Changing Plac Teatralny

The Insider speaks to Moncho Gonzalez Berenguer of NMH architektura + design, about his vision for Warsaw’s Plac Teatralny. Here’s what he had to say:

“We like the Plac Teatralny area: the scale of the buildings, the location – this is a space with great potential, and a space that shouldn’t be wasted on car parking. It’s a place for the city, for the people who live in Warsaw and the people who visit.”

“Our duty as architects is to propose solutions that enhance the life of our fellow citizens. The first problem that needs to be solved is car traffic, so to obtain a ‘clean and usable’ space we decided to place the parking underground, on level -1, leaving the ground floor for pedestrians. Using operative topographies we treated the pavement as a carpet and lifted it here necessary to connect level -1 with level 0. This system also allowed us to create a mini-amphitheater for summer festivals.”

“As for materiality, the project involves both hard and soft surfaces: paving and grass. We’ve included a mesh of light embedded in the ground and have respected the existing trees whilst also adding new ones. With this project, we wanted to present a subtle space and create an entrance befitting of Teatr Wielki.”