Adapting buildings, reusing them and recycling parts of demolished buildings is no longer just a niche trend. Offices designing in a way that takes into account the environmental or social costs of an investment are increasingly recognized, and their philosophy is entering the architectural mainstream. This year's Pritzker Prize confirms this trend, which was also recognized earlier by the Mies van der Rohe Prize jury. Unfortunately, in Poland it is difficult to look for such bold examples, and recent commercial investments are in complete contradiction with global trends. Ecological certificates will not hide the costs involved in the demolition and construction process.`.
Architecture of violence
The redevelopment of the Grand Parc estate in Bordeaux
Photo: Philippe Ruault © Lacaton Vassal
"Demolition is an act of violence," say this year's Pritzker winners Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal. In designing private and social housing, cultural and academic institutions, public spaces and urban development, Lacaton and Vassal give new meaning to sustainability in their respect for pre-existing structures, developing projects by first taking stock of what already exists. This approach in their office's practice applies to public buildings as well as commercial or residential buildings.
Awards for block housing
A particularly acclaimed and recognized project by the French duo is the revitalization of the Grand Parc blockhouse in Bordeaux. By adding outdoor structures housing winter gardens with balconies to the existing, typical large-panel blocks, the quality of life of the residents and the technical parameters of the buildings were significantly increased. The changes made gave residents more daylight, living space and views. Despite the fact that the redevelopment consumed twice the budget usually provided for the revitalization of apartment blocks, it was still three times cheaper than demolishing the existing blocks and building a new estate, taking into account environmental costs. The authors of the estate emphasize that the luxurious conditions offered by contemporary designed "ecological" high-rise buildings were achieved on an ordinary estate by using very simple, quick to implement, economical and sustainable solutions.
Similar assumptions guided the authors of the project that won the Mies Prize in 2017. Then, for the first time, the prize was awarded not to a completely new development, but to an aesthetically restrained, but functionally and on an urban scale incredibly important redevelopment of a housing estate in Amsterdam - the DeFlat Kleiburg project by XVW architectuur and NL Architects. This was a significant signal, not only because of the type of project that addressed the existing structure, but also the architecture itself.
Over and over again
Manufaktura in Lodz
photo by Jakub Zasina / Wikimedia Commons
In Poland, building adaptations, usually concern post-industrial buildings that have either already gained historic status or are visually attractive; historic buildings protected by law; and small-scale conversions or adaptations of other existing structures. It's hard to look for bold projects that use the found but unheralded substance as a starting point for new design and adaptation. What's more, recent years have seen a significant acceleration in the rate at which buildings are being replaced with new ones. This is because more and more often buildings are being demolished, which were built several years ago. Their construction is therefore not obsolete, but the financial realities have changed. From the investor's point of view, it is better to replace such a problematic building with a new one. From the point of view of the environment - it is a devastating process. The question, then, is what position architects should take here. This issue can be considered through the prism of ethics in relation to the client, the profession, or the environment, and the creators of the buildings that will be demolished.
Office buildings in place of office buildings
University Business Center I
photo: press materials
Most often, premature replacement of buildings - an "act of violence" - seems to involve shopping centers and office buildings. They are the ones subject to the greatest investment pressure. In contrast to the fragmented ownership structure of residential buildings, there are usually no such legal problems with commercial buildings.
Lakeside office building
photo. press materials Atenor / Group 5 Architects
Demolition of the University Business Center office building , located at 2 Szturmowa Street in Służewiec, began in recent days. Demolition of the first of the two buildings comprising the complex is currently underway. Designed by the Ekspo Architecture Design Agency, the edifice, completed in 1997, will be replaced by a new, larger one by Group 5 Architects. Demolition work will take several months. The investor is confident that it will obtain a valid building permit within that time. The function of the building will not change, only its volume and appearance. The investor announces that the building is expected to receive a BREEAM certificate at the highest level. Theoretically green, however, the building will be constructed at great environmental cost associated with the creation of UBC I, and its subsequent demolition and disposal. The question - for how many years do contemporary architects and the developer foresee the new structure, and where has the Vitruvian principle of sustainability gone in all this?
The same is true of the LIXA building near Daszyńskiego Roundabout. In the district that has become Warsaw's largest office district, the replacement of industrial buildings with office buildings has been going on for years. What is new, however, is the demolition of not so old office buildings, after all, for buildings with exactly the same function. A new black edifice by HRA Architects has been erected on a plot at the intersection of Karolkowa and Kasprzaka streets . The building has a variable height and a pretend wood finish that complements the green spaces of courtyards and terraces.
photo by evertonfans2012 / Skyscrapercity
The development will include two quarters with an internal street, replacing the pre-existing post-modern offices on the site , which were partly an adaptation of the factory hall of the former Marcin Kasprzak Radio Works. The transformation was carried out in 1995-96 according to a design by Piotr Zaniewski's studio. In 1998, a second office part, often referred to as the "Transatlantic" because of its references to naval architecture, was still completed. The design by the Kazimierski and Ryba studio also made use of an existing, post-industrial structure, and won the Construction of the Year award in the Polish Association of Construction Engineers and Technicians competition.
Awaiting demolition
photo by Cezary P / Wikimedia Commons
A structure that has been awaiting its end for a decade is the capital's ILMET. The skyscraper with the distinctive revolving Mercedes logo on the roof, at the UN traffic circle, is to be replaced by a new, one hundred meters larger (188 meters high) non-biotic Warsaw One. The design of the new skyscraper was prepared by Danish bureau Schmidt Hammer Lassen, design work was to be completed in 2012, but no work has been started since then. The three interconnected, storied blocks are to replace the building, whose construction was completed in 1997 and was designed by Miljenko Dumencic and Miroslaw Kartowicz. In 2018, the almost entirely deserted building came to life for three days thanks to the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, which organized an exhibition "The Architecture of Temporality" and a series of events at the site to mark the first anniversary of the institution's establishment.
Photo: SHL
Similar announcements of demolition concern another icon of Warsaw's postmodernism, located adjacent to Ilmet. We are talking about one of the office buildings that are part of the Atrium complex . The building on the corner of Jana Pawla II and Zelazna avenues was constructed between 1994 and 1995, according to a design by Warsaw office Kazimierski and Ryba. The complex, hailed in an Architecture-Murator poll as "Warsaw's Favorite 1989-1995," is to be partially demolished, with a 135-meter skyscraper planned to be built in its place. The acceleration of the investment, announced since the early 2010s, has been announced by the new owner of the facilities, Strabag.
One of the buildings in the Atrium complex
Photo: Adrian Grycuk / Wikimedia Commons
