The Poznan School of Banking is planning a centrally located expansion of its campus. The investment will not only put the university's premises in order, but - together with the transformations already made in front of Stary Browar and the planned reconstruction of Ratajczaka Street - will raise the quality of an important part of the city center.
That the presence of students positively affects the life of city centers is obvious. Unfortunately, in Poznan, a significant part of the Adam Mickiewicz University's faculties have been relocated to the campus in the outlying Morasko. Fortunately, the situation is saved by students from other universities that have remained and are developing in the center or on its outskirts: art (UAP), sports (AWF) and the Technical University. There are also economists - both from the public University of Economics, whose skyscraper towers over the center, and from the much more intimate private University of Banking, located next door .
Taking advantage of EU funding, WSB has decided to invest in expanding and developing the enclave it occupies in buildings built in the 1870s for the Prussian army. The university occupies the former artillery barracks - low brick buildings along Ratajczaka Street and deep into the plot extending to Kosciuszko Street. Now the complex will be joined by two residential houses, also on Ratajczaka Street, of similar height and form. They will be adapted for teaching and office purposes, and a two-story connector with an entrance from the street will be built between them. Substandard barracks and pavilions will also disappear from the campus space. The overall design was created by Front Architects in Poznan. WSB is currently waiting for a building permit.
a clear front
Visualization of the campus expansion, left: former residential buildings tied together by a connector, right: the now-used former barracks complex
© Front Architects
The expansion will give WSB a stronger presence in the street space exactly opposite the western entrance to the Stary Browar shopping center. In this way, the university, with a layout that is hardly legible today, will gain a distinct front in the form of an almost entirely glazed connector with a new entrance from the street. The new structure, which connects two former residential houses, is to serve as a lobby and a space for student integration. The architects have also designed an overhang at the height of the first floor connecting the newly adapted building with the university facilities already in use. This will create a kind of gateway leading to the already developed walkway along the former barracks located perpendicular to the street.
Visualization of the expansion, view from Ratajczaka Street, from the green square in front of Stary Browar
© Front Architects
Thanks to the almost transparent form of the connector, the new intrusion will have a discreet expression. On the street side, the glass facades will be varied with vertical, openwork light breakers shielding from the strong sun on the southeast side. The light, glazed form will also be a kind of negative to the massive western facade of the Old Brewery.
Wojciech Krawczuk of Front Architects presents the main principles of the expansion project:
Combining the old and new buildings of the campus, we operated almost exclusively with contemporary means of expression, but in such a way that they did not dominate the old architecture, the qualities of which will be brought out during the renewal of the facade. We wanted lightness and interpenetration of the street space with the interior of the entire establishment. Only the brick fence on the side of the street, preserved in accordance with conservation guidelines, remained a certain barrier.
cumulative effect
The main "hero" of the space will therefore remain the former brick buildings. From the outside, their form will hardly change, while the interiors will undergo a metamorphosis (including the installation of an elevator). In the long term, the university plans further modifications within the expanding mini-campus. This is a good decision, because the potentially friendly and wooded space between Kosciuszko and Ratajczaka streets looks chaotic in places.
Visualization of the campus expansion, view from before the western entrance to Stary Browar
© Front Architects
The expansion and cleanup of the campus are also very much in line with the transformation of Ratajczaka Street. Last year, the paved space in front of Stary Browar was transformed into a green square by architects from 1050 Pracownia Projektowa. In a few years, the street will also be rebuilt. A streetcar track, planned for decades, will appear on the traffic-calmed thoroughfare. There will also be more greenery and new pavement with a form consistent with other downtown streets being rebuilt as part of the Center Project.
Thanks to these changes, the university's interaction with the greened square in front of the Old Brewery will be even greater, and the entirety of activities, both private and public, will significantly improve the quality of this part of the center. The only drawback associated with the university's expansion is the need to cut down at least two mature trees on the street side. It remains to be hoped that compensatory plantings will be in the immediate vicinity and of a sufficiently large scale.
