A Multi-Family Housing Inspired by Polish Communist-Era Prototypical Buildings
The building at Sprzeczna 4 street aspires to become a recognizable feature in the continuing rejuvenation of the beautiful Praga district, Warsaw, Poland. It is the starting point for the restoration of the whole urban block – and its design rests on the claim that the key to restore an urban block is to focus on the frontage.
Sprzeczna 4 is based on prototypical prefabricated buildings from Poland’s communist era housing estates, which many have become disenchanted with.
The building was deliberately erected on a plot of land that apparently does not fit the stereotype of prefabrication: tiny, rambling streets and located in a compact development with 19th century frontages.
Consciously, even at times unreasonably, all the available prefabrication technologies were applied in this design: exposed colored concrete, impression and reliefs, electrical installations integrated into the walls, heated ceilings and much more besides. The result is a building assembled from numerous large-size factory-produced elements. The facility is deliberately not finished and it does not incorporate any accessories or decoration. It is a sincere story about what a building is, what it is made of, and how it works.
The red concrete elevations make a statement about taking responsibility for the aging processes of materials. The choice makes reference to the neighboring red plastered residential buildings, and a common problem whereby their elegant, newly plastered appearance barely lasts beyond the point of sale.
Sprzeczna 4 is a polemic against what is perceived as an almost feudal system within the construction industry. If based on the work of poorly-paid immigrants then construction practices cannot have been said to have improved since the 19th century. Sprzeczna 4 is an attempt at changing the system – implementing the rules of fair business and social responsibility though the use of prefabrication, which is so popular in Western Europe and Scandinavia. Paradoxically this atypical building is the result of cheap and easily-available construction materials, made possible due to industrialization and advancements in technology.
Project: Sprzeczna 4 – multifamily building / Location: Sprzeczna 4 street, Warszawa (Praga district), Poland / Architect: BBGK Architects – Jan Belina Brzozowski Konrad Grabowiecki, Wojciech Kotecki / Collaboration: Emilia Sobańska, Katarzyna Najberg / Investor, contractor: Budizol Sp. Zoo. S.K.A. / Construction and assembly: RWK Engineers / Landscape architecture: Pasa Design / Site area: 1,319m² / Bldg. area: 741m² / Gross floor area: 2,660m² / The surface of the total aboveground part: 3,927m², 5,027m² / Volume: 17,272m³ / Number of above-ground storeys: 7 / Number of underground stories: 1 / Number of apartments: 57 / Number of parking spaces for cars: 25 / Number of parking spaces for bicycles: 93 / Construction permit: 2015.9 / Permission to use: 2017.1 / Photograph: Juliusz Sokołowski
