"New Strzeszyn" - one of the most interestingly designed residential enclaves in the country, has been awarded in the competition for the best Poznań development of 2020. The Jan Baptista Quadro award went to Szymon Januszewski's Insomia studio. There are also two honorable mentions - for designers from PL.architekci and Ultra Architects.
The Mayor's Award for the best realization put into use in Poznań in the past year was awarded for the twenty-third time (organizers: City of Poznań, SARP o/Poznań, UWI). This time the statuette went to designers from Szymon Januszewski's Insomia studiofor the realization of the next stage of the Nowy Strzeszyn estate (also known as "Between the Trees", investor: Area Development). The winner was chosen from among nine nominated sites and objects (their list: here).
Insomia (which received an honorable mention in the Quadro competition for the first stage of Nowy Strzeszyn already last year) has been proving for more than a decade that multifamily buildings can be designed well above the national average. The houses from Szymon Januszewski's office not only have a refined and imaginative form, but - in the vast majority - are characterized by exceptionally functionally designed apartments.
unusual and refined
Estate "Nowy Strzeszyn" ("Between the Trees") - stage I, design: Insomia
Photo: Tomasz Hejna. LAGOMphoto
It is necessary to be ahead of the times and expectations, to take risks, to experiment. That's whyI try to avoid doing projects that contribute nothing - both to architecture and to my practice. Every project is how many years of life. When I realize how many more houses I will do, I try to look for something different in each task," Januszewski said in an interview with A&B last year.
New Strzeszyn confirms these words, as even against the background of Insomia's other achievements it is an unusual development. It is meant to offer residents a combination of the advantages of an apartment and a single-family house with a garden in short segments of terraced housing. Hence the small, but perfectly designed square meters with good daylight. The estate is dominated by two-story apartments with a garden of 60 to 70 square meters, but you can also find a thirty-square-meter studio with a separate bedroom, a double-sided lighted living room equipped with a separable bright kitchenette. The whole is complemented by a garden and an independent entrance from the court.
The architecture of the buildings is simple, but detailed and rich in interesting details. The facades were differentiated with wood, original ceramics in four colors or grates for climbing plants. Despite the considerable intensity of the development, the whole has an intimate character. Thanks to appropriately placed windows, residents do not have too many opportunities to peep at their neighbors, and the gardens are also equipped with small storage rooms and consistent fences that ensure intimacy.
green rules!
A great asset is the care of the existing greenery. The architects integrated the short terraced segments into the existing birch grove, to which they subordinated the layout of the whole. As a result, about 70 percent of the mature trees have been preserved, with pedestrian passageways leading between them, and space has been created for places of neighborhood integration. The estate is not fenced off and is reminiscent of successful "carpet" housing complexes from the UK, Germany or the Netherlands from the 1970s and 1980s. In the aforementioned interview with "A&B," Januszewski spoke openly about being inspired by this type of housing development. This Monday, while thanking him for the award, he announced that Insomia is designing just a similar dense and intimate enclave.
"New Strzeszyn" estate ("Between the Trees") - stage I, proj.: Insomia
Photo: Tomasz Hejna. LAGOMphoto
The only compromise made by Insomia architects was the introduction of local vehicular traffic into the "New Strzeszyn" precinct. Originally, cars were to stay only on the outskirts. Therefore, underground garages were built under several terraced housing complexes. Other houses have parking spaces in front of the entrance or - like one of the taller buildings at the edge of the establishment - in a clearance at ground level.
"Between the Trees " is being built in a residential area of Strzeszyn that has been under construction for three decades, based on an urban planning concept awarded in a 1986 competition. This project, although modified, makes the urban planning of the district superior to the quality of buildings in other neighborhoods built after 1990. Worse is the architecture. This one is correct at best (with minor exceptions). Insomia's realization therefore stands out strongly against the background of the district, but also of the country, raising the bar for other designers and investors.
A slit or tree-lined roof
Two other realizations recognized by the competition's jury, chaired by Bartosz Guss, deputy mayor of Poznań responsible for architecture and urban planning, are similarly challenging. This year's edition was dominated by residential projects, the Jury, for the first time in the history of the competition, awarded as many as two honorable mentions to esteemed and award-winning Poznań studios. The first for a residential enclave of similar scale and ambience to New Strzeszyn, namely a development complex on Trójpole Street by designers from Ultra Architects. Here the distinguishing feature is not only the successful, restrained and interestingly sculpted form of the buildings, but also - perhaps most importantly - the balconies and roofs planted with trees.
Residential development complex "Trójpole", proj.: Ultra Architects
photo: B. Turlej
The awarded projects show that Poznan architects respond sensitively to the changing reality. Greenery is increasingly important," commented jury chairman Bartosz Guss during the award ceremony.
The second honorable mention, however, went to the PL.architekci studio for its single-family "Slit House". The simple and refined block is distinguished by an internal slit with a roof skylight that introduces plenty of light into the interiors. A week ago, this realization from PL.architekci received the SARP 2021 National Award of the Year in the "single-family house" category (we wrote about it here).
"Slit house", Raclawicka Street, Poznan proj.: PL.architekci
photo: Tom Kurek
An intimate housing development from Ultra Architects, as well as "New Strzeszyn", meanwhile, have a chance for awards in the much younger competition for the Architectural Award of the Wielkopolska Region. The results will be announced in December, and we described and commented on the nominated buildings (as well as the 9 nominations in the Quadro competition) in "A&B" a week ago in a separate text.
