More and more plots of land in downtown Poznań are being developed. Małe Garbary Street lies close to the center and is well connected to important points in the city. The building under construction there, designed by Marcin Sucharski, Łukasz Sterzyński and Magdalena Majewska of Easst Architects, takes advantage of the plot's attractive location.
At first glance, the facade attracts attention - elegant and subdued, but with a distinctive character. This is due to the use of an interesting rhythm of windows, which gives expression to the whole. The building at 8 Małe Garbary Street, designed by Easst Architects, combines utility, office and residential functions. It is certainly an attractive location for an office or apartment.
Two blocks
The entire establishment consists of two, six-story blocks with an underground garage hall connecting them. The front building houses commercial premises and offices and apartments on the upper floors. The last floor is set back, which made it possible to separate spacious terraces that offer a magnificent view of the buildings around the Old Market. The second building, located further into the plot, houses commercial premises on the first floor and apartments on the remaining floors. It is surrounded by a spacious and quiet courtyard. The development is equipped with bicycle lockers. In addition, the architects have made efforts to ensure that all apartments have the greatest possible access to daylight and are well lit. All the balustrades used in the building are full-glass, which, on the one hand, gives ample access to light, and on the other hand, does not weigh down the building visually. The layout of the apartments is conducive to the use of built-in furniture.
rhythm of windows
The main decorative element and what determines the expression of the whole is the use of windows of different shapes arranged in a varied rhythm. Thanks to this, the architects managed to refer to the neighboring historical buildings without resorting to repeating 19th-century ornaments. The facades are finished with aluminum panels in a subdued gray color enriched with brass-colored inserts around the windows and as a finish on the loggia. Lightness of the building is given by a very large overhang above the sidewalk. It is also a canopy protecting the entrance to the building from rainfall.
live in the center
Małe Garbary 8 is not the first realization of Easst Architects in the downtown area. We can mention here the building at 15 Garbary Street. On a corner plot the architects created a building with an annexe with well-lit and interestingly arranged apartments and office premises. The architects were also responsible for the design of the building at the intersection of Królowej Jadwigi Street and Półwiejska Street. These are investments that are slowly filling gaps in the urban fabric. They are popular, as premises in the center or in its immediate vicinity are becoming increasingly popular. Proximity to restaurants and cultural venues and transportation accessibility are among the reasons for this popularity. As the architects themselves say:
In terms of urban planning, Poznań is still one of the cities with many gaps in downtown development. After the very extensive war damage, the process of replenishing the urban fabric is only taking place today. For many years, the problem was both the ownership of plots of land and the lack of Local Plans for downtown areas (which often resulted in the issuance of Development Conditions that were illogical from the point of view of urban planning - demarcation lines deep into the plots offset from the neighbor by 3 or 4 meters). With the return of popularity of living in the center, empty and neglected plots of land between buildings have gained great potential for investors. Despite the great difficulty associated with the logistics of the construction process, new investments began to be built again on plots that were often narrow and lacked access for large construction equipment.
The investment at 8 Małe Garbary Street was nominated for the Poznan J.B. Award. Quadro.
