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CONCRETE GIVES WAY TO HIGH DESIGN, STYLE

Under Polish communism’s centralized planning process, good design played no part in the Warsaw shopping scene. The material of choice for retail projects was concrete. And why not? Shopping was considered a matter of necessity, not entertainment.

Not so these days — Warsaw’s largest shopping centers are world-class projects, innovative in design and heavy on the ambience.

Consider Arkadia, the largest in Poland. A few minutes’ drive from the city’s old downtown, Arkadia contains nearly 1.1 million square feet of retail gracing 22 acres once occupied by rail yards and warehouses. Since it opened in October, the center has attracted some 1.5 million visitors a month on average. Arkadia’s developer was the French Groupe BEG, of which Simon Property Group owns 35 percent. The center boasts a Carrefour hypermarket, a Leroy Merlin home center, about 200 shops, a multiplex movie complex and a bowling alley. And the design sparkles: a three-story, semicircular glass front overlooking a piazza and the Rondo Babka traffic circle; four themed retail concourses, each reflecting a distinct aspect of Polish culture; and a series of exterior buildings and facades reminiscent of Warsaw’s Old City.

“Early on we saw what was happening in Poland, and we told the French that they needed to evolve,” said Giuseppe DiVanna, a principal and senior project manager at Baltimore-based RTKL Associates, which designed the project. “On opening day they needed to be above the rest.”

Among RTKL’s suggestions was the use of high-end materials, including natural stone for floors.

“I’ve noticed that the Poles are very open to the European trends,” said DiVanna, who previously worked on the landmark Warsaw Trade Tower. Of special note is the keen craftsmanship of Polish workers, particularly their skills in decorative ironwork, he says.

But Arkadia is by no means the only example of cutting-edge design in Warsaw. Among the other centers of note:

• Wola Park, designed by Callison Architecture, Seattle, is one of the country’s largest centers, with 960,000 square feet of retail. Wola Park opened in 2002 with 189 stores and is anchored by a two-story Auchan hypermarket. The center is characterized, Callison says, “by amenities and fixtures inspired by the region’s legacy of palaces and parks.”

• Blue City, whose most notable feature is a massive glass dome covering its 2 million square feet of retail on seven floors. Construction began in 1998 but stopped when money ran short. Refinanced and redesigned by the Dallas firm of Laguarda Low Architects, the project finally opened last year. Other design elements include a fountain in the main square that shoots water 85 feet high, a fanciful blue color scheme extending throughout the center and an entertainment complex that offers flight simulators and a go-cart track.

Why is Poland embracing such dramatic retail design? RTKL’s DiVanna offers a theory: “They understand design,” he said, “they endorse design, and they take ownership of it.” And it’s better than concrete.

— CH