In Wroclaw, at the intersection of Borowska, Gliniana and Dyrekcyjna streets, right next to the Central Railway Station, the construction of the new Starter III - micro apartments designed by architects from AP Szczepaniak studio - is coming to an end. In this prestigious location in the heart of the city, a building has been constructed, the facade of which resembles a layout of blocks from the popular game Tetris.
two faces of the building
The idea of the project's authors was to create two contrasting worlds, but based on the same idea - a repeating pattern and a coherent composition, which on one side of the building is dynamic and varied in color, and on the other is balanced, minimalist and uniform. As explained by Agnieszka Szczepaniak, an architect from the AP Szczepaniak studio, the geometrized layout of the street-side facade was created using two materials: dark façade tiles and glass. The facade on the other side of the building is simpler, the architects decided to introduce white color on it to brighten up the space of the small courtyard.
micro apartments
Starter III is a seven-story building, with a garage planned for the underground, commercial premises located on the first floor and 255 micro-apartments above. These are mostly small (ranging in size from 16 to 35 square meters), one-room apartments with a kitchenette. The building also includes larger, two-room apartments with areas ranging from 51 to 69 square meters.
projection
© AP Szczepaniak
This is the third building of this type by architects from the Wroclaw studio and, as they themselves admit, designing buildings with micro-apartments (mainly for rent, i.e. aparthotel buildings), gives them great pleasure.
We can afford more freedom in designing the facade than in the case of residential buildings. Great opportunities are provided by the repetition of units that are of a similar or the same type. Secondly, in most cases investors do not wish balconies. Even if we design them, with a lot of repetition it is possible to create a coherent composition of the entire elevation," admits Agnieszka Szczepaniak.
prestigious location
The design of Starter III refers to its predecessors through L-shaped windows. Due to the prestigious location, the investor was keen on the representative appearance of the building.
Starter III - micro apartments in Wroclaw
© AP Szczepaniak
The front elevation is exposed on three sides. It is the showpiece of the investment, as it can be seen by almost everyone who enters Wroclaw from Slezna Street. The investor realized that the building should stand out, but also relate to its surroundings, so he let us have some fun," explains the architect.
There is a discussion on the studio's Facebook page about the building's geometrized facade - whether a Tetris-like chaotic arrangement of windows and dark tiles is better, or whether a simplified, rhythmic facade would look more favorable. The architects themselves compare the façade to an integrated layout, which, through the arrangement of windows and façade materials, blurs the boundary between individual floors.
