Since the collapse of communism, Warsaw’s centre became a testing ground for all sorts of rapidly expanding corporate architectures, but not for public space.

Public space seems to have been frozen and barely evolved in its monumental scale and socialist form. It is only recently that a series of new public investments intends to bring new programs to the city centre, igniting the potential to activate and inhabit it.

In reaction to this context, Michał Sikorski thought about building an interface between the stone clad public spaces and the inaccessible glass skyline.

They designed a horizontal skyscraper. The project takes advantage of the available space and enters a formal dialogue with the surrounding skyline.

Made of wood and composed of public amenities.

The project brings new functions to life in a corner of a park. It revitalizes a pre-existing pavilion and defines a temporary limit to the construction site of the new museum of modern art.

Which was, until lately, neglected and misused.

The greyish wooden decking in the shape of an elongated rectangle corresponds with the surrounding office buildings, complementing the corporate urban context with public functions.

With its geometry, color and scale.

The platform, located in proximity to the soviet-style Palace of Culture and Science, resembles a large wooden deck and serves as a minimalistic, organized public space. It hangs above the noise of the constantly moving, changing city like a calm wooden raft.

80x20m

The construction’s southern part is made of steel and serves as a vertical pergola isolating the park from the adjacent construction site. The rest of the horizontal deck’s construction is designed in wood.

The amount of concrete used for the skate park was intentionally minimised in order to avoid the suburban feeling of such structures.

Wherever possible, the surfaces were clad with wood in order to bring a warm feeling and invite users to lay-down.

The different playgrounds and leisure items were chosen to attract a large span of users, from parents with young children to elderly people.

(traversing wall, sliders)

(chess tables)