Its opening will take place on Friday 17 January 2025. The Polish Embassy in Berlin will operate in a brand new building constructed in the heart of the German capital. The edifice is located only a few hundred metres from the Branderburg Gate. The embassy building was designed by architects from JEMS Architekci.
The building is intended to be a showpiece of Poland. The building was constructed on the representative avenue Unter den Linden. The avenue is one of the main urban axes of the German capital and serves as an important tourist route in the historic part of the city. In the close vicinity of the Polish representation are the embassies of the United States, France, Great Britain and Hungary. Such a location means that the building will be seen by several million visitors to Berlin each year.
The design of the building was selected in a competition held in 2012. The winning concept was that of JEMS Architekci, who proposed a modern block with a subdued façade with an even division between the window openings.
Polish embassy in Berlin in the city centre
We wanted the image of Poland at this location, expressed in the language of architecture, to represent Polish diplomacy with dignity. This meant – in our view – shaping a building with features clearly indicative of its strong integration into Berlin’s urban fabric, but at the same time with its own strong identity,” says Marcin Sadowski, chief designer of the building and partner at JEMS Architekci.
Embassy buildings occupy a special place in the urban landscape. They are located in prestigious places, marked with the flags of their countries, so the image aspect of the building was of great importance. Previously, for years Polish diplomats worked in a villa far from the city centre.
Timeless architecture
The embassy is distinguished by its multi-layered façade, spanned between the neighbouring buildings. It is elegant, modest and modern at the same time. It makes its presence known only subtly. The three-dimensional frontage on the Unter den Linden side, with its rhythmically arranged vertical elements, changes in perspective views of the street: from a condensed grid to an openwork, multilayered structure. The translucent façade reveals a courtyard with flagpoles passing through the entire height of the building above its roof. On the ground floor, columns have been created to form arcades. These frame the entrance to the embassy and consulate.

The façade is integrally connected to the interior of the building. It is a harbinger of what awaits us inside. The relationship between the structure of the windows and the walls of the inner courtyards and the rhythm of the mullions and sub-beams in the area of the representative hall and the ground floor halls becomes the leitmotif,” explains Sadowski.
The scenario of the interior is the discovery of successive plans, places, rooms. The arrangement of columns and beams creates a spectacle of light and shadow, inviting you into different areas of the ground floor space. Sliding walls make it possible to separate individual zones, adapting the interior to the planned events – from large conferences to intimate cultural meetings.

The architecture is reminiscent of Polish modernism – a trend that in Poland, in the work of many architects, did not succumb to the so-called international style, but rather referred to tradition and had individual, national characteristics. The rhythms of concrete columns and beams contrast with the warmth of the wooden wall finishes and parquet flooring. High-quality individually designed furniture represents contemporary Polish design.
The edifice also benefited from striking backlighting.
While the first layer of the façade remains dark, the second has been illuminated, revealing the building’s spatial tectonics. We tested the illumination on a scale model of the façade built near Warsaw. Today, walking along Unter den Linden avenue, we see an attractive image of ‘light in architecture’ both during the day and at night, ” explains Izabela Leple-Migdalska, the architect in charge of the project.
The façade draws attention to itself, it is not indifferent. Curious passers-by slow down a step and look inside the courtyard, where the flags of Poland and the European Union are already flying.
The designers from JEMS Architekci treat the creation of a building of such significance for Poland and in such an important place as a privilege, and they feel the enormous responsibility this entails. They believe that the embassy’s architecture will stand the test of time and will always represent the Polish raison d’état with dignity.
design: JEMS Architekci – Marcin Sadowski, Izabela Leple-Migdalska, Tomasz Napieralski
collaboration: Justyna Kościańska, Marek Kuciński, Anna Bilińska, Jan Damięcki, Łukasz Krzesiak, Agnieszka Rokicka
source: press materials
Read also: Berlin | Germany | Modernism | JEMS Architekci | Featured | whiteMAD on Instagram

Photo from October 2024:
