Small housing complex

Social housing has a long, but turbulent history in Warsaw. Nowadays, the City of Warsaw sets itself ambitious goals in the field of housing policy. Urban investments should have higher architecture standards than the rest of commercial housing developers. The aim of the project was to ensure a high standard of housing with a minimum construction cost:

• Shallow-depth flats. The apartments are well oriented towards the world and well lit.
• A shallow depth of a building allows for a maximum amount of natural sunlight, while maintaining standard height of flats (only 2.60 m).
• Each kitchen has its own window that lets in natural light and allows for individual separation of the room.
• Ventilation. All apartments have a corner or through position so that they can be ventilated with gravity.
• Repeatability. Construction costs can be reduced due to the repeatability of the floor plan of the building, and reduction of window joinery types. 3 types of bathrooms allow the use of repeatable prefabricated elements throughout the building.
• Intimacy. Thanks to the small number of flats accessible from the stair landing (2 or 4), staircases are semi-private spaces. This increases the degree of social control, increases the security of the building and promotes the integration of residents.

The building complex is designed to emphasize and strengthen its local character and create an intimate, safe and pleasant living environment.
The size and layout  of the buildings evokes the nearby tenement houses (building A) with the residential outbuilding within the courtyard (building B). Both buildings refer in scale to the neighboring buildings – higher at Cyrulików street and lower at Fiszera street. Building A can be classified as a point access housing. Building B, on the other hand, is a mix type of a terraced house and multifamily house – it consists of 3 sections, 4 apartments in each.

The project uses the attractive location of the building: a small square will be built on the corner of Cyrulików and Republikańska streets, opposite the exit from the underground pedestrian tunnel. Public space contribute to the integration of local residents and will be an extension of commercial premises in the building.