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Golden Terraces, Warsaw

The Jerde Partnership completes a massive mixed-use project in Warsaw.

Sheila Kim-Jamet -- Interior Design, 7/9/2007 9:23:00 AM

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A new 2.75 million-square-foot mixed-use project in Warsaw, Poland, would put American malls to shame. Zlote Tarasy, which translates as "golden terraces," is a shopping and entertainment complex designed by The Jerde Partnership that visually connects indoor and outdoor spaces through a massive glass ceiling. Spanning almost 400 feet, the organically-shaped glass roof features an undulating shape that references the tree canopies of the city's historic parks.

A three-level retail center, housing shops, restaurants, and a multiplex cinema, is formed from terraces, just as the complex's name suggests, that overlook the interior plaza, as well as the open-air park and neighboring Palace of Culture and Science. (A whopping 800,000 square feet of space is devoted to retail and entertainment.) Towers extending upward around the retail center house offices that also offer views. The firm eased circulation by incorporating an interior path connecting the city's existing pedestrian patterns, as well as linking to the Warszawa Centralna train station, and creating entrances all around the project perimeter.

Since its conception, the project has garnered such awards as the "Best of Show" from MAPIC/Plaza Retail Future Project Awards in 2005.

Project credits
Design architect: The Jerde Partnership
Executive architect: Epstein
Structural, acoustic, geotechnical engineer: Arup
Landscape design: EDAW
Signage, environmental graphics: Sussman/Prejza & Company
Lighting consultant: Kaplan, Gehring, McCarroll Lighting
Traffic studies: BPRW
MEP consultant: Tebodin Poland
Cost consultant: Gardiner & Theobald
Daylight consultant: Bartenbach Licht Labor
Project manager: Mace Polska
Skylight contractor: Waagner Biro
General contractor: Skanska