to become one of the largest museum complexes in Europe.

Polish History Museum. Image credit: WXCA

For the Polish History Museum, WXCA imagined the scheme as a monolithic body expressed through a minimalist stone form. Within the s...

In a Polish forest, Mobius Architekci Studio creates a timber-clad home ‘bathed in nature’

2023-03-01T11:39:00-05:00

Przemek Olczyk, Warsaw-based architect and founder of Mobius Architekci, has published photographs of their completed Circle Wood project in the Kampinos National Park outside the Polish capital. Commissioned by an art lover and collector, the home seeks to capture the aura of an art gallery while responding to its natural surroundings.

Image credit: Paweł Ulatowski

Built on a large sandy plot densely covered with pine forest, the 4300-square-foot home adopts an oval form containing the living space, garage, and open spa area. The scheme was constructed from a reinforced concrete structure clad with panels of Okume wood sourced from West Africa. Described as “elegant and knotless” by the team, the timber cladding was chosen to allow the building to be “bathed in nature,” blending into its forest landscape.

Image credit: Paweł Ulatowski

Inside, the scheme is anchored by a double-height atrium whose natural materials and extensive glazing “pleasantly and harmoniously seeps nature into t...

Foster + Partners completes EU's tallest building in Warsaw, Poland

2022-10-26T09:00:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has completed work on Varso Tower in Warsaw, Poland. At 310 meters (1,017 feet) tall, the scheme overtakes Frankfurt’s Commerzbank Tower (also designed by Foster + Partners) to become the tallest building in the European Union.

The new tower is also nearly 400 feet taller than the Intempo skyscraper in Benidorm, Spain, which became the tallest residential building in the European Union following its completion last year.

Image courtesy of Foster + Partners

At ground level, the project includes a plaza enclosed within a glazed screen. Described by the designers as an ‘urban room,’ the plaza contains full-height trees and seating for office workers on breaks and the public.

Image courtesy of Foster + Partners

Inside, the tower’s lobby features a 33-foot-high ceramic artwork by local artist Krystyna Kaszuba-Waclawek. Above, office floors are accessed by two banks of double-deck elevators where each c...

Construction begins on Varso Tower, set to become Poland's tallest building

2017-01-11T13:19:00-05:00

At 53 stories tall, the Foster + Partners-designed Varso Tower is set to become the tallest building Poland. Construction has just begun on the office tower, which is being developed by HB Reavis and is part of a complex that includes two other buildings designed by Hermanowicz Rowski Architects. It will also have an observation deck—one of the highest in Europe—where tourists can ogle Warsaw’s skyline.

“We believe that Varso Tower will have a unique place on Warsaw’s skyline, but most importantly it will establish a new destination capable of revitalising this urban quarter, right in the heart of the city. The building contains high-quality and flexible office space, but it also makes an important contribution to the city with its glazed public courtyard at ground level and the spectacular viewing platforms with restaurants at the top. These public galleries offer panoramic views of the city to everyone. We are really looking forward to construction." said Grant Brooker, Head of Stu...

Warsaw's Palace of Culture and Science to host an international art fair

2016-08-22T12:53:00-04:00

The Palace of Culture and Science, a 237 meter tall socialist realist high-rise, towers over the city of Warsaw, Poland. Given as a “gift” to the Polish people by the Soviet Union, the building was originally called the Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science. It was built between 1952 and 1955 and, for many Varsovians, is an ugly reminder of the Stalinist era.

Now, it’s about to reinvest in its eponymous program with an international art fair. Hosting some 20 art galleries from Warsaw as well as other European cities, the “Not Fair” is schedule to open on September 22, 2016. Each gallery will present a solo show by one of their represented artist, which must take into account the “special character” of the Palace.

According to the founder of Not Fair, Michal Wolinski, the event is intended to “merge the mood and quality of an art exhibition with the opportunities that art fairs provide for cutting-edge galleries and young artists”.

h/t the Art Newspaper

For more news from Poland, c...

Poland to remove Soviet-era memorials

2016-04-05T12:34:00-04:00

The Polish government plans to demolish about 500 Soviet monuments throughout the country, head of the Institute of National Remembrance Lukasz Kaminsky said in an interview with online portal Onet.pl, the RBC news website reported Thursday. Kaminsky — whose institute is responsible for investigating crimes against the Polish nation — said that plans for the demolition of the monuments, would be sent to local authorities in the coming weeks.

According to the report, the monuments will be relocated to museums where they can serve as a "witness of hard times."

Many Soviet war memorial have been vandalized and demolished in Poland, whose population views the Soviet role in the Second World War "with ambiguity or outright hostility."

Russians have reacted strongly to these moves in Poland. In their view, the Red Army liberated Poland from the Nazis.

For related coverage:

Explore Warsaw with these travel tips from Four O Nine co-founder Lukasz Kos

2015-12-04T18:53:00-05:00

No two people, let alone architects, perceive even the most frequented cities in the same way. How do designers experience their cities as locals?

A tumultuous sequence of political upheaval and renewal just within the last century has transformed Warsaw into a bustling incubator of creativity for architects, designers, and artists — and the world is taking notice. For a glimpse into the city's emerging design scene, Archinect reached out to Four O Nine co-founder Lukasz Kos, who manages the practice's Warsaw office (Also see Andrei Zerebecky's Shanghai guide). Kos shared some can't-miss spots around town that he would recommend to the architecturally inclined traveler.

