An office building in the green. The new headquarters of the Łukasiewicz-Itech Institute in Warsaw

It will be 32 metres high. The new headquarters of the Łukasiewicz-Itech Institute and Łukasiewicz Centre will be built on the site of the current one. The old building will be transformed into a modern edifice, whose façade will be densely covered with vegetation.

The project was prepared by architects from the FAAB studio – Adam Białobrzeski, Adam Figurski and Maria Messina. The project ‘Lampa Łukasiewicza’ will be realised, but for the time being the start date is unknown. The concept was prepared for an investor whose patron is the Polish chemist and pharmacist, entrepreneur and social activist Ignacy Łukasiewicz. The paraffin lamp, invented by Łukasiewicz, was first used on 31 July 1853, illuminating the operating theatre of the Piarist hospital in Lviv. During a life-saving operation on a patient.

The architects designed the building on the site of the Institute’s current headquarters on Żelazna Street in Warsaw. The new edifice is 32 metres high, with 4 underground and 9 above-ground floors. On the first underground storey, a multifunctional, exhibition and conference area is planned, while the remaining storeys provide parking for cars and bicycles as well as technical and storage rooms. The space on floor -1 is intended as a venue for events popularising science and innovation. Including workshops, of a cyclical nature, accessible to all age groups, also at weekends. On the ground floor and the first floor of the building, the INNO café and the Innovation Incubator are located. Both spaces are intended to create conditions for cooperation and information exchange between start-up organisations and representatives of science, industry and business. The remaining floors are occupied by office space and group work and meeting rooms.

The area around the building is already densely built-up. There is not enough space for a new square or park, so the architects decided to place greenery on the façade. “Lukasiewicz Lamp” will have a vertical garden and a vertical park. Within the vertical park, plants will be planted in prefabricated glulam pots. The park is intended to provide optimal conditions for Polish endangered species. For the vertical garden, a system based on prefabricated panels filled with substrate is to be built. Low-growing plants that are resistant to varying weather conditions will grow here. Some will be evergreen and some will flower seasonally. Each month the façade will look slightly different.

The vertical park and the vertical garden, will be the basis for a long-term research project. Using sensors that measure, among other things, chlorophyll levels, data will be collected to optimise the process of creating a microclimate around the building. The process will be supported by dedicated solutions based on machine learning and artificial intelligence. The second aspect of the research project, will be the development of an automated plant care system, based on the use of inspection drones and care robots. In the initial phase of the project, it is envisaged that automated systems and humans will work together. The ultimate goal is to develop a self-correcting bionic system that can function without human intervention, the project authors describe.

The photograph shows the Institute’s current premises on Żelazna Street:

The Institute’s new headquarters has been designed to save water and energy. Photovoltaic panels will be placed on the roof and a special system will ensure that their position is adjusted to the movement of the sun. The energy collected in this way will be used to light the office part of the building and power electric vehicle chargers. The facility will collect rainwater, which will be used to irrigate the plants. In addition, grey water from sinks and showers will be used to flush toilets.

Planting the building with greenery also has another benefit. The plants are expected to have a positive effect on the mental health of the people working here. Reduce stress, the risk of depression and anxiety. This is expected to improve work efficiency. Two internal ‘green areas’ are planned for the building. The first one on the ground floor will open onto the entrance hall and the second will be realised on the fourth floor.

source: F A B Architektura Białobrzeski | Figurski(https://faab.pl)

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