Tall & Urban News

On the Baltic coast of Poland, the city of Gdynia will get a new high-rise mixed-use development, with the main residential component rising approximately 120 meters. The design was selected from an international competition between six design studios, with the winning design from Grupa 5 Architekci.

The competition concerned buildings at the intersection of Kielecka Street and Droga Gdyńska. The project will cover an area of approximately 2 hectares, on which developer Allcon plans to build approximately 55,000 square meters of space for services, offices, and apartments.

The winning design was inspired by the modernist legacy of Gdynia's homogeneous and characteristic architecture from the interwar period, according to Roman Dzieędzieko, member of the management board and partner of Grupa 5 Architekci, and is meant to evoke a modern lighthouse.

The competition included two design firms outside of Poland, MVRDV and RMJM Prague. The competition entry from RMJM, which took fourth place, also took direct inspiration from the project’s coastal location. The two residential towers evoked the sails of a boat, curving in all three dimensions. The office building within the development, placed strategically at the forefront of the site, was shaped to embody the keel of a ship. 

The details of the final project are underway, with the process of final design and obtaining permits expected to take about two years.

For more on this story, go to Allcon and World Architecture News.