Architectural classification of downtown riverfront buildings in Poland

Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, Akademicka 2A, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland

^* Corresponding author: elzbieta.latusek@polsl.pl

Abstract

Scientists from all over the world have been warning about global warming, thawing of glaciers and rising levels of ocean waters. In recent years, there have also been many floods on a large scale in Europe. Meanwhile, more and more buildings are being built on the waterfront areas. Urban development is coming closer and closer to the water, whereas the water ‘is getting closer’ to us. Many architects believe that we must prepare ourselves for the new reality, that is why the downtown riverfront architecture is gaining more and more importance. Around the world, there are a lot of plans of transforming the waterfront land development. Many architectural bureaus, such as Bjarke Ingels Group or Snohetta, create so many designs related to vast urban waterfront areas that they are beginning to specialize in this subject. Many factors contribute to the quality of good riverfront architecture. In order to notice its qualities, one should pay closer attention to the morphology of space, involving a broad analysis and classification of basic spatial forms. In the preparatory phase of the paper, the researchers came across graphic schemes, appearing in many books and publications, presenting the silhouette of the riverfront building development in cities, but only in terms of urban planning. Contemporary subject literature does not provide enough information on the classification of downtown riverfront buildings seen from an architectural angle. That is why the research problem discussed in this article is concerned with the classification and evaluation of downtown riverfront buildings. This study encompasses the classification of downtown riverfront buildings on an architectural scale – falling between urban planning and single examples of buildings usually described by means of a case-study method. The research was divided into worldwide classification and the national classification encompassing Poland. The analyses on a global scale concentrated on characteristic repeatable building bodies designed by architects all over the world. The classification of architectural objects built in Poland focused on the following aspects: location of the buildings in relation to the river, their characteristic functions or the axiom of the building solids. During the analysis of Polish riverfront buildings, the researchers noticed that many remarkable concepts are continually created, such as ‘periscopes’. These are ideas worth subjecting to further analysis in order to promote the designing of interesting buildings in the downtown riverfront areas.