Not coming straight home from work

The residential estates that have been built over the last few decades rarely come without recreation or relaxation areas. Patios and playgrounds, benches, and interesting arrangements of plants and flowers are now basic expectations of apartment buyers. But office builders are also now laying more stress on providing places where employees can meet up and relax, while both commercial and residential developers are becoming more reluctant to seal off their projects and more willing to invite the neighbours round.

To go skating or to a concert

One of the first places of this type in Poland was Plac Europejski, a square that has been created between the buildings of the Warsaw Spire office complex. Ghelamco and its partners in this development set out to ensure that the alleys and walkways between the buildings would not be empty after office hours. The square plays host to a number of seasonal attractions. In the summer, outdoor film screenings take place, while in the winter one part of the square is turned into an ice-rink. Concerts and events are held throughout the year – and you can also come to the square to eat out or just meet up with friends.

And these projects are becoming even more original. Adgar recently completed an amphitheatre next to its Adgar Bit office building in Służewiec in Warsaw, otherwise known as Mokotów business district – or ‘Mordor’, to use the sardonic nickname it’s been given due to its reputation as a business hub that empties of life at the end of the working day. Monika Kaczmarczyk, the managing director of Adgar Poland and the co-creator of the Brain Embassy concept, explains how the idea arose: “Adgar Poland has always insisted on building healthy and attractive places that communities need if they are to work well, and when it comes to Mokotów business district making sure that it bustles with life and doesn’t become deserted after office hours is an issue that has always been close to our hearts,” she says. The company did not want to impose its own solutions, and so consulted with experts and local office users when drawing up its plans. “Over a third of those surveyed stated that it would be a good idea to have a place where artistic events could take place, such as a bandstand or an amphitheatre,” she adds. As a result, Służewiec – a district that doesn’t have enough public space – now has a new venue for concerts and other events. “Already a ‘wine and paint’ artistic workshop has taken place as well as an opera and an operetta. All these events attracted a lot of people,” insists Monika Kaczmarczyk. Adgar Poland now plans to carry on in the same vein by developing a park in the area – a long narrow green strip with numerous attractions of its own. “Together with the Lepszy Służewiec charity we have managed to convince the local authorities to invest in an PLN 8 mln project – a park with playing fields, paths and benches is to be built along a former railway siding,” Monika Kaczmarczyk reveals.

Marcin Materny is a member of the board of Echo Investment and responsible for the company’s large-scale mixed-use project in Warsaw’s Kabaty district. The examples he lists of open projects include such revitalisation schemes as Browary Warszawskie in Warsaw and Fuzja in Łódź. Both are on large sites of several hectares and feature both renovated and new buildings with office, residential and retail and service space. But crucially they will provide public space in the form of parks and public squares. “In Fuzja the common space and green areas will take up nearly half of the project, which comes to almost 4 ha. This will be used not only by office workers and the residents of the complex, but also by the neighbours and other guests,” he says. At Echo Investment we have taken the same approach for the project in Kabaty, where at the moment a first generation shopping centre stands with a fenced off car park. A large part of the planned mixed-use complex will be covered by an open park – a garden on a slope,” he explains. “Since the residential buildings are to be suspended on top of columns, the garden will form a green carpet leading onto the square on ul. Sępa-Szarzyńskiego,” he adds. Echo Investment is also planning to create a square at the junction of al. KEN and ul. Wąwozowa, with cafés, restaurants, greenery, fountains and park benches. Marcin Materny mentions with some pride that the concept design includes twice the amount of green space as stipulated in the local zoning plan.

Not just in Warsaw

But such exceptional space doesn’t always have to be in large projects in the biggest cities. Smaller locations and projects are also now getting in on the act. One good example of this are the improvements planned by telecoms firm Vectra to Wzgórze Mewy park, which is situated next to its head office in Gdynia. The design work on the project has already been completed. “Nature means a great deal to each of us, but we can also appreciate it in an urban setting. With the onset of Covid-19, 2020 had been a difficult year, but this has only reinforced these feelings and made us aware that Wzgórze Mewy park is a place for the local community, where people can look out onto the sea and enjoy the natural environment,” believes Tomasz Żurański, the CEO of Vectra. One major asset of the park is how close it is to the shore line. The plan is to divide it into four zones, each of which will have a different layout. The main paths are to be retained, but at the top of the hill a small square is to be created with benches and a small platform for picnics that could occasionally be used as a stage. The design also includes a number of viewing points, while the green areas are to be replanted with flowers and ornamental grasses in stages. The entire park is to be lit with new lamp posts along the pathways. One of the features will be an artistic installation in the form of a three-metre ‘window’ made out of a polished sheet of metal, which will be inscribed with information about Vectra’s contribution to the project. “We believe that in the long term the inclusion of friendly, open green space in the design will be a decisive factor in the success of any development,” insists Marcin Materny of Echo Investment.