At the intersection of Dobra and Zajęcza streets in Warsaw's Powisle district, a corner building - an apartment building designed by a team from APA Wojciechowski Architekci studio - has recently been erected. Housing a total of eighteen apartments, the building is adjacent to such city attractions as the Powiśle Power Plant, the Copernicus Science Center and the University Library. How does the modern building fit into one of the most fashionable parts of the capital?
situation
© APA Wojciechowski Architects
The longer side of the block, designed on a near-trapezoid plan, encloses the frontage of Zajęcza Street, while the shorter side shapes the corner on the side of Dobra Street. In the monochromatic and seemingly monolithic building one can notice a certain "vibration" - a subtle breaking of the elevation line, cutting of the corner, delicate differences in textures or play of light penetrating through openwork panels on the facades.
floor plan
© APA Wojciechowski Architects
like a precious stone
The architects of the Warsaw-based studio APA Wojciechowski Architekci wanted above all, as they explain, the corner of the building to be carved like a precious stone, and at the same time to bring to mind associations with the simple and multifaceted structure of crystal.
Photo: Maciej Drążkiewicz
The building is characterized by subdued colors, harmonizing with neighboring office buildings, and subtlety of details. The large glazed fac ades on the street side have been withdrawn into the balconies, providing an additional outer shell in the form of fixed and sliding openwork panels to protect the interiors from excessive sunlight and overheating, the designers explain.
Inspired by Powiśle
The building is divided into three parts - the first floor, which is set back deep into the plot, six repetitive floors making up the main body of the building, and an openwork can opy crowning the whole, providing shade on the terraces of the highest apartments.
Its three-dimensional geometry, divided into triangular elements, inclined at different angles, and slightly canted edges over the corner and over the eastern end of the building, will result in a dramatic aesthetic effect, which may be associated with the broken form crowning natural crystals or the canopies of the platforms of the Powiśle station by Arseniusz Romanowicz and Piotr Szymaniak, the architects add.
Photo: Maciej Drążkiewicz
elegant shabby chic
The dark body, according to the architects' assumption, is to be associated by the public with good quality, durability and sophistication. The designers decided on a narrow range of colors - the building is dominated by elegant shades of graphite and anthracite close to black, differentiated by the structures of selected materials.
The facade received a stone cladding and from sinters of similar texture. Sliding facade panels, the openwork canopy over the building and other necessary flashings of the facade and terraces were made of aluminum sheets, painted in a dark color, the architects enumerate.
Photo: Maciej Drążkiewicz
The stone cladding of the first floor and the railings on the balconies and terraces are varied by small accents of gold-colored sheet metal.
Theinterior of the apartment building is consistent with the exterior. Designed by the same studio, the spaces inside the building are kept in dark, elegant colors interspersed with gold accents.
Photo: Maciej Drążkiewicz
