Monumental Form of Ordinary Living.

Warsaw is a city with a dramatic history. During WWII 85% of its buildings got completely destroyed. From a very dense urban structure, Warsaw became a heterogeneous space, strongly influenced by social realism architecture. This project is an interpretation of a pre-war courtyard typology integrating the present with the past.

To find a link, a common element that might be an answer to such a diverse context, I decided to study the urban structure of entire city in a wider scale. Looking back at the historical plan, we notice that not only the area of the project was characterised by dense, courtyard typology, but the entire city had its strongly defined urban structure. In different forms and different sizes, courtyards were creating the urban character of Warsaw. And yet, came the answer to the urban context: it’s the volume which stands there both as a link between different layers of time, but also as a new outstanding element. Strongly referring to the courtyard pre-war typology, but in the meanwhile keeping the compositional elements from the close surroundings. Same as in the neighbouring buildings, the ground floor is mainly dedicated to commercial uses. The main entry gates to the building are situated along Wary?skiego Street. These open up to courtyards with the main staircase in the middle. Additionally, there are two smaller staircases leading up to the residential floors. All the apartments are oriented towards both the courtyards and the outside. The circulation is organised with opened, spatious galleries creating distance between the private and the common area. The residential zone has a certain gradual division between common and private zone. From a shared gallery, through loggias and small entry halls towards living space. Each apartment module is consisting of 2 or 3 dwellings. The neighbours are sharing a loggia which leads to separate houses. As a rule, the rooms located from the street site are having more private character than those opening towards inner courtyards. The building I propose should become a joint in the diverse context of the district. Both throughout its typology and appearance. As the new, contrasting element of these specific surroundings, the project was meant to change the image of social realism architecutre in Poland.