- Year: 2017
- Location: Warsaw
- Prefabricated elements: prestressed ceilings, three-layer walls, columns, beams, non-stressed ceilings, flights of stairs and landings, lift and installation shafts, internal walls, balconies
- Number of prefabs: 1142
Prefabrication yes, housing not necessarily
When Budizol put into use an apartment building at Sprzeczna 4 in Warsaw a few years ago, some people were counting on a true renaissance of comprehensive prefabrication in Polish housing construction.
Today we know that although several technologically similar projects have been implemented since then, prefabrication is popular in Poland primarily in the field of repeatable industrial and warehouse construction and selected structural elements of residential and office properties.
In some circles, Sprzeczna is still an untold story and perhaps this is the reason for the lower than expected number of such implementations. In this entry, we will present three noteworthy aspects related to the Warsaw-Praga investment, which are worth knowing before making a decision on the construction technology.
An unusual plot? No problem
Prefabrication, especially in Poland, is associated with a rigid solution, designed once and then repeated for years. No wonder – the reference point for many of us is still the systems known collectively as the “large panel”, so popular in the cities on the Vistula River.
Meanwhile, modern prefabrication is a solution that is not only much higher quality, but also incomparably more flexible. A plot of land set at an acute angle to the road? Great, we can design and make practically any shape of key elements.
And that is exactly how a fragment of the frontage housing triangular balconies at Sprzeczna 4 was created. The building itself is set parallel to the long sides of the plot, but this does not prevent it from harmoniously fitting into the local development.
First mass, then… nothing?
The costs of heating and – increasingly – cooling are starting to attract more and more attention in an era of rising energy prices. One way to reduce these costs is to take care of mass. Thermal mass, of course.
Sprzeczna 4 is built of reinforced concrete prefabricated elements with high thermal mass. In practice, this means that the building heats up and cools down slowly. This effect is enhanced by phase-change materials embedded in selected elements. Changing the phase, or state of matter, requires significantly more energy than changing the temperature by one degree.
Combined with good thermal insulation and high airtightness of the building, this results in a rare solution that visitors to Sprzeczna only realize after a moment of reflection or after someone has pointed this out to them: there are no radiators in the common areas. They are simply not needed.
Quality? Straight from the factory
Finishing is a laborious, often messy and very expensive process. What if it could be avoided? Sprzeczna succeeded. Well, at least to some extent. For example, the walls in the common areas can be seen today in the same finish as when they left the factory.
They shine. Yes, these walls are so smooth that they shine in the light. Some residents have also decided to leave them without plastering and painting in their premises. This undoubtedly adds authenticity to the interiors. And of course, there are many more options for finishing the walls, not to mention the facades.
“Because there are no problems with your shafts” – once said an elevator fitter. And indeed, the high precision of workmanship that can be achieved in a factory is unmatched in this respect. Those who care about sticking to a schedule choose prefabrication.
P.S. In addition to the mass at Sprzeczna 4, there is of course also a sculpture. The mermaid embossed in the wall next to the entrance reminds us of the fight (for a better future) with a design pencil.
