Gdynia up! The new building of the SKYCITY complex will be 120 m high

The new investment will be realised by developer ALLCON. SKYCITY Gdynia is a complex of residential buildings, the heart of which will be a 120-metre-high skyscraper. The design of the new buildings was prepared by the Grupa 5 Architekci studio.

By building the new complex, the developer wants to create a kind of gateway to the city centre, which will symbolise the changes in this part of the city. The slender tower is to provide attractive views for future residents. The development is due to start later this year.

SKYCITY Gdynia is a highly anticipated investment. The part of the city located on the western side of the railway tracks will completely change its face. The concept, which fits in with the modernist character of Gdynia, will perfectly fill in the urban fabric and has a chance to become Gdynia’s showpiece. Its advantage is certainly the proximity of important service, educational and sports centres, transport hubs or, finally, the proximity of recreational areas – says Bartłomiej Austen, Vice-President of Gdynia.

In total, the new buildings will have 50,000 square metres of floor space. The facilities will be built on a 2 ha plot at the intersection of Kielecka Street and Droga Gdyńska Street. When designing the complex, the architects focused on mixed functionality. Residential space will predominate, but one of the buildings will be an office building. In addition, spaces for trade and services will be created in the ground floor parts. Shops, restaurants, cafés or a hair salon will be able to operate there.

The residential buildings will have successively: 7, 17 and 35 storeys. The latter will be 120 metres high. The development designed in this way fits in with the idea of densifying city centres.

For the sake of sustainable development and the convenience of residents, modern cities are densifying in the areas within their immediate boundaries. This trend can be observed in well-known European capitals as well as in Polish cities such as Warsaw, Wrocław and Gdańsk. Eliminating pollution or the carbon footprint associated with, among other things, traffic jams and long commutes is just as important as reducing urban expenditure on new infrastructure, which is necessary for sprawling suburban areas. Urban planners are now even recommending urban densification. This brings benefits, both in terms of optimal development and social integration, not only for the residents of the developed area, but also for visitors from outside,” says architect Rafał Zelent of the Grupa 5 Architekci studio.

The residents of the centres are close to the most important facilities where they do their daily business. This includes offices, schools, shops or their favourite café. The biggest advantage of such a solution is that it saves time. We travel less to reach our destination, and we can cover the distance on foot or by bicycle, leaving the car in the garage or not having one at all.

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SKYCITY Gdynia clearly fits into the popular concept of the 15-minute city, but offers much more. Analysing this location, one can quickly verify how many places important for everyday life are located in the neighbourhood. So in this case, we can talk about the idea of a 5-minute city,” says Piotr Tarkowski, board member of the development company ALLCON.

How SKYCITY Gdynia will look like is not a coincidence. The developer is to be commended for its openness in this regard. In December 2020, ALLCON announced the results of an international competition for the architectural concept of the development. The organiser received entries from six renowned studios from the UK, the Netherlands and Poland. The selection of the best concept was made by a jury consisting of representatives of the city authorities, members of the Chamber of Architects and the investor.

For us, architects captivated by the legacy of pre-war modernism, Gdynia is an iconic city, with homogeneous architecture and an urban layout that is clear and ‘human’ in scale. The form, detail and colour scheme of our project is a contemporary interpretation of this harbour-based ‘White City’. The natural landscape of the hills and nature penetrating between the individual buildings of the establishment were equally important inspirations. The juxtaposition of these two narratives creates a multifunctional ensemble in which metropolitan scale will mingle with intimate landscape spaces,” explains architect Roman Dziedziejko of the Grupa 5 Architekci studio.

However, the final design was modified. This was due to the comments of the competition jury and the opinions of residents. What was changed? The construction of one of the residential buildings was abandoned, and the number of square metres of saleable space was reduced to create more public space and green areas. The buildings with 17 and 35 storeys have changed their position. Moving the high-rise building away from the first building line had the effect of softening the gradation of the buildings along the frontage of Kielecka Street and Droga Gdyńska Street. The acoustic buffer for the residential part will be the location of the office building on the street side.

ALLCON ensures that the new investment will be characterised by pro-environmental solutions. The project can boast a BREEAM Communities certificate. This is the first project in the voivodship with such a certificate. It is awarded to those investments that promote an urban view of site plan design in relation to the surrounding context.

The project incorporates numerous solutions that characterise sustainable and modern construction. We will perform customised analyses, including tunnel, seismic and acoustic studies. We will apply automated processes related to the operation of the development, both from the perspective of the residents and the administrator. In addition, we are planning to manage grey water, make even more efficient use of solar energy and reduce the need for cooling in summer, thanks to the daily temperature difference,’ says Łukasz Śledź, director of the Investment Preparation and Execution Department at the ALLCON development company.

In addition to the green roofs and the vegetated terrace, we have prepared a varied landscaping design, which includes planting multi-species beds of perennials and grasses. We have, however, kept the mown lawns to a minimum. Thebiologically active area will be considerably larger than envisaged in the local plan,” adds Łukasz Śledź.

The implementation of the investment will begin in the fourth quarter of this year. First, a 17-storey building with 93 flats and commercial premises will be built. This will be followed by the construction of a high-rise building and a 7-storey office building. The average area of the flats will be 70 sq m, which is about 20 sq m more than in most projects developed by developers.

design: Grupa 5 Architekci

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