The tower on Z這ta Street designed by Daniel Libeskind will be the highest residential building in Warsaw. Encouraged by developers, the capital's architects are looking up into the sky wondering how to reach it. Recently, Warsaw developers have proposed many residential projects in the form of slim and tall towers. The buildings, most of them around 70 meters high, will considerably change Warsaw's skyline. Many such towers are under construction in the vicinity of Inflancka and Stawki streets. Several skyscrapers have already been constructed here by Echo Investment, Dom Development and other developers, while more buildings are planned by Echo Investment, Eco Classic and Budimex.

The closer to the city center, the higher the buildings. The Wola district, where development activity has been especially intense recently, already has a 100-meter-high Hilton Hotel, and more high-rise residential buildings will constructed there soon. Atlas Estates has started to build Platinum Towers-two 76-meter-high buildings with around 400 apartments. Designed by Piotr Majewski, the buildings will have a form of simple towers with glass and sandstone facades.

Interestingly, it is mainly residential developers that are now interested in constructing high-rise buildings. An Irish development group wants to build such a tower opposite the Hilton Hotel. It will be 84 meters high and accommodate 250 apartments. The residential tower, with asymmetrical facades, has been designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill, the architectural studio known in Warsaw for its design for the Rondo 1 office building. In the vicinity, on a plot once occupied by Wojskowe Zak豉dy Graficzne, Ghelamco will build a complex of several buildings combining office, residential and shopping functions. The highest building with apartments will be constructed at the intersection of Wronia and Grzybowska streets, close to the Hilton. It will be of similar height-around 94 meters. The office building to be constructed at the other side of the plot, at the intersection of Towarowa and ㄆcka streets, will be more than 100 meters high. The remaining buildings will be constructed between these two towers. In all, offices and services will cover more than 70,000 square meters of usable space and apartments more than 50,000 sq m. Ghelamco has big plans associated with the Wola district as it also plans to build a 150-meter-high tower here at the intersection of Towarowa and Prosta streets. The oval tower has been designed by well-known architect Andrzej Cho責zy雟ki. At the other side of Towarowa Street, Ghelamco owns a plot between Kasprzaka and Sienna streets and also wants to build high-rise buildings there. Additionally, Pirelli Pekao RE plans to build a tower at the intersection of Grzybowska and 疾lazna streets, while the Aukett Fitzroy Robinson architectural studio has expressed its interest in developing a plot at the intersection of Wolska and Towarowa streets. The company wants to design a 150-meter tower there.

Skyscraper construction has been concentrated in the Wola district because the previous chief architect of Warsaw decided that such buildings should only be constructed in this part of the city. Meanwhile, with a few exceptions, practically no high-rise projects have been carried out in the city center in recent years.
One of these exceptions is a project that the American company Hines plans to carry out on Twarda Street. Hines is already known in Warsaw as the developer of the award-winning Metropolitan building on Pi連udskiego Square. The developer bought the plot on Twarda Street from the Szalom Foundation, which had already held development conditions for the plot, a permit from the historical building conservator and a design by the Stefan Kury這wicz studio. The tower designed by Kury這wicz was to be 160 meters high (42 stories) with mosaic facades shimmering with colors. It is unclear what the new design will look like. What is known is that the developer is in talks with the architect, and Kury這wicz is expected to cooperate with Hines on the new design.

Dom Development, one of the largest developers on the Warsaw residential market, also plans to construct high-rise buildings. At the end of the year, Dom Development plans to start building a 70-meter-high apartment tower with 17 stories on Grzybowska Street. The construction of the building, designed by the Hermanowicz Rewski studio, will take two years.

Apartments in all these projects are of a high standard, while prices start at zl.10,000 per square meter. This, however, is the lowest range. In the most prestigious building on Z這ta Street, it is impossible to buy an apartment for less than zl.25,000 per square meter.

And how about the office market? For the time being, no impressive projects have been completed. The latest plans include the construction of an office building at Jazdy Polskiej traffic circle. Austrian developer S+B CEE has recently bought the plot from Pirelli Pekao RE. The building will be composed of two parts. The higher one, with 14 stories, will have glass facades and an oval shape. The building, although not very high, will be overlooking the surrounding low houses.

The current municipal authorities are more friendly to high-rise buildings than their predecessors. They are changing the local development plan for the area surrounding the Palace of Culture and Science to enable the construction of skyscrapers along Emilii Plater Street. The construction of high-rise buildings is also allowed by the local development plan for plots along the northern side of Jerozolimskie Avenue to the west of the Warszawa-Centralna railway station. However, skyscrapers must not be built here close to the street but behind the lower buildings, whose height corresponds with the height of the houses at the southern side of Jerozolimskie Avenue. The national postal service, Poczta Polska, is seeking to exploit this opportunity and has recently announced plans to build a high-rise office building in this area on 疾lazna Street. No details have been disclosed yet since Poczta Polska has only started to consider possible options. The media has speculated that the building could be up to 300 meters high-which means it would be the highest building in Poland, higher than the Palace of Culture and Science with its spire.