Redevelopment of an 18th-century villa in downtown Warsaw, historically used as a Gestapo command and operations centre during the Second World War and the occupation of Warsaw.
Originally built as a private residence, the villa features a neoclassical street façade and a large rear garden enclosed by two seven-storey residential buildings.
The proposal combines a ground-floor restaurant with contemporary office space within, above, and behind the existing villa. A seven-storey, weather-controlled atrium replaces the former garden, creating a contemporary interior counterpart to the original open space.
A lightweight crystalline volume is added above the villa, set back from the street façade and aligned with the cornice of the neighbouring buildings. The addition is visually detached from the historic structure and designed to minimize its impact from the street.
The new construction carefully limits intervention in the existing fabric. Structural columns penetrate the villa at only two locations, while one of the two new elevators occupies an existing light well.
The historic villa will be comprehensively restored, including both façades, with the rear façade forming a restored historic backdrop to the new atrium.
- design Voytek Gorczynski Architect
- team Tomy Huang, Edgar Tatou
- cg Ejoy CG
- client White Star Development, Lars Thomassen, Jan Kedzierski
- local architect Pawlik i Partnerzy
- gross fl. area 7,400 m2