The project of converting a villa, built in the 19th century, into an office building. The concept involves adapting the existing facility to the office function, building a new pavilion acting as the customer service and redesigning the park surrounding the villa.
For a significant value we found the authenticity of the historic building and its park position. We wanted to clearly suggest architectural interference with the existing context and design a modern object for a modern company PWiK in Gliwice. The features we wanted to emphasize in the project. Yet in case of a traditional form of the villa it is not easy without a significant change in its shape. To avoid this we decided on doing the opposite - instead of changing, we decided to emphasize the historical form by reducing color – to white colour. Therefore everything is white - not only the walls but also the roof and interior details. This caused that the villa is close to an abstract block, almost unreal. This procedure emphasizes the historical value of the building and at the same time communicates the modern concept of remodeling. The contrast with the surrounding park greenery additionally intensifies this effect and together form a surreal fairytale landscape.
Investment plans also include the second phase of the project – building a new office building and linking it to the villa. The newly designed glass block will be elliptical and will be gently complementing the shape of the historical villa and the park meanders. The idea is not to dominate the park and villa - the glass will reflect the environment – it will optically "dematerialize" the new building. The new part will be built in the near future – it is necessary not only for the company but most of all for the residents. It will serve as a customer service area.
