.KTW

• location: Al. Roździeńskiego 1, Katowice / Poland
• architects: Przemo Łukasik, Łukasz Zagała
• associate architects: Maria Jaksik-Fikus, Dawid Beil, Łukasz Pieszka, Aleksandra Nowak, Kuba Pudo, Paulina Skalska, Kasia Chobot, Klaudia Matura, Mariusz Okrajek, Aleksandra Weber, Paulina Witaszczyk, Mateusz Florczak, Michał Sokołowski, Konrad Basan, Mateusz Rymar, Piotr Dećko, Justyna Siwińska-Pszoniak, Dorota Pala, Anna Struska, Daria Cieślak, Seweryn Wróblewski, Michał Bienek, Tomasz Toczek
• interior architects: Katarzyna Chobot, Mateusz Florczak, Maria Jaksik-Fikus, Klaudia Matura, Aleksandra Nowak, Mariusz Okrajek, Łukasz Pieszka, Jakub Pudo, Paulina Skalska, Tomasz Toczek, Aleksandra Weber, Paulina Witaszczyk
• landscape architects: Katarzyna Chobot, Mateusz Florczak, Maria Jaksik-Fikus, Klaudia Matura, Aleksandra Nowak, Mariusz Okrajek, Łukasz Pieszka, Jakub Pudo, Paulina Skalska, Tomasz Toczek, Aleksandra Weber, Paulina Witaszczyk Seweryn Wróblewski, Krzysztof Kass (Kass – Architektura krajobrazu)
• construction: Firma Inżynierska STATYK, Katowice
• installations: CE Group, Gliwice; Instac, Stara Iwiczna
• facade design: Studio Profil, Warszawa
• fire protection: Janusz Siata
• signage: Magdalena Odrzywolska, Joanna Katańska, Maria Jaksik-Fikus
• signage realization: Kolektyff (stage 1), Studio Bardzo (stage 2)
• investor: TDJ Estate Sp. z o.o.
• usable floor area: 62 000 m²
• design: 2016
• realization:
  • 1st tower: 2018;
  • 2nd tower: 2022
• certification:
  • BREEAM Excellent,
  • WELL – Health-Safety
• photographs: Szymon Król, Juliusz Sokołowski, Wojciech Radwański, Tomasz Zakrzewski
• awards:
  • CIJ Awards Poland 2022 in category: Best National Office Development of the Year,
  • Prime Property Prize 2022 in Architecture category,
  • European Property Awards 2022 in Commercial High-rise Architecture category,
  • Honourable mention in the 4th edition of the “Object of the Year in Aluprof Systems 2022” competition
  • SARP (the Association of Polish Architects) Award of the Year 2022 in the category “office, education or administration building”,
  • 2nd place and the audience award in the “Object of the Year in Aluprof systems” competition.

The .KTW project is located in an important urban location in Katowice, near the intersection of the most important transport arteries running north to south and east to west. The construction of the towers began when the contemporary layout of the development, following the idea of the ‘axis of culture’, was already clearly defined and realised with buildings: Silesian Museum, the building of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the International Congress Centre. ‘Axis of culture’ is a contemporary errata to the historical urban planning of the region, respecting the planning decisions of the city. The .KTW buildings honour and sanction, as it were, a new direction of transformation.

The essence of our shaping of the new buildings was the continuation of the original assumptions and the search for a dominant feature, but not the creation of a new icon of Silesia. The .KTW towers filled the plot of land left by the building of the Office Building of the State Railway District Directorate (DOKP), a high-rise building designed by one of the most important local architects of the 1950s and 1960s, Jerzy Gottfried. It is crucial when looking at .KTW to realise that the decision to build high was therefore made much earlier. It was imposed, as it were, by the 90-metre DOKP building itself.

The architecture of .KTW is a composition with a character alluding to the prominence of its representative location. The exposure of the towers on the side of Chorzowska Street and on the side of the Market Square from Korfantego Avenue makes the buildings create a clear orientation of the new, functional centre of Katowice. From the north and west, the buildings are adjacent to Spodek Square flanked from the northeast by the ICC building, creating a unified composition with them. The ground floors of .KTW are intended to complement the existing service and catering spaces that were lacking in this part of the city centre.

The new office and service development complex consists of two Class A buildings with three levels of underground parking for cars and landscaping. Building A, located on the side of the International Congress Centre, was designed with 14 overground storeys, while building B on the side of Roździeńskiego Avenue had 31 overground storeys.

The aim of the project was to complement the cultural and leisure functions with a modern and functional complex of office and service buildings, offering flexible spaces for comfortable work and leisure activities after hours. We developed the project in accordance with current Class A office building standards and based on the guidelines for BREEAM certification at the Excellent level. The buildings are environmentally friendly, which manifests itself, among other things, in low energy consumption, low emissions into the atmosphere, the use of appropriate environmentally friendly building materials and technical equipment.

We wanted to create architecture that was restrained in form, not a stunning or frivolous work of art. We gave the new towers the features to perpetuate our perception of Silesia, where we originated. The architecture uses simple, elegant and timeless means of expression, forming an individual and original spatial composition that responds to the local context. The buildings therefore adapt easily to their surroundings, while not lacking a certain spunk, energy and dynamism. We touched them by moving the modules in relation to each other and giving them an individual architectural form. The designed structure of the moved blocks is the result of the consecutive, upward-sloping arrangement of the cuboidal blocks of the Silesian Museum and the NOSPR. In addition, the form of .KTW, devoid of rounded shapes, was not intended to compete with the mass of Spodek.

The genesis of this project is also an attempt to find a contemporary form that corresponds to the function these buildings are to serve. Thus, we have been balancing on the borderline of the classical understanding of composition, through which we emphasize the stage of change in which Katowice has found itself and how strongly the forces related to the development of new technologies, the potential of companies and the people working here influence the contemporary image of the city. .KTW is also a new look at the office function. Business in a different dimension, not only looking at the city skyline from behind a glass façade, but giving breath thanks to balconies, terraces and greenery that will soon complete the project. We hope that the architecture of the .KTW buildings will stand the test of time and that they will grow firmly into the fabric of Katowice.

The biggest design problem was putting the towers on a foundation in an area where coal was mined until recently. The second tower of .KTW is currently the tallest building in Katowice, so we paid particular attention to the ground conditions. The project was a major architectural and structural challenge for our studio.