BBGK Architekci has two decades of practice behind it, during which a small group of young, ambitious architects have grown into a team now delivering some of Poland’s most significant projects helping to shape the country’s cities. A symbol of this journey is the studio’s new office in the tenement at Fredry 6 in Warsaw, designed at the end of the 19th century by Józef Pius Dziekoński for banker Hipolit Wawelberg as the headquarters of Bank Zachodni. For more than 120 years, the building has been closely connected with Warsaw’s development and entrepreneurial spirit. Today, it provides a setting for projects that will contribute to the next chapter in the history of Polish cities.
It all began on a much more modest scale than today’s office at Fredry. Jan Belina-Brzozowski and Konrad Grabowiecki, graduates of the Faculty of Architecture at Warsaw University of Technology, initially worked together as an informal team before formalising their collaboration in 2010 as Brzozowski Grabowiecki Architekci. That same year, their concept won the national competition for the Katyń Museum, located within the Warsaw Citadel. When the museum opened in 2015, it earned the studio the SARP Award of the Year, one of Poland’s leading architectural awards, for the best publicly funded building. In 2017, it saw the practice named among the European finalists for the Mies van der Rohe Award, the most prestigious architectural distinction in Europe.
Initially, the studio was based in a rented flat in a tenement on 3 Maja Avenue, near Poniatowski Bridge in Warsaw. As the team grew, the space quickly became too small, and the office gradually expanded into additional flats in the same building. For a time, the domestic character of the premises became a distinctive feature of the studio’s everyday life.
It was during this period, in 2014, that Wojciech Kotecki joined the team, and the practice adopted the name BBGK - an acronym formed from the surnames of the three partners who continue to run it together to this day. Alongside Katyń Museum, the studio’s position was strengthened by projects such as the town hall in Konstancin-Jeziorna, just outside Warsaw, and the concept for Warsaw Social District, a model development combining housing, services and greenery, whose ideas and urban principles are continued in the Modern Mokotów project, currently under development in Warsaw’s Mokotów district. Another chapter was the award-winning Poznań Music School, as well as the reconstruction and relocation of the modernist Emilia Pavilion, one of the most high-profile projects in recent years connected with the preservation of Warsaw’s architectural heritage.
When Old Meets New
“For quite some time, we had been considering moving and finding a new home for BBGK. In the beginning, we looked at fairly obvious solutions – we were searching for a large office space. Then, at a certain point, this place appeared, and it was completely unique. Interestingly, it was at the opposite end of the spectrum from how we had imagined our office, but after many conversations, it turned out that despite its unconventional and eccentric character, it was perfect for us,” says Konrad Grabowiecki, one of the founders and a partner at BBGK, reflecting on the search for a new headquarters.
The new BBGK headquarters found its home in a historic tenement in the very heart of Warsaw. From the balconies on the second floor, there is a view across the changing city centre, where the reconstruction of the Saxon Palace, Brühl Palace and the historic frontage along Królewska Street is reshaping this part of the city. It is a perspective in which history and the present continuously intertwine, while the city remains in a state of constant transformation.
The tenement at Fredry 6 has itself been part of this transformation for more than a century. Designed by Józef Pius Dziekoński, one of the most important architects at the turn of the 20th centur, it was built in 1896–1897 as the prestigious headquarters of Hipolit Wawelberg’s Bank Zachodni. For decades, Fredry was one of the most prestigious addresses in Warsaw’s financial district, bringing together institutions that helped shape the city’s development. Today, the same building, a witness to the transformation of the capital, is becoming the workplace of a studio designing its near future.
A Table Set with a Tablecloth
BBGK’s office occupies the second floor of the historic tenement, reached via a monumental marble staircase that reflects the building’s historic character. The studio occupies a former apartment measuring 650 sq m, with ceilings as high as 5 metres. As a result, despite its representative character, the office retains something of the atmosphere of a luxurious early-20th-century apartment.
The entrance area has been designed as a place for meetings and the first point of contact with the studio. Employees and visitors are greeted by a neon BBGK logo, while the central feature is a concrete sculpture created using 3D technology, resembling a table covered with a tablecloth – an object that both organises the space and gives it an informal, welcoming character.
“We wanted the entrance to be representative and easy to read, but at the same time more like an apartment than an office. A place you enter naturally, without a sense of distance,” says Bartosz Świniarski, project director at BBGK, responsible for the concept of the new office. As he adds, it was equally important to move away from the subdued colour palette typical for offices – black, white and grey – in favour of colours that reflect the studio’s approach to design.
