It is to be the culmination of the revitalization of downtown Katowice. The Dworcowa Quarter will bring 11 townhouses in the city's inner center back to life. What will it include and when will the project developed by Konior Studio begin?
The Dworcowa neighborhood has always been an important point on the map of Katowice. The street took its name from the Railway Station, which was built there in 1865. It owes its current eclectic form to a 1906 reconstruction. In the meantime, tenement houses began to spring up in its vicinity, eventually forming a compact downtown development. When the station was moved to a new building in 1972 , the neighborhood began to decline. Fortunately, the deteriorating Railway Station lived to see a revitalization carried out in 2023 - after a change in function, it housed offices, retail and service establishments. However, the metamorphosis of the train station spaces will not end there - during Tuesday's conference, details and the start date of construction work on the Kwartał Dworcowa project, designed by Tomasz Konior for the Epione Group, were announced.
Kwartał Dworcowa in Katowice
© Konior Studio
a quarter with history
Kwartał Dworcowa is a complex of 11 townhouses located on plots of land between Dworcowa, Staromiejska, Mielęckiego and Dyrektorska Streets. For years, the complex of buildings served residential, public and administrative functions - as some of them belonged to the State Railway Directorate. As the years passed , the tenements deteriorated, and their facades increasingly demanded a thorough renovation, which so far had not been facilitated by the ownership status of these properties. In April of this year, the situation changed, as Konior Studio presented a plan for the comprehensive revitalization of these tenements. It turned out that the investor, the Epione Group, at the instigation of Tomasz Konior, was gradually buying up more tenements. The process, which was completed in 2023, gave the developer and designers an entire quarter of the development, which is to undergo a thorough renovation and significant expansion. Life will return to the tenements on Dworcowa Street.
Dworcowa quarter in Katowice
© Konior Studio
conservation, restoration, reconstruction
The first of the project's objectives is to be the conservation and restoration of the tenements. According to the declarations of Tomasz Konior, chief designer of the Dworcowa Quarter, the work will be carried out on the basis of in-depth analysis and photographic documentation, which shows that the 150-year-old tenements are far from their original state. Therefore, architectural details (rustications, pilasters, aediculae) and interiors are to be renovated, and the color of the facade on the side of Dworcowa Street will also be unified. All design work was carried out in cooperation with conservators.
Dworcowa Quarter in Katowice
© Konior Studio
new top
The Kwartał Dworcowa project is a marriage of the old and the new. Despite the restoration work, most of the tenements will undergo a deep metamorphosis. The face of the basements will change - the original window openings in the ground and basement floors will be replaced with large glazing that will serve as storefronts for stores and service establishments. The most far-reaching interventions , however, await the highest parts of the buildings. A significant part of them, especially on the side of Dworcowa Street, currently has a single story of later superstructure, erected in place of the former historicist attics. In the visualizations presented by the studio , the floors added decades ago disappear, while three additional floors appear in their place, operating with a contemporary formal language.
Dworcowa Quarter in Katowice
© Konior Studio
Minimalist in expression, the superstructure on the side of Dworcowa Street will be enveloped by elevations filled with large-scale glazing. In reference to the original form of the building , the corner of the building at the intersection of Dworcowa and Dyrekcyjna streets was rounded. Previously there was a dome with a spire here, which was the dominant feature of the entire quarter.
Dworcowa quarter in Katowice
© Konior Studio
The quarter on Dworcowa Street
photo: Bartek Barczyk
quarter of discord
The visualizations presented by Konior Studio aroused diverse reactions. In the discussions there were both words of praise and criticism regarding the extent of the planned interferences, the lack of agreement between the divisions of the new floors and the historical buildings was also mentioned. Many of those commenting would have been more willing to see the superstructure resolved in forms that would more directly relate to the historic fabric of the townhouses. While the plans to carry out a comprehensive restoration are an important value of the project, it is difficult not to agree with some opinions proclaiming that the new superstructure seems to slightly overwhelm the existing buildings.
Square on Dworcowa Street in Katowice
photo; Bartek Barczyk
economical superstructure
The elevations of the new floors were designed in an unobtrusive, even conservativemanner. Along with the successive floors, the body of the building retreats deeper into the plot, and the frames, devoid of detail, do not compete with the ornate facades of historic tenement houses. The reason for a certain dissonance in the perception of the project seems to be the scope of the superstructure - its height was agreed with the dimensions of the corner building of the neighboring quarter. In its case, however, the superstructure, also contemporary, was limited to arranging the mansard in the steep roof, constituting about 1/5 of the height of the entire building. In the case of the Dworcowa Quarter, these proportions are quite different, as the initial number of floors will essentially be doubled. The superstructures of the tenement houses on Dyrekcyjna, Andrzeja Mielęckiego and Staromiejska Streets look much more favorable, they will be significantly set back and smoothly blended into the lively rhythm of the facades with varied finials.
Dworcowa quarter - courtyards
photo: Bartek Barczyk
hotels, restaurants and gardens
The Dworcowa Quarter, however, is not just about additional floors, but above all a complete transformation of the functional program of buildings that have stood empty for many years. The interiors will undergo a far-reaching reorganization, and, according to the project's author, their partial unification made it possible to put the entire quarter at the designers' disposal. The ground floors will house restaurants and services, while the upper floors will house offices and two hotels, including a Mariott and a Tribute, whose interiors will be designed by the Tremend studio. The currently neglected courtyard will be revitalized, which Tomasz Konior plans in the form of covered courtyards, accessible from street level. The roofs, in turn, will feature terraces, gardens and photovoltaic installations. The surroundings of the buildings will also undergo changes - Mielęckiego Street, so far closed to vehicles, will be paved with asphalt and eventually transformed into a woonerf. Plans will still be consulted with residents.
The Dworcowa quarter in Katowice
© Konior Studio
not just an ambitious project
City authorities, designers and the investor hope that the Dworcowa Quarter will revitalize this neglected part of Katowice's city center. Work is expected to start as early as October, and construction is scheduled to end in 2027. Will the ambitious project live up to the promises made by the investors? In the case of such complex projects, it is not only the concept prepared by the architects that is crucial, but also an appropriately high level of workmanship. We hope that the Dworcowa Quarter will not turn out to be a wasted opportunity, as happened with the Polish Theater in Szczecin.