Lukasz Kos. Photo via.

Warsaw is a city with a recent history of violent changes. In the span of the last 100 years it has seen colonization twice by the Russians; experienced cruel and nearly complete destruction at the hands of the Germans, leaving the city of over one million with just 1,000 occupants after WWII; sla...

Renderings released for Warsaw's new Museum of Modern Art

2015-09-25T08:58:00-04:00

Thomas Phifer and Partners has released remarkably boxy renderings for The Museum of Modern Art and TR Warszawa Theater in Warsaw, Poland. The renderings hint at a more complex internal spatial arrangement, a la The New World Symphony in Miami, Florida, but from the outside they are undoubtedly square.

The idea behind the design is that "the museum, theater, and forum form an ensemble working simultaneously together while remaining distinct from each other and the context." Visitors will be able to access the museum from all sides, while the architecture of the theater "reflects TR Warszawa's varied programming."

Barcelona wins Grand Prize in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge for Europe

2014-09-23T21:32:00-04:00

Michael Bloomberg's Bloomberg Philanthropies revealed the winners of its first European edition of the Mayors Challenge. More than 150 top cities from 28 European nations entered the competition, which asked participants to send their most innovative ideas that address Europe's timely pressing issues like unemployment, energy efficiency, obesity, aging, and improving government efficiency.

Barcelona took the Grand Prize for Innovation and €5 million to help implement their proposal, Collaborative Care Networks for Better Aging, a digital and community "trust network" for each of its at-risk elderly residents.

Innovation prizes of €1 million were also given to the following cities:

Athens, Greece: Synathina, a Public Platform for Engaged Citizens
Kirklees, in Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Kirklees Shares
Stockholm, Sweden: Biochar - for a Better City Ecosystem
Warsaw, Poland: Virtual Warsaw - Urban Information System for the Visually Impaired

In addition to prize money, each winning city will receive technical assistance, expert coaching, and a trophy specially designed by renowned artist Olafur Eliasson.

Michael Bloomberg congratulated Barcelona via a surprise phone call from Paris in the video below.

Learn more about the winning ideas on Bustler.

Winner of Changing The Face 2013 to revamp Warsaw’s saw-toothed Rotunda

2013-12-09T19:07:00-05:00

Bartłomiej Gowin and Krzysztof Siuta of Krakow-based GowinSiuta Studio were the first-prize winners of the 2013 Changing The Face competition. Architects were invited to send their proposals to redesign central Warsaw's Rotunda, a landmark and popular meeting space that houses Central Europe's largest bank, PKO Bank Polski.

Visit Bustler for more details.

Winning entry of the Royal Łazienki Museum competition in Warsaw

2013-11-20T14:37:00-05:00

A team consisting of Mecanoo, Michael van Gessel, DELVA Landscape Architects and Jojko Nawrocki Architekci has been selected to design the new Garden of the 21st Century with integrated exhibition pavilion at the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw, Poland. [...] Mecanoo will be planning the exhibition pavilion, while Michael van Gessel and DELVA Landscape Architects are in charge of the garden design.

All images courtesy of Mecanoo architecten.

Warsaw Rotunda Entry by MUS architects

2013-09-05T16:52:00-04:00

Polish firm MUS architects has shared with us the concept RTND 2.0, an entry to the ongoing competition Changing the Face 2013 Rotunda Warsaw which seeks to revitalize Zbigniew Karpiński’s iconic 1960s landmark building in central Warsaw.

Polish Museum Repairs a Tie to a Jewish Past

2013-04-22T14:54:00-04:00

Among civic leaders here there is a strong sense that Poland will never fully recover from its 20th-century traumas until it recognizes its Jewish past, and the museum is seen as a major step. “Jewish memory is becoming part of Polish memory,” the chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich

Recently at the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Poland’s chief rabbi unveiled an unusual sculpture. Nicholas Kulish, later interviewed Rabbi Schudrich about the meaning and importance of the museum's existence. Reflecting on the building (designed by Finnish architect Rainer Mahlamäki), Mr. Kulish writes it is "a shining symbol of Warsaw’s transformation from a dark and cheerless post-Communist city to a thriving Central European capital".

OperaLab Mobile Pavilion Competition Entry by exexe

2013-03-06T18:23:00-05:00

Polish architecture studio exexe has shared with us their entry to the OperaLab IDENTITY DESIGN/DESIGN IDENTITY competition in Warsaw, Poland. The brief called for the design—and eventually realization—of a mobile pavilion for the OperaLab project which can host various activities [...]. The mobile pavilion has to be built from renewable materials, and its structure needs be flexible and easy to assemble and dismantle.

schmidt hammer lassen architects to design office tower in Warsaw

2011-11-23T14:07:00-05:00

Danish practice schmidt hammer lassen architects has won the international architectural competition to design a 188 meter office tower in the financial district of central Warsaw, Poland. The 60,000 m2 high-rise building is to replace the existing ‘Ilmet’ building.

Polish architect building world's narrowest house between Warsaw tower blocks

2011-07-06T12:20:00-04:00

An alley between an old tenement block and a tower block in Warsaw, Poland, will be the location for the skinniest house in the world. The four-storey home will have a bedroom, lounge, bathroom and kitchen, stretching back nearly 40ft, but instead of the traditional staircase, each floor will be accessed by a ladder. It will take over from the world's current official narrowest house, The Wedge, on the island of Great Cumbrae.