Konstruktorska Business Centre

This company, founded in the early 1990’s, went international a few years ago, transferring the quality of buildings previously constructed in Slovakia and the Czech Republic to other countries. As HB Reavis’s technical building specialist Milena Mrázková explains, “the firm’s policy for every investment is to implement a number of general principles based on past experiences, adjust them to local standards, and ultimately end up with an elegant building that is different from previous ones.”

The Konstruktorska Business Centre, the first building by HB Reavis in Poland is simple and efficient. It is based on an octagonal floor plan, connected vertically by means of four communication shafts, offering space for let for both large-scale tenants requiring a whole floor and small enterprises requiring only a modest office. With its 48,000 square metres of offices for lease, it has the largest floor plan in Poland. As is the case in many office buildings built by the company in the past, the KBC has high-ceilinged lobby areas, extending upwards over two storeys, finished with natural materials. Situated on opposite corners of the floor plan, they open out onto large patios through glass covering their full height, providing a sense of prestige.

The patios are certainly the most intriguing part of the volume. Carefully designed, complemented by a number of tall trees, other foliage, and water features, they filter natural light into the interior spaces. They therefore offer views of natural features that are relatively uncommon in commercial structures. Preserving the building’s open character for its tenants, and connected at ground level into a single, unified space, the patios offer a place for relaxation and integration. They are also a clear sign of HB Reavis’s interest in ecology and sustainability.

The result is a quiet and repetitive façade with dominant horizontal bands indicating the floors. The fabricators of the façade were Defor S.A. and Warsaw-based company Mega Aluminium, already highly experienced with Reynaers products before construction work began on the KBC. “The final approval of the façade was confirmed by means of a large mock-up”, says Agnieszka Wojsa-Cosentino, co-owner of Mega Aluminium, “which is always better than basing a decision on the typically small samples of aluminium mullions and glass panels.” The façade system used in the KBC’s project is a graphite coloured stick façade CW 50-HI. A custom made mullion transom connection was created for the staggered mullions. Narrow vertical top-hung windows are placed in every potential office. The spandrel areas are finished with aluminium sheets, mounted without visible screws. This solution was tested for impact resistance at the Reynaers test centre in Poland.

One of the most difficult issues on this project was to create as much as possible narrow dilatation connections of the aluminium construction in line with the building dilatation. For the two entrance lobbies the structural glazed façade CW 65-SC was installed due to the great height of the glass partitions. Reynaers created a bespoke solution where the 65 mm mullions were fixed to a steel substructure. Special attention was also devoted to the selection of glass. “For us it was important to meet both technical and aesthetic requirements”, Wojsa-Cosentino explains. “We therefore used technical enhancements such as a SunGuard glass coating to prevent the interior space from becoming too warm, as well as eight millimetre thick tempered glass outside instead of the typical six millimetre thick glass. We did this in order to provide a flat reflective surface, adding value to the visual quality of the building.”

Of course, visual quality is very important in today’s world. Offering a combination of good design, qualitative materials, an architecture-oriented investor, and excellent execution, the Konstruktorska Business Centre is a building that balances eco-engineering driven by numbers, subtle elegance, and an efficient use of space. In other words, it is undoubtedly an excellent workplace.