Adaptation of former industrial buildings on Szwedzka Street in Warsaw’s Praga district.
This is the practice’s first large-scale regeneration project, spanning an extraordinary 18 years from the start of the design process to the completion of construction.
In 2007, following the success of an international architectural competition, the practice began implementing the entire mixed-use development for a Catalan developer. In 2009, however, the project was put on hold as a result of the global financial crisis. The subsequent long period during which the historic complex remained unused unfortunately contributed to its deterioration. Market conditions also changed, requiring the new investor to revise the original programme of the development. The existing pre-war buildings of two joint-stock companies—the Bracia Brünner, Hugo Schneider and R. Dietmar Lamp and Metal Products Factory and the “Praga” Chemical Products Factory—had been combined shortly before the war into a single large complex housing the Schicht–Lever Fat Industry cosmetics factory. We subsequently adapted this historic industrial complex once again, transforming it into a mixed-use development while responding to the new programme and contemporary market conditions.
In the project, office buildings and commercial services are interwoven with the predominant residential function, while the development offers somewhat unconventional residential spaces for today’s Warsaw, in the form of lofts and soft lofts.
The composition of contemporary buildings erected on the site of the demolished, non-listed buildings of the post-war “Pollena” cosmetics factory emphasises the historic layout of the original industrial development while responding in scale to the surrounding tenement houses of Prague.
The recreational axis of the development created in this way, conceived as a linear park for residents, is harmoniously connected to a publicly accessible passage lined with services located on the ground floors of both the historic and newly introduced buildings, running parallel to Szwedzka Street. Like two intertwined halves of a yin-yang symbol, the two routes run parallel to one another, weaving between the buildings. The new architecture draws on the site's post-industrial heritage while remaining in scale with the historic urban fabric of Prague. Through its detailing and architectural language, it emphasises the character of the place while at the same time providing a subtle backdrop for the historic factory buildings.
The project as a whole responds to the revitalisation programme for Praga-Północ, the district where the largest concentration of Warsaw’s historic urban fabric has been preserved. The development will contribute to safeguarding the district’s endangered original fabric while also fulfilling an important social role. This revitalised urban block, conceived as an architectural “implant,” is already having a significant impact on improving the image of Old Praga. It is the largest development of its kind in this part of the city.
We wanted to emphasise the character and identity of the place not only through the arrangement of the buildings, their massing, tectonics and façade detailing, but also within the interiors of the newly designed buildings, particularly in their shared spaces. The aim was to create an environment in which the identity of the place is clearly interwoven with contemporary architecture, in direct reference to the specific character and context of the site.
Masterplan and architectural design of the entire development site, all newly designed residential and office buildings, and the adaptive reuse of the main historic buildings — the Main Production Building, Box Factory, Central Warehouse, Electrician’s House, and Factory Management Office: Grupa 5 Architekci.
Adaptive reuse of the historic buildings — Boiler House, Glycerine Plant, and Glycerine Plant Warehouse: SUD Architekt Polska / Kallan Architekci.
Adaptive reuse of the historic building — Brewhouse, and the Chimney structure: Kallan Architekci.
Structural Engineering: LGL, PKBI Building Services: ISK Michał Lewiński, Krzysztof Jerzykowski Landscape Design: TOPOSCAPE Justyna Dziedziejko, Magdalena Wnęk Photography: Adam Grzesik, Marcin Czechowicz
The project received an Honourable Mention in the additional category “Unbuilt Project” in the Polish edition of the Brick Award 2017, for the original concept of the mixed-use residential and services development.