Revitalization, reuse, recycling – KTBS housing complex on Mariacka Street in Katowice – lecture by Oskar Grąbczewski OVO

About the speaker:

OSKAR GRĄBCZEWSKI is an architect and urban planner, a graduate of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice and a 1994 IBA Emscher Park scholarship holder.

After graduation, he worked in Berlin and Düsseldorf. He obtained his architectural license at the renowned AIR Jurkowscy Architekci studio. Together with his wife Barbara and son Marek, he runs the OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci architectural office in Katowice, which designs on all scales – from urban planning, public buildings, private buildings, houses, and interiors to art installations, exhibitions, and furniture.

Oskar Grąbczewski is an academic lecturer and competition judge. He writes columns and architectural reviews for the monthly magazines Architektura Murator, Architektura i Biznes, and Builder. In 2019, he was nominated for the title of Architectural Personality of the 25th Anniversary in the Architektura-Murator Poll.

KTBS RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX ON MARIACKA STREET IN KATOWICE - project team report

Katowice is a young, 150-year-old city, which is why we considered the preservation of a fragment of 19th-century quarter buildings adjacent to the most popular downtown pedestrian zone in Silesia, as well as one of the oldest churches in the city, to be valuable in itself.

Traditional tenement houses, especially in the very center of the city, are still a highly desirable solution for those looking for apartments. We analyzed the competition conditions in detail and came to the conclusion that we would be able to fit the functional program required by the client entirely into three existing tenement houses, while the supplementary program in the form of an integration space, external covered green spaces, and a playground for children under parental supervision would be located in the converted outbuildings.

This was by far the most advantageous solution in every respect:

• economic – maximum use of the existing substance, no demolition, removal of old cellars and foundations is the cheapest investment solution
• ecological – leaving the existing buildings in place and using them for new functions is the action with the smallest possible carbon footprint, generating the least amount of work, new building materials, and transport, as well as allowing the existing greenery on the plot to remain – grass, shrubs, and vines on the facade of the outbuildings
• least interference with the comfort of residents of neighboring buildings and users of Mariacka Street – the least amount of structural work requiring heavy equipment, the least amount of disruptive demolition work (noise, dust)
• typological – fully respecting the character and functional layout of the historic buildings
• conservation – preserving as much of the historic architectural substance as possible
• social – both for the current residents of the neighborhood and for the future residents of the planned apartments, especially for seniors, the connection with historically existing buildings can be very positive and emotional
• symbolic – sending a clear signal that the city respects its history and space and is able to take care of its monuments
• construction and engineering – allowing the desired effect to be achieved with minimal resources
• architectural – respecting the historic buildings and finding contemporary spatial values in them, both in the preserved and rebuilt parts. 

After winning the competition, we prepared construction and detailed designs, then, in the face of pandemic- and war-related inflationary price increases, we optimized the design in the form of a replacement construction design, and then supervised the implementation until its completion.
The buildings were comprehensively rebuilt – the basements were reinforced, the ceilings were replaced, elevators, balconies, and loggias were added on the courtyard side, but with maximum preservation of the existing structure. All valuable elements from the demolition of ceilings, interiors, and upper floors of outbuildings – woodwork, stair railings, bricks, stove tiles, etc. – were cleaned and reused.

Half of the apartments were allocated to elderly people who had previously lived in old buildings in the center of Katowice without elevators or central heating, often with coal stoves, on the upper floors. We offered these seniors apartments fully adapted for people with mobility and visual impairments, with elevators and specially designed visual information with typhlographic elements, fully equipped with installations, with a call system connected to the concierge desk – and at the same time located in the city center, to which they are accustomed and which has often been their home since birth.

A commercial space has been created in the basement of the corner building, where the city is opening a café – a club for seniors. The entrance to the club is via stairs surrounded by greenery and an accompanying ramp adapted to the needs of people with disabilities, conveniently running in the shade of the trees and shrubs growing next to it.

A separate issue is the creation of a common space for residents in the courtyard – a common room in an adapted brick outbuilding and a multi-level garden in the place of two other outbuildings, which were in very poor condition. The existing brick walls of the common room were insulated from the inside, while on the foundations of the demolished outbuildings, recreating their outline, walls, columns, and ceilings were erected from colored concrete faced with brick.

The interior of the common room was decorated using historical woodwork - balusters, doors, and both gable walls were lined with mosaics made of demolished stove tiles. Over time, the multi-level gardens will be covered with designed greenery - shrubs and climbing plants. We managed to preserve the existing ivy that covered the west side of the outbuilding – it continues to adorn the interconnected courtyards of the quarter, of which our tenement houses are a part. A beautiful garden has been created, accessible to KTBS residents, but also embellishing all the neighboring courtyards and adjacent buildings, which now have increased daylight and an additional view of an attractive, overgrown brick and concrete structure.

The result is a very attractive living space, which, despite this, paradoxically, perhaps precisely because it makes maximum use of the existing space and architectural material, is at the same time thoroughly modern and fits into the discussion of current global trends – the circular economy, recycling, and multi-threaded revitalization embedded in a social context.

KTBS RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX AT 30, 32, 34 MARIACKA STREET IN KATOWICE.

Investor: Katowickie Towarzystwo Budownictwa Społecznego Sp. z o.o.
Design: OVO Grabczewscy Architects: arch.arch. Barbara Grąbczewska, Oskar Grąbczewski, Marek
Grąbczewski, Kamil Kajdas, Michał Kolonko, Natalia Hołoś, Sandra Chodura, Bartosz Słomka,
Aleksandra Słomka, Martyna Kramarz, Natalia Malorny, and Aleksandra Siwoń.
First prize in the competition: 2019 Design: 2020-2024 Implementation: 2022-2025