Two towers

Polish developers are increasingly going in for larger and bolder projects, employing internationally renowned architects to make them extra special. Up to now, in Warsaw it is mainly office buildings that have been designed by the greatest names in architecture. Now the time has come for housing projects

The greater prosperity of the Polish man-in-the-street has encouraged him to aspire to a higher quality of living. Developers claim that what wealthy buyers are looking for will be found in the modern apartment towers planned for the heart of Warsaw.

On Złota street

For some time much has been said and written about the Orco Property Group’s high-rise building designed by Daniel Liebeskind, the world-famous architect of Polish origin. Best known as a leading light of deconstructivism, he earned his reputation with his designs for the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Freedom Tower in New York, to replace the World Trade Centre. Liebeskind’s 45-storey skyscraper will be built at ul. Złota 44, in the place where the City Center office and shopping centre now stands.

Jean-Claude Moustacakis, the director of Project Złota 44, reveals that: “The choice of an architect was no easy matter. We considered both local and international designers. Daniel Libeskind was chosen because he was the only one who understood Jean-Francois Ott’s vision. Both Daniel and Jean-Francois shared the same dream: the creation of a superb and unique project to put Warsaw on the world architectural map.”

This residential tower will come as a surprise to many Warsaw citizens, since the high-rise buildings in the city centre have so far been mostly built for office purposes. Warsaw’s citizens have become accustomed to low-rise housing construction, since it has been a long time since any tall housing blocks have been built in the city centre.

According to Maciej Miłobędzki of JEMS Architekci architectural studio: “In Europe residential buildings are lower, with high-rise buildings no longer being developed in the centres of stabilized European cities. What is planned is rather a local trend.”

Two for the price of one

The Polish capital, however, is governed by somewhat different laws; the design stage of another tall residential building to be built on ul. Grzybowska is approaching its conclusion – the first Polish investment of the Irlandzka Grupa Deweloperska (IGD) on the housing market. The Group is the Polish arm of the Irlandzki Fundusz Inwestycyjny established in Ireland in 2005 at the initiative of Keyinvest and Castle Carbery Properties.

Norbert Machaj, IGD’s marketing director, asserts that: “IGD is beginning its operations on the Polish market with the Grzybowska investment, which is why it is going to be a ‘top shelf product’. A growing number of wealthy people are now doing business in the city – and it is to them that our project is addressed. The high-rise building will be designed by an internationally renowned architectural group composed of two firms: Epstein and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) which is the best guarantee of top-flight architecture quality.”

SOM is already known in Poland for the original design of Rondo I, one of the newest office buildings in the city centre. Their next project is sure to provoke a strong reaction, and not only from Varsovians.

Will this be the

general trend?

The high-rise apartment building on ul. Grzybowska and that of Liebeskind have much in common. The intention behind them is the same, they are designed by renowned architects, are of similar height and are both to be entirely glazed. The latter feature will be an absolute novelty on the Polish housing market. Poles have always favoured ways of protecting their privacy – something they are going to have to change that if they want to live in these buildings.

But Miłobędzki takes a dim view of such designs: “Entirely glazed housing estates do exist in Copenhagen, where people just love to show off fine elevations and designer-furnished interiors; one might describe it as a harmless form of snobbery. But they are not going to catch on in Warsaw.”

Buildings having such high-class finishes will not only contain deluxe homes. There will also be swimming pools, fitness centres and restaurants. These apartment towers will be designed for a different type of buyer than contemporary housing estates.

Jean-Claude Moustacakis says, with evident satisfaction: “Obviously, our project is addressed to both Polish and foreign buyers. We are delighted that 90 pct of all apartments in the building have been reserved by Polish customers, both single persons as well as whole families, who wish to live in an unusual place.”

The great majority of the apartments will surely be purchased by specific people employed in high posts by corporations, who come to live in Warsaw for a few years only. It is impossible even to guess how many such buildings will be developed in Warsaw city centre, but even should this prove to be an offer only for the elite and the trend continue at its present rate, investors will never run out of customers.

Aleksandra Zentile-Miller of Chapman Taylor adds: “There are tall apartment blocks in many metropolises and we can only feel satisfication that such buildings will also soon be appearing in Poland. They will become an additional, and magnificent advertisement of all Warsaw has to offer. In the USA such buildings often enjoy great prestige and have been designed to cater for their residents’ every need.”

      z Zuzanna Wiak