Potocka Residences / POLE Architekci

Potocka Residences / POLE Architekci

Textual content description offered by the architects. The construction is located on a comparatively small rectangular constructing plot situated on Potocka Avenue in Warsaw’s Żoliborz district. An essential issue that impacted the constructing’s type was the prevailing environment. The plot contained two free-standing buildings designated for demolition attributable to their poor technical situation. Following a historic survey organized with the related Conservation officer, the 2 current house buildings had been demolished. The block on which the parcel is situated is a holdover from the previous city and geodesic format on which the Marymont-Potok housing property was constructed. In comparison with the high-rise Communist-era housing property buildings and the big Marymont sports activities and recreation advanced throughout Potocka Avenue, the parcel seems somewhat small.

To protect the unique historic character of the speedy space, the block is break up into a number of small parcels. Resulting from persevering with difficulties in settling authorized possession claims, the adjoining parcels are overgrown with timber and won’t be developed within the close to future. Given this actuality, the constructing’s design doesn’t implement the native zoning plan’s suggestion of creating steady street-side frontage alongside Potocka Avenue and has open areas on all 4 sides. It’s a free-standing constructing that advantages from the encompassing setting of timber and vegetation.

The constructing has an irregular rhombus flooring plan and its sides are based mostly on staggered stacked modules. This design optimizes the constructing’s publicity to daylight from the west. Working the northern elevation parallel to the road would haven’t solely restricted the view onto neighbors however would have additionally restricted daylight publicity for the flats going through the backyard. By utilizing irregular elevation configuration the constructing is interesting from all instructions. The implementation of a frontage configuration with two window-less finish partitions would have harmed the environment and the constructing’s residents.

The constructing’s comparatively small dimensions enable it to keep up a ‘human scale’. It has 5 ranges and glass vertical extensions within the bigger flats which offer simpler entry to the roof. The constructing’s 0 stage is raised above the speedy environment and matches the extent of Potocka Avenue, which had risen by 1 meter because of a strategy of layering all through the years. This elevation distinction was useful within the building of the underground storage. The extra house was used to accommodate two ranges of automated parking platforms.

Contained in the constructing, an open staircase with a large stairwell and an atrium allows daylight all the way down to the bottom flooring. This design resolution was a acutely aware reference to the structure of early Twentieth-century residential buildings. The ground plan is split into 8-meter sq. structural modules. The elimination or addition of those modules allowed for a wide range of house sizes. The structural bolstered concrete modules are the constructing’s signature motif, and shifting their place additionally created areas for terraces and glassed-in oriels.

The staggered elevations additionally create pure separations between neighboring flats which offers residents with privateness. The constructing’s elevations are clad in plaster. The constructing’s dynamic type made the usage of costly cladding supplies pointless. The constructing’s design is wholly targeted on the big home windows which perforate its distinctive type.