The interior therefore works with a distinct yet restrained colour palette. Shades of orange, salmon pink and olive green appear throughout, echoing colours familiar from BBGK projects such as Katyń Museum, Modern Mokotów and the new University of Warsaw building currently under development in Warsaw’s Powiśle district. They are complemented by comfortable sofas, natural greenery in large planters and lighting designed by Spectra Lighting, which softly shapes the space.
Where Ideas Meet
The initially more public character of the entrance area quickly gives way to the rhythm of everyday work. Behind the reception and meeting area begins the main office, designed as a composition of several clearly defined, semi-open zones.
Nearly 70 people work here, divided into teams operating within larger and smaller spaces, while the overall layout deliberately avoids the conventional open-plan model. Instead of a single main workspace, there are intimate rooms accommodating up to around 12 people, as well as smaller rooms and offices that allow for more focused work. These spaces are not, however, separated in a traditional manner – they are divided by glass partitions and doors using systems by Aluron and Saint-Gobain, allowing the office to remain visually and communicatively open.
The entire layout is tied together by a central corridor that acts as the office’s backbone, allowing people to move freely between the different work zones. In many places, the space can be further adapted – acoustic curtains allow teams to create more intimate areas suited to meetings, project work or phone calls. As Bartosz Świniarski emphasises, “in our previous headquarters, we were scattered across different floors, so there was no flexibility in how we organised our work.”
The office was created precisely in response to this need. Its spatial arrangement enables flexible teams to work together, merging and dividing according to the stage of a project. At the same time, smaller informal meeting areas are distributed throughout the office – from places for a quick conversation on the move to a shared dining room that serves as a daily social hub. It is a space that not only organises work but also supports its natural flow between teams.
“It has been proven many times that the best ideas emerge during these kinds of informal meetings. We have the opportunity to talk to one another, across different projects, and exchange experiences – in this respect, these shared spaces are invaluable,” Świniarski emphasises.
Hospitality
Openness, the absence of office etiquette and a broadly understood sense of hospitality are among the key principles behind BBGK’s headquarters. The new space at Fredry is also intended as a forum where the studio can discuss architecture, share its knowledge, organise meetings and lectures, and invite partners whose solutions it incorporates into its projects.
The symbol of this idea is the canteen, the heart of the office: at first glance, a shared dining area, but in practice a flexible space that can be transformed into a meeting or lecture room, a place for team gatherings or a recording studio, while retaining its informal, everyday atmosphere. This is where the idea of the office as a setting for dialogue is most fully expressed.
As Bartosz Świniarski points out, in the future the canteen is also intended to serve as a meeting space for external guests – architects, industry representatives, researchers, people from the cultural sector, investors, technology partners and manufacturers with whom BBGK works on a daily basis. “We wanted the office to be a place people are invited to, where conversations about architecture take place. Ultimately, we plan to invite people from outside, organise debates, discussions and project presentations, as well as invite our partners when it comes to product solutions – something that is already happening. We hope this will become a vibrant meeting space,” he says.
It is not only the canteen, but also other office spaces that have been created in collaboration with numerous partners. Deante fittings were used in the kitchen and bathrooms, while the bespoke furniture was made by Kampwood in accordance with BBGK’s design. The built-in elements were crafted from Valchromat MDF, coloured throughout and supplied by Atpol, in colours characteristic of the studio’s projects. The shared areas feature distinctive worktops with a pronounced, coloured texture coordinated with the colours of the fronts, made from Dekton supplied by Bozza. Electrical equipment was supplied by Hager. The carpeting, which creates a sense of softness and domesticity throughout the office, was provided by AxPro Concept. As a result, the office becomes not only a place of work, but also the outcome of a collective effort and a space in which the solutions used by BBGK can be experienced at their best.
Architecture Creates Architecture
“I have always talked about how architecture affects people and the way they experience space. Now that we have moved to Fredry 6, to the former bank, where our office is located in a grand, luxurious pre-war apartment, I have to admit, somewhat to my surprise, just how profoundly this place and its architecture affect me and our entire office. I am now certain that projects created in this new place will be different – whether masterplans, urban projects or architectural designs,” concludes Wojciech Kotecki, partner at BBGK Architekci.
This observation brings the story of BBGK’s move full circle. The new headquarters is not simply a change of address, but a conscious choice of the environment in which projects are created every day. The space in which the studio operates becomes both a tool and a backdrop for design – a place where the experience of Warsaw’s historic architecture meets a vision of its future.
