Thetwin hotels of Poznan's Ikar and Wroclaw's Wieniawa will get a new look. The dry architecture of the declining communist era will give way to more refined shapes, but with references to modernism. The former military dormitories were redesigned by the Emkaa Architekci studio.
Both buildings were built as officers' hotels (military dormitories) according to the same very simple and uninteresting design associated with economical apartment blocks from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Wrocław's Wieniawa, however, is a development from the late 1970s, while Poznań's Ikar was opened in 1982. Civilians have only been able to use them since the 1990s; since 2005 the buildings have been managed by the WAM Hotel Group company (Wojskowa Agencja Mieszkaniowa), which, after transformations, now operates as PHH Hotels (Polski Holding Hotelowy). Both hotels have already been modernized, but without extensive remodeling and adjustment to a higher-than-budget standard.
corner and wygon
The buildings are almost the same, but their context is different. In Wroclaw, the Wieniawa creates a sensible corner accent at the intersection of Gajowicka and Sztabowa Streets. In Poznan, it's worse. The massive simple mass has been carelessly "thrown" into a rather amorphous, sprawling space next to the parking lot in the wedge between Solna and Kulasa streets - on the post-grave areas arranged by the army since the 19th century. Instead, Ikar has a very attractive location: right in the center, one kilometer from the Old Market Square. Wieniawa is three times the distance from Wrocław's Market Square, but the neighborhood is also interesting - next to a park, close to Powstańców Śląskich Square. It's no wonder, then, that PHH Hotels is improving the appearance and standard of both buildings, which, after redevelopment, are expected to operate at a four-star standard under the Four Points by Sheraton banner.
Hotels: Wieniawa in Wroclaw and Ikar in Poznan after conversion to Four Points by Sheraton, visualizations
designed by Emkaa Architekci © Polski Holding Hotelowy
The redevelopment of both hotels was announced as early as 2020. A year later, a closed competition for the redevelopment project was won by Warsaw-based studio Emkaa Architekci, which already has two new facilities to its credit for PHH Hotels (Moxy at Katowice and Poznan airports). The designers summarize their proposed concept this way:
The main objective of the changes is to adapt the facilities for the new hotel standard. The interior design is inspired by timeless material solutions and refers to Polish modernism. Public and hotel spaces are zoned through appropriately selected color schemes and decorative elements that give the hotel a homely feel.
Entrance lobby design, visualization; interior design description: "The main point of the entrance area is a centrally exposed art cannon and fireplace, and in the other parts, greenery and smaller decorative elements."
proj. Emkaa Architekci © PHH Hotels
no demolition
The projects envisage preserving the massing and structure, extensively modernizing the interiors (rooms, meeting rooms and restaurants) and - most significantly for urban spaces - changing the facades. The ten-story hotels will gain similar but different facades. Typical block windows with portfenets will be replaced by wide window openings divided into four (Wroclaw) and three quarters (Poznan). The extreme riser of loggias will also disappear.
Former Ikar Hotel on Solna Street in Poznań, reconstruction, loggias on the right will be built over; view from the west from Kulas Street
Photo: Jakub Głaz
The facade of the Poznan building is to be enlivened with a checkerboard arrangement of lighter and darker rectangles kept in brown tones. Wroclaw's Wieniawa looks more static, but, it seems, with a more "meaty", spacious fac ade. So it promises to be a decent, albeit rather heavy redesign, closer to budget hotels.
The first floor areas will also be different in both hotels. In Poznan, the architects opted for more dynamism and subordinated the lowest floor to the building's diagonal location. Hence the zigzag cutouts in the terrace above the entrance pavilion that extends in front of the face. In addition, as the investor informs:
The surroundings of the building will also change - new paving and attractive greenery have been designed, which, in addition to its aesthetic value, allows to visually and acoustically cut off the terrace from traffic.
In front of the Ikar, however, there will still be an extensive parking lot, which - so far - has performed poorly as a foreground for the building. It seems, by the way, that in Poznań the changes could have gone a bit further, so that the lower part of the hotel could have been better integrated into the difficult plot and produced at least a substitute for a typical downtown quarter.
another for the collection
Nevertheless, regardless of the objections, the modernization of the decapitated and disastrously painted buildings will benefit the neighborhoods surrounding the two hotels. The effects are expected to be visible in 2025. This is because the start of the work was delayed by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. In doing so, the Poznan hotel first served as an epidemic isolation facility and later as a center for Ukrainian refugees. To make the long-postponed modernization possible, Ukrainians were evicted from the Icarus last fall, not without protest. Work began in December, with half of the building under reconstruction and half in operation in Wroclaw.
The former Ikar Hotel on Solna Street in Poznan; view from the north, through the historic military buildings
photo: Jakub Głaz
After the modernization, the Poznan building will join two Poznan hotels from the communist era that got a new exterior this century (designed by the PPWK studio): Mercury (now: Mercure) and Poznañ (now: Novotel). The first of them, from 1964, valued for its elegant lines and form, looks much worse after the makeover of more than two decades ago. The second one - made of large plates in the late 1970s - has gained in beauty. The modernization of the Icarus is more likely to increase the list of positive examples.
