According to studies, there are several thousand facilities in Poland that require urgent remedial action. They are most often located within large agglomerations, such as Warsaw, Krakow, Tricity or Wrocław. Reclaiming these sites through revitalisation is a prerequisite for sustainable development and for restoring harmony to rapidly growing urban areas. There are companies that find these spaces and give them back to the cities in new forms and functions. Moderna Holding is one of them.
Moderna Holding is an experienced developer from the Tricity, specialising in premium real estate. However, it has in its portfolio several uncommon projects that can be counted among the forgotten architectural buildings. Decades ago, these buildings were part of the urban identity of the most important Polish cities. Over the years, they have completely lost their former significance and fallen into oblivion. In the course of its 15 years of activity, Moderna has carried out several phenomenal transformations – including in the Tricity or Warsaw – which are inspiring examples of a multifaceted approach to the issue of revitalisation.
The new life of Wrocław’s icons
In addition to the Tri-City and Warsaw markets, Moderna Holding’s next major projects will be two buildings located in the capital of Lower Silesia – Wrocław. The first of them is an iconic representative of modernist architecture, which does not lack Brutalist references, i.e. the ZREMB office building located in Gen. Romuald Traugutta Street. The second Wrocław pearl to come under the wings of Moderna Holding is the extremely stylistically diverse Paczkowa Post Office building located on Jana Ewangelista Purkyniego Street. It is a historical, urban monument, where Neo-Baroque is mixed with elements of Art Nouveau.
Both projects will be an extraordinary challenge for the developer – both logistically and in terms of construction and architecture. Everything will, of course, take place under the watchful eye of a conservationist.
One of the biggest challenges in buildings built more than 50 years ago is to adapt them to their new function while meeting the technical requirements. In historic buildings, often the only way to do this is to insulate from the inside, which is considerably more demanding on the technical side. Today, at a time of a policy of moving towards zero carbon, bringing existing, disused buildings back to life is so important because of the reduction of the built-in carbon footprint, while at the same time challenging the operational carbon footprint, explains Norbert Cendrowski, Production Planning Director of Moderna Holding.
Moderna joined the Polish Green Building Council (PLGBC) some time ago. The Wroclaw investments will be built based on BREEAM standards, which will confirm the company’s attention to the principles of sustainable construction and the design of investments in line with current trends and guidelines.
A return to the splendour of the 1930s.
One of the biggest challenges for Moderna was certainly the revitalisation of the symbol of the ‘city of the sea’, i.e. the headquarters of the Polish Bank in Gdynia. The design by Stanisław Filasiewicz was created in the 1930s and for decades embodied Gdynia’s boldest aspirations. The materials used in its construction and the decorative panache made it one of the most expensive Polish Bank investments in Poland at the time.
In 2017, when Moderna bought the building, the bank building was in a difficult state of repair. Two years later, the renovation process began, which included the restoration of historical details such as the wooden window mouldings and the noble terazzo plaster (whose cleaning and restoration required an enormous amount of work).
The work was completed in 2021. The building has passed all the required building and conservation approvals, and Gdynia has regained the splendour of one of its architectural symbols.
We are renovating existing buildings and seeking new life and function for them. At the same time, in the new buildings currently being designed, we should anticipate a potential change of function, so as to prolong the existence of many objects in changing external conditions. However, this must come from the awareness of the designers, as well as the client or investor himself,” says Norbert Cendrowski.
The surviving tenement
Another architectural relic that has been recovered thanks to Moderna’s efforts is located on Zajęcza Street in Warsaw’s Powiśle district. It is one of the few tenements that survived the turmoil of the Second World War and combines pre-war flair with a modern flair.
In this case, one of the biggest challenges was to restore the lost shine of the noble plasterwork. The historic building has been given a new lease of life and now delights the residents of the capital with its spaciousness and luminosity. The effort that the company put into the Moderna Powiśle project was recognised by an international group of industry experts, which was confirmed by an award in the European Property Awards competition.
New life for the barracks
Moderna’s Tricity development, Scala History, has also won industry recognition. Its part is the “Red Barracks” building. It originally served a military function, so its redefinition was one of the biggest adaptation difficulties for the company.
In consultation with the conservation officer and in accordance with the provisions of the master plan, it has been possible to create a concept for the space with respect for the historical buildings, as well as space for two more contemporary parts. The new buildings are to be BREAAM International New Construction V6 certified, which confirms that they meet the requirements in terms of sustainable and responsible construction.
Scala History is one of the most advanced projects we have undertaken in our 15 years of operation. The certification will confirm that our vision resonates with society’s expectations for sustainable construction. BREEAM is one of the most reliable building rating systems and proof of meeting the various sustainability requirements. If you want to move towards reducing your environmental footprint, it is important to think about what the full life cycle of a building will look like from the early design stage. To this end, 10 different categories that are relevant for validation should be taken into account, such as indoor environmental quality, energy efficiency, transport accessibility, materials and construction, operation and maintenance management or water and waste management. For example, it is necessary to pay attention to the noise emissions associated with the investment and adjust their level in relation to the requirements, assess the flood risk or the impact of the heating and cooling medium, the long-term impact on biodiversity, the responsible sourcing of materials with environmental declarations, the calculation of the accessibility index or the performance of an analysis of low-carbon energy sources, ‘ explains Agata Zwarra, Head of the Coordination Team at Moderna Holding.
Historical Scala activities
The barracks building was erected 135 years ago and the activities focused on finding a form that draws on the brick façade and finding a contemporary means of expression for it using traditional materials and adding a modern framework.
In the creation of the interior design, great emphasis was placed on the staircases, whose brick walls, vaults and structural arches will be exposed in their entirety. The bricks will undergo careful conservation work, concrete replacements will be removed, bricks with cavities will be replaced, missing bricks and inadequate brickwork will be filled in. The surfaces of the bricks and the resulting build-up will be cleaned carefully so as not to damage the very structure of the material. An equally important element of the interior will be the wooden window frames in a beautiful graphite colour. According to the restoration programme, the doors in the main passageways will be made to resemble those characteristic of the late 19th century.
Due to the highly decorative nature of both the window and door woodwork and the texture of the brick itself, the other materials will provide a kind of background for the historical elements. Natural, muted colours will be used, allowing all the ‘witnesses’ to the long history of the historic edifice to come to the fore. In one of the corridors, future users will encounter a cast-iron, decorated, polychrome column, which most likely found its way into the building secondarily as a support for another building (most likely a railway station).
The overall interior, through the need for new installations, will correspond in part to the industrial décor, while also alluding to the site’s unexceptional identity. Traces of history will be intertwined with contemporary solutions, but most importantly, the beautiful building will be brought back into use once again.
source: Moderna Holding(www.moderna.pl)
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