The construction of AFI Tower in Warsaw’s Wola district opens a new chapter in the development of the Towarowa22 complex. The skyscraper, designed by JEMS Architekci, will be the tallest element of the complex and its most recognisable feature. AFI Tower can now be viewed in new visualisations.
Towarowa22 is a 6.5-hectare, multi-functional quarter developed by AFI, Echo Investment and Archicom Collection. Its structure combines offices, apartments, restaurants, services and cultural spaces. The new tower completes this sequence, organising the urban composition and introducing a distinctive landmark, visible from many points in the city. The upper part of the building will be 150 metres high.
The architects at JEMS emphasise that the design was based on a thorough analysis of the surroundings. The relationship between the façade and its surroundings, its response to wind and sun. Maciek Rydz, partner at JEMS, explains: “By its very nature, a skyscraper must be an efficient, rectangular cuboid. Nevertheless, we tried to derive something more from this necessity.” The team started with a rational plan with a central core, and then shifted the floors in relation to each other. This seemingly simple measure gave the structure dynamism and allowed for the creation of terraces, offsets and shaded ledges. To illustrate the idea to investors, the architects used a stack of books – a metaphor that ultimately organised the entire project and became a nod to the Dom Słowa Polskiego (House of Polish Words), a former printing house that is an important point of reference for Towarowa 22.
The tower consists of two parts: a taller one, approximately 150 metres high, open to the Daszyńskiego roundabout, and a lower one, 85 metres high, facing the interior of the quarter. The difference in height creates a smooth transition from an intense transport hub to a garden and residential buildings. The displacement of the storeys generates deep shading of the façades, particularly visible in the upper parts of the building, where the terraces and overhangs form the most dynamic rhythm. Marcin Citko, co-author of the design, emphasises the importance of the ‘sixth façade’, i.e. the pattern of the ceilings visible from street level: “These ceilings play with light and shadow, and also reflect the life of the terraces suspended high above the city ground floor.”
One of the key challenges was to cope with the winds blowing down the façade. After analyses conducted jointly with Buro Happold, a porous façade and strongly sculpted corners were decided upon. “The air does not descend in a large sheet, but breaks into smaller streams,” explains Rydz. The terraces also serve as protection against heat and allow windows to be opened, breaking down the barrier between the interior and the city that is typical of glass towers. This is a conscious step towards natural ventilation and the creation of rest areas for users, in line with the idea of wellbeing, which is one of the foundations of the project.
AFI Tower remains faithful to the metal and glass aesthetics of the Daszyńskiego roundabout area, avoiding ornamentation in favour of playing with light and texture. The two-storey entrance hall opens onto the gardens of Towarowa 22, and a garden suspended 85 metres above the ground is being created on the roof of the lower part of the tower. The upper floors offer a view of a sequence of green spaces – from the terrace to the central garden around the Dom Słowa – which reinforces the hierarchy of the entire complex.
The tower corresponds with the neighbouring AFI Office House. Both buildings differ in character, but they share a common urban language and a lack of repetitive façades. Citko sums it up: “AFI Office House and AFI Tower do not compete with each other, but cooperate within a common urban language.” The result is a composition in which each element has its own identity and at the same time reinforces the whole – in line with the ambition to make Towarowa 22 one of the most consciously designed parts of contemporary Warsaw.
design: JEMS Architekci
team: Grzegorz Artymiński, Łukasz Chaberka, Marcin Citko, Paweł Gozdyra, Jan Jaworski, Paweł Majkusiak, Maciej Oberzig, Maciek Rydz, Franciszek Wąsowski
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