Nowy Rynek
Medusa Group designs a key office block in Skanska’s major development
A new city quarter with its iconic office building connects to a residential neighbourhood with a welcoming design and generous public spaces.
On the site of a former bus station in Poznań, Nowy Rynek is being built - a complex of five office and residential buildings on an area of almost four hectares. The aim is for the development to become an exciting new quarter for the Polish city. There is a strong emphasis on creating open spaces around the buildings, to help improve the wellbeing of local residents, visitors and office staff returning to the workplace.
The 550,000-strong city is known for its old town, with Renaissance-style buildings in Old Market Square. The distinguishing feature of Nowy Rynek, meaning New Market, is a market square located within the complex.
Quality of life is an important part of the brief. The square’s open layout of walkways and passages provides new areas for people to relax and meet up. These facilities bring added value for the inhabitants of the capital of Wielkopolska region and for visitors, encouraging them to enjoy this new quarter on foot.
Comprising 39,000sqm of offices, Building D was designed by Medusa Group, the interdisciplinary design studio founded in 1997 by architects Przemo Łukasik and Łukasz Zagała in Bytom, Upper Silesia.
Medusa Group’s task was to connect Building D with a nearby residential district, and to make sure that the building’s presence would not dominate its neighbours.
At ground level, the architects created an arcade effect with columns, so that the glazed ground floor is set back from the streetscape. The floors immediately above are clad in a double-layered facade of vertical design that shades the occupants and shimmers a vibrant green. This biophillic colour mimics the verdant landscaping in the public realm.
On Building D’s inner curve, the vertical facade is a rusty pink colour, in contrast to the square’s planted ‘islands’. Both these facade elements appear to shift and change with the time of day, and give a sense of liquid weightlessness to the large building.
The ‘broken’ nature of the facade design allows plenty of natural light into the deep office floorplates, while shading them when the sun is strong. These natural devices mean the building‘s energy consumption is reduced.
Medusa Group’s structure is the first in Wielkopolska to be built in accordance with the guidelines of the WELL Core & Shell. The certification is awarded to offices that are beneficial to the health and well-being of users.
