UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes

UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Exterior Photography, ConcreteUNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Exterior Photography, FacadeUNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Interior Photography, Windows, Shelving, Table, ChairUNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Exterior PhotographyUNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - More Images+ 34

Katowice, Poland
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UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Aleksander Rutkowski
UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Juliusz Sokołowski

Text description provided by the architects. Unikato supposed to stand in the center of Katowice – once a dynamically developing industrial city. The testimony of that era is the impressive modernist buildings. Today, the city is experiencing a demographic crisis and suffers from sub-urbanization. There is a lack of new residential buildings, and the city is subordinated to car traffic generated by people coming here every day to work from the sprawling suburbs. Unikato is to be an impulse to reverse this negative trend and to breathe new life into the area.

UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Juliusz Sokołowski

Project guidelines. The project budget was extremely low. The investor provided funds only for a cheap finish – styrofoam, plaster, white plastic windows – and for the balconies, which were to be a storage space for small apartments. 

UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Image 37 of 39
East elevation
UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Image 38 of 39
Section

Idea. Modernist buildings of Katowice, once bright, for many years exposed to the smog, gradually got dirty and became almost black. Their white windows always contrast with the black of the facade. This observation has become an inspiration for the project.

UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Interior Photography, Stairs
© Aleksander Rutkowski
UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Image 34 of 39
Floor plan
UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Interior Photography, Concrete
© Juliusz Sokołowski

We took from the neighboring pre-war building: dirty plaster color, pedestal in the basement, typical of the surrounding buildings, and balcony motif in relation to the window. Full balustrade covers the exit, thanks to which all the windows appear square. The balcony becomes an extension of the apartment, at the same time providing privacy, which residents quickly appreciated using it for recreation or storage. Thanks to the full balustrades, the building maintains consistency, and the objects kept on the balconies do not disfigure the area.

UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Interior Photography, Windows, Shelving, Table, Chair
© Jakub Certowicz

The balconies arranged in the same direction on all facades, along with position shifted in relation to the irregular outline of the building, creates a characteristic silhouette, which is the dominant feature at the end of the quarter. Importantly, the characteristic composition of balconies is not only a formal treatment. On the eastern facade, balconies adjoining the wall with the shorter side and sticking out far beyond the building outline catch much more of the southern light.

UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Aleksander Rutkowski

Another reference to the surroundings is the plinth motif taken from the neighboring buildings, which stretches across the entire frontage. On the other side, where Unikato borders with a free-standing villa, the plinth becomes a fence, referring to the fence surrounding the villa.

The balconies hanging above the sidewalk make the building very dynamic, but as the distance from the facade increases, it becomes more subdued, mildly fitting into the context.

UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Juliusz Sokołowski

Materials and technology. Only economical, easy to implement solutions were at stake in the construction of the building – a monolithic skeletal structure filled with a wall of ceramic hollow bricks, a raw reinforced concrete staircase, white plastic windows, and plaster on the facade. Something that seemed a disadvantage was turned into an asset of the project because the white of windows in combination with the dark finish of the facade became a recognizable element of the building. The balconies are made in monolithic construction. Their steel barriers are clad with cement panels and covered with plaster. The base of the building is finished with a cheap aluminum sheet, which is gradually tarnished. The building is equipped with installations minimizing energy consumption and is powered from an ecological municipal network. Despite the limited budget, the roof was designed as green – it absorbs dust and smog and improves the microclimate.

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Project location

Address:Katowice, Poland

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "UNIKATO Residential Building / KWK Promes" 05 May 2020. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/938839/unikato-residential-building-kwk-promes> ISSN 0719-8884

© Aleksander Rutkowski

波兰公寓UNIKATO,黑白碰撞回溯场地本源 / KWK Promes

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