Reinventing itself in cycles, Warsaw stands to blossom anew in the coming years – join us for a look at the more standout developments appearing in the pipeline…
Reinventing itself in cycles, Warsaw stands to blossom anew in the coming years – join us for a look at the more standout developments appearing in the pipeline…
Right now, those seeking bird’s eye views of Warsaw flock to the Palace’s of Culture’s 30th floor viewing deck, though that’s set to be dwarfed when, finally, the Varso Tower’s observation platform opens. Launching hopefully this year, the 230-metre vantage point stands to be twice as high as that offered by the competition with the attractions also, purportedly, including a premium restaurant. Hyped as one of ‘the new symbols of Warsaw’, the 53-floor building became the EU’s tallest structure when it welcomed its first tenants in 2022.
Covering a length of 452 metres, approximately 130 metres longer than London’s celebrated Millennium Bridge, the footbridge connecting Praga’s Okrzei street street with the Wisła’s right bank is set to be completed this spring – possibly as soon as March. Enabling cyclists to cross the river in two minutes, and pedestrians in six, the investment will reputedly be among the longest such crossings in the world. Shaped, according to the architects, like a lightning bolt, the structure will be 6.9 metres at is narrowest point before widening to a width of 16.3 metres. Viewing points and benches will also be sprinkled along its length, making the PLN 140 million project an attraction in its own right.
First intended to open in 2023, to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Warsaw Ghetto Museum has had a stop-start history. Slotted to occupy the 19th century Bersohn and Bauman Children’s Hospital on Sienna street, the museum’s collection will include a cart used for transporting the dead as well as The Stroop Report that was filed to Himmler to announce the liquidation of Jewish Warsaw. Opening has now been set for 2026.
Stretching out for nearly two-kilometres, December saw plans confirmed for a stunning linear park cutting a swathe through the southern district of Ursynów. Covering a total footprint of approximately ten hectares, the park will see 1,000 trees planted and over 100,000 shrubs, vines and perennials. Of its other features, a promenade running its entire length will be built, along with walkways, meadows, wooden terraces, recreational areas, and a rain garden. First touted in 2015, the PLN 42 million investment is set to be completed in 2026.
Opened in 1950 as Dom Słowa Polskiego, the largest printing house in Communist Poland, the plot at Towarowa 22 is to be absorbed into ‘new Wola’ thanks to a plan that foresees 6.5 hectares of offices, housing and retail facilities. “We want Towarowa 22 to be a model example of the modern city,” say the architects, “one that’s built with the current needs of its residents in mind, but also that respects the past whilst caring for the future.” The highest point of the project will be a 150-metre office block while other high-rise structures will gently descend towards the south-east of the investment, thereby creating a natural passage between the offices on Rondo Daszyńskiego and the historic buildings of Wola.
Warsaw’s silhouette is in line for two more additions after Strabag Real Estate announced plans for two new skyscrapers that will take root on the site of the Atrium International office complex. Pland include a 34-storey tower that will top out at 131.5 meters, and a smaller sister that will reach 17 floors. Together, the duo will offer 47,000 sq/m of space. The new investment, say the architectural studio, will seek to create “a living façade” with its glass frontage revealing “the building’s function while in motion”. Aiming to be “elegant yet modest”, standout features will include a subtle, wave-like exterior and cascading levels at the top. As part of the project, a ‘green zone’ and small public ‘amphitheatre’ will also be built. Unfortunately, all this will take the place of the demolished Atrium, a barrel-shaped development built in 1995 that was once regarded as a beacon of change.
Vaunted as the final element of Warsaw’s post-war reconstruction, controversial plans to rebuild the Saski and Bruhl palaces are also going full-steam ahead with the acclaimed WXCA architectural studio announced as being responsible for the rebuild. Promising to suck some PLN 2.5 billion out of the public coffers, many have questioned the necessity of the project; others, however, view this almost as a patriotic undertaking. One of Warsaw’s greatest pre-war symbols, the palace’s monumental interiors became HQ of the General Staff following independence in 1918. Originally built in 1661, the palace was remodelled in 1713 before being reconstructed in Neo-Classical style in 1838 following its devastation during the November Uprising. Scheduled for completion in 2030, this huge project will also see the Rococo Bruhl Palace rise again.
Possibly opening this year, 2024 could see the premier of a four-level underground carpark underneath Pl. Powstanców Warszawy. The project envisages a more people-friendly square though critics have asked if Warsaw really needs to make space for 420 extra cars given rising pollution levels and environmental concerns. While substantial ground-level greenery will be introduced, city activists have noted that the latest renderings feature around fifty fewer trees than the earlier ones that were made public.
Villified as one of Warsaw’s ugliest streets, Chmielna’s revamp has long been overdue. After a failed tender earlier in 2023, it’s been confirmed that a candidate has been found to beautify this dank, tacky-looking throwback. Poised to be resurfaced with granite slabs, new street furniture and a fountain by the Atlantic cinema, the project though appears to have overlooked the number of empty, graffiti clad units that serve to make the area so grotty – their occupancy is vital if the street is to be improved.
Long seen as one of Poland’s worst examples of ‘concrete-osis’, the grey tundra standing in front of the Palace of Culture is in the process of undergoing a metamorphosis that will see it greened with 100 trees, thousands of shrubs and plants and a water feature. Surviving the war, the streets that once stood here were levelled to make way for Stalin’s gift to Warsaw, and these will also be remembered with lawns marking the former footprint of tenements and six types of stone delineating where courtyards and streets once ran. Though well underway, the project has faced minor delays due to archaeological finds, among them secret, blocked-up chambers where Communist party officials once met and rested between the parades that would run directly outside the Palace’s podium.
Plac Żelaznej Bramy is also in line for transformation following the publication in December of plans to create a ‘French-style geometric garden’ that will take the place of a car park and turn this grey slice of Warsaw into a green pocket. Aside from a small space for concerts and cultural events, a sculpture of Fat Józek – a legendary pre-war landlord who once ran a bar in the area – will be added. Crucially, this enclave will find itself linked up to Saski Park via a pedestrian crossing. Initial blueprints will now need to be further refined before work begins in earnest.
Supposedly premiering this autumn, the Museum of Modern Art (MSN) has already done exactly what an art museum should do – cause outcry. Compared by many to a stack of outsized cargo containers, it’s new HQ in the heart of Warsaw has dominated architectural debate with lovers and haters seemingly equal in number. Designed by the New York City-based architecture studio Thomas Phifer and Partners, the 20,000 sq/m space will include, among other things, a reconstruction of the Polish Radio Experimental Studio authored by Oskar Hansen in the late 1950s.
Grey and gridlocked, Pl. Bankowy has long represented the worst of Warsaw but that stands to change after a preliminary concept was presented in November that would see its greenery increased five-fold. As things stand, concrete amounts to 96% of the square’s footprint. Lined with numerous historic buildings, including City Hall itself, the beautification of the square has been a hot topic for well over a decade. A few years back, the introduction of ‘an urban summer beach’ became the subject of vicious mockery after it transpired to be little more than a few food trucks and deckchairs.
