Gone are the days when Warsaw’s urban landscape garnered the
aesthetic appeal of a shot of vodka on a bare plastic table. Thanks to a
two-decade-old frenetic construction boom, Poland’s capital has gone
from an architectural wasteland to the propitious showpiece of the “New
Europe”.

While a sagging global economy may well impact future projects, the
recent years of relative fast growth have already left an imprint on the
Polish capital.

In the years after World War II, when nearly 90 percent of the
Warsaw’s western end was reduced to rubble, the city was rebuilt to
model a centralized Soviet scheme. Apart from the meticulously
reconstructed Old Town, the communist-style city planning resulted in a
host of somber block-shaped housing structures, the piece de résistance
being the monolithic cake-shaped Palace of Culture and Science, which
still serves as the city’s oddly anachronistic centerpiece.

But rapid economic growth following the systemic changes resulted in a
demand for debonair design that over the past decade triggered an
exciting explosion of new-age structures.

And the world noticed, with tourism being a key beneficiary of the
newly-styled Polish capital. Warsaw Tourist Office and Ipsos figures
reveal the Polish capital registering an all-time high of 9 million
tourist arrivals in 2008, of which 3.5 million were foreign visitors.
This marks a jump of nearly 50 percent in foreign arrivals since
Poland’s integration with the European community four years ago.

Escalating tourist numbers and a new architectural look for the
Polish capital are just the start. An intense construction drive and the
fine-tuning of business tourism infrastructure will keep up the pace of
expansion as this country prepares to co-host the prestigious UEFA euro
soccer championship in 2012. With a state-of-the-art football stadium
and a spate of new towers and residential structures, Warsaw continues
to polish up its image in the eyes of Europe.

Warsaw’s swelling cityscape now boasts a host of sleek skyscrapers,
several high-rise commercial buildings, and a forest of visually
pleasing commercial sites and culinary establishments.

The sea change in Warsaw’s urban fabric began at the cusp of the new
millennium with the completion of the 42-storey Warsaw Trade Tower,
commissioned by Korea’s Daewoo Corporation. Completed in 2000, the
164-meter-high mixed-used tower enjoys the distinction of being the
city’s second tallest building, usurped only by the landmark dubbed
Stalin’s Rocket, another name for the massive Palace of Culture.

Next on the list of high-rise buildings was the InterContinental
Warsaw hotel, erected in 2003 by Austrian developer Warimpex on the
plans of local architect Tadeusz Spychala. Quickly following suit and
also a five-star hotel was the Westin Warsaw, a 20-floor pink brick and
glass edifice with 361 rooms. The Hilton Hotel and Conference Centre, a
glazed 50-million euro complex was finished in 2007, boasting 330 guest
rooms and some two dozen conference facilities, a casino and the city’s
largest fitness and spa center.

Poland’s largest metropolis also saw the development of
state-of-the-art shopping centers and high-concept business buildings
with less cloud-reaching ambitions, but equal architectural pizzazz.
Leading the pack is the ellipsoid-shaped Metropolitan building, standing
at the northern edge of the historic Pilsudskiego Square, the royal
Saxon Gardens and the National Opera House. 

“The aim was to create a thoroughly modern counterpart to the
neighboring historical buildings - matching their height, massing and
materials - without resorting to pastiche,” reads the master plan for
the imposing seven-storey structure that was drawn up by award-winning
British architect Sir Norman Foster and his London-based design firm
Foster and Partners.

Foster partnered with Polish JEMS Architekci, and after long-drawn
negotiations with historians and conservation specialists, the 80
million euro structure was financed by Hines Polska and the Emerging
Market Fund, and was completed in 2003. The result is a bold
architectural statement linking three buildings with a 50-meter diameter
circular courtyard that delivers a jolt of new-age chic with its
glass-and-concrete exterior.

Embodying the essence of new-age design is Warsaw’s latest cathedral
of commerce, the Zlote Tarasy, or Golden Terraces, developed by the ING
Real Estate firm and Los Angeles-based The Jerde Partnership in 2007.

Located right next to the transport hub of Warsaw’s central railway
station the mega mall’s impressive wave-shaped glass dome acts as a
homing beacon for retailers like The Body Shop, the Zara and
Stradivarius clothing chains and the American music-themed Hard Rock
Cafe.

“The greatest architectural challenge was the design of the
undulating glass roof, which is one of the largest in the world with
more than 4,700 individual panes of glass,” explains David Rogers,
senior designer and partner at The Jerde Partnership, who lead the
design team on this spacious conglomerate.

“Each triangular piece of glass was individually made and shaped to
fit into its respective steel slot, similar to assembling an intricate
but fragile puzzle. The shape and style of the undulating glass roof was
inspired by the tree canopies in Warsaw’s historic parks.”

The fast-paced modernization, coupled with the then availability of
capital is credited for the explosive growth in Warsaw’s real estate
development scene. To broaden the scope of interest of in the imminent
architectural landmark, developers have also enlisted the services of
brand-name architects like Daniel Libeskind, the Polish-born American
architect who masterminded New York’s Ground Zero and Berlin’s
contemporary Jewish Museum.

For his hometown, Libeskind has designed Zlota44, a soaring 192-meter
tall condominium to be built in center of Warsaw by 2010. The angular
glass-clad tower, commissioned by the Luxembourg-based Orco Property
Goup, will be home to 251 luxury apartments and a slew of
state-of-the-art amenities, including a 25-meter long indoor pool.

The modernization across Warsaw’s skyline is closely linked to
Poland’s strong economic performance and rising foreign direct
investment over the past decade. In 2007, a study of cross-border
investment flows commissioned by Ernst & Young and the Polish
Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PaIiIz) ranked the country as
the world’s seventh most desired destination for FDI, drawing over 12
billion euro to the capital.

Undoubtedly, the spur in investment in high-profile architectural
projects and the ensuing buzz of business activity has contributed to
turning Warsaw, once again, into a newly-styled business and tourism
destination.