A forest of skyscrapers is growing in the vicinity of Warsaw's Daszyńskiego Roundabout—one of the most densely built-up places in Poland. However, visualizations of Skyliner II, a glass tower whose construction is expected to begin soon, show a forest of trees instead of a forest of skyscrapers. Existing or under-construction buildings have been removed or moved....
Skyliner II is the second phase of the project, the first part of which was commissioned in early 2021. The new office building will be 130 meters high and offer 73,000 square meters of leasable space. The new tower will be connected to the first Skyliner by a common podium, where there will be an entrance foyer with an open, illuminated, two-story lobby and mezzanine. In total, the complex's public podium will have 4,500 square meters of space dedicated to a retail and service area. Compared to the buildings under construction in the area, Skyliner stands out on the plus side primarily because of its attention to detail, materials and attractive entrance area. This is particularly evident against the background of the neighboring The Warsaw Hub (designed by AMC-Andrzej M. Chołdzyński), with its clumsy architecture and entrance halls that verge on kitsch and are not very spacious. Both developments, however, are united by their approach to the design of the tower section—glazed walls without any shading, is building dependence on oil and energy, which, as architectural researcher Daniel Barber, among others, explains, must end in the face of climate catastrophe.
Skyliner II and Towarowa Towers
© Karimpol / Asbud
The recently published visuals of the second part of the development are surprising. Not formally—because the office building will be a visual continuation of the first—but in terms of what's going on around it. After all, it's hard not to notice the vastness of the space that the architects managed to create around the building. Space that is not physically there. Unlikely? And yet!
First of all, the differences can be seen in the visualizations from the side of the Polfa complex, which will also soon be replaced by the dense development planned by NOHO and designed by BBGK. While the planned buildings are hard to include in the visualization, it is hard to miss the existing ones or those at an advanced stage of construction. However, the authors of the visualization succeeded in this feat, who moved the Towarowa Towers complex (more in the article), which is being erected next door, by a few dozen meters at best, and in a slightly more daring gesture—removed it completely, so as not to overshadow the latest work of APA Wojciechowski Architects.
Photo by Kacper Kepinski
The lump of the second stage of the project is shaped in a similar way to our thinking about the entire Skyliner. Among other things, in its second installment we will see the building's very distinctive top highlighted by unique green gardens located in its southwestern part on dodge-designed terraces, which can be used not only while working , says Michał Sadowski, APA Wojciechowski Architekci.
In one of the visualizations, something like a park or forest can be seen on the site of the rising dense Asbud housing development designed by FS&P Arcus. Dense rows of trees fill the plot between the Skyliners and the 19th District, offering an attractive panorama of the Karimpol development. Where have the two residential towers gone, one of which has already reached its target height? No one knows.
Visualization of Skyliner II with a forest of trees at the site of Towarowa Towers
© Karimpol
Another visualization shows that admittedly, some neighborhood is being built and people who bought units in Towarowa Towers need not fear their dematerialization, but they may have trouble locating them. This is because a square several dozen meters wide has appeared between Skyliner II and the existing structures. If we compare the building lines of the existing and erected buildings we will notice that the latter have been artificially shifted several tens of meters into the plot exposing, among other things, the wall of the office building on Prosta Street. Prosta Street (in the building line of which they stand obscured), and a smaller block on the side of the 19th District, does not enclose the quarter with the existing block of the JEMS project, as it also had to make some space for trees (which will not be there).
Visualization of the Towarowa Towers complex (without Skyliner II).
© Asbud
As we read in the investor's press releases, the space around the development will be green, publicly accessible and designed to encourage users of the complex and surrounding buildings to use it at their leisure. This space, however, will not be as much as the published visualizations suggest. Residents invited to use it may therefore feel cheated. Additional green space was created by the designers on the roof of the skyscraper, the top of which resembles a blow-up tube. This is because the large attic walls here will cover not technical or office floors, but empty technical space and terraces. On the highest floors of the building terraces-gardens with a total area of nearly 900 square meters have been designed. Their designer is the RS Architektura Krajobrazu design office. The 570-square-meter terrace on the top level of the building has a designed mini-phitheater with a stage, outdoor coworking spaces, as well as space to be used for events or presentations.
Towarowa Towers construction and the first Skyliner
photo by Kacper Kepinski
