A beautiful gift for a 50th birthday. House of Books like new

This view has been surprising everyone who walks through the center of Poznań since November. Even the designers themselves. – I was driving along Mielżyńskiego Street to the construction site and as I was leaving Cyryla Ratajski Square, I looked up and saw the scaffolding and mesh removed from the facade. The crews didn't have time to tell me this. To be honest – I didn't expect such an effect – says Joanna Janowicz from Constructa Plus.

It is to this company that the Book House, built in the early 1970s, owes its restoration to its former glory.

What may be shocking – it's not a new façade, but an old, cleaned one. – It has been completed, we had to burn new tiles and fill in the gaps. Some of them were so damaged that we had to remove them completely, he explains.

The new owners asked for the façade to be entered into the municipal register of monuments. This is quite a rare move – letters are usually sent asking to be removed from such a list. – We are not immortal. One day, this building may change its owner and we wanted its external appearance to be preserved – he explains.

The façade was damaged mainly by the structure's mountings, on which for years giant advertisements had hung, almost completely covering the building. – Removing them was our first decision after purchasing the building. We absolutely disagree with hanging advertisements on the facade, we believe that it is simply destroying the space. The building is not a big advertising banner, says Janowicz.

Not only the refreshed façade is impressive, but also the coffers with the words “books” in several languages. – They have been recreated with the same lettering as in the 1970s. This is not a ready-made font, just hand-made lettering that we tried to reproduce. The only difference is that originally the light boxes were illuminated in white. Now they can be illuminated with different colors – says Piotr Heinze, whose company recreated the light boxes on the building's facade and, above all, renewed the neon sign on its roof.

– When the investors reached us, they couldn't believe that I was the construction manager in 1974 and that I built the neon sign myself, which we now have to reactivate – Heinze laughs.

The neon structure has been preserved. – The letters are made of zinc sheet, so it does not rust. The structure inside is steel, he says.

In the autumn weather, his employees and he himself were working on the roof of the Book House, where they were measuring out all the letters one by one. – The glass had to be made again. Fifty years ago I drew it by hand, now I made these drawings on the computer. The entire installation was also replaced, says Heinze.

There are also plans to move the tall antennas located on the building. – Technology has advanced since their installation. Now, in their place, there will be much smaller ones that will not be visible from the front – explains Janowicz.

The neon sign is now ready. – We checked that it was lit and waiting for the building to open – says Heinze. This is scheduled for April 23, 2025.

Then books will return to the House of Books – on the ground floor there will be the popular Bookowski bookstore in Poznań. – It will also be a place where you can eat something good, and in the second part of the day, you can drink a glass of wine – says Janowicz. – We also want culture to come to this place, we will organize meetings with authors, the House of Books is to be a space for discussing socially difficult issues – he adds.

The next five floors will be occupied by apartments. There will be a total of 40 of them.

– The first concept we had was for apartments for short-term rental. We have never done this as investors, and we do not want to sell this building, we just want to remain its owner. We came to the conclusion that only if people live here permanently, this building will live, and with it the city center – he explains.

Arranging the interior was quite a challenge for the architects. The building has a strip of windows on each floor.

We wanted not to lose the view of 27 Grudnia Street, because we have a very nice view there, from the first floor. We managed to find a solution to divide this space, says Janowicz.

In the apartments, there are sliding doors next to the windows, hidden behind the wall. All this so you can sit in the living room or bedroom and enjoy the view of the city

The second part of the apartments will have windows overlooking the courtyard. They will be located in the added part of the building. It is one storey lower, and on its roof there will be a terrace for residents with a view of the Imperial Castle. Each apartment on this side will have a balcony.

The courtyard itself is also undergoing a metamorphosis and – importantly – it will be open to the public. – We are removing the gate that was to the House of Books. We know that Poznań residents like to walk in such courtyards, says Janowicz.

There will be a mural on the wall of the neighboring building from the courtyard side, the design of which was announced in a competition in December.

From the courtyard side, you will also be able to enter the café and floor -1. Here – as Janowicz assures – there will be a room intended “for non-governmental organizations and social economy entities.” – This will be a place where about 40 people will be able to meet. You will be able to sit there and talk, we plan to organize various types of workshops and discussion panels – explains Janowicz.

The host of this space will be the Dom Książki Foundation established by the investor – We are currently cooperating with the Raczyński Library on various events, they are taking place there because we do not have a place yet – he says.

Inside, a small part of the original interior was preserved. – In part of the staircase, stoneware tiles were glued to the terrazzo. But we made an attempt to save this terrazzo. We also have a preserved floor, the so-called wild floor, which has been sanded – says Janowicz.

We also managed to restore the original color of the windows on the ground floor.

– Professor Marciniak wanted to determine the original color of the window joinery on the ground floor. We discovered, among others: navy blue color, which was not entirely our favorite. At the end, however, a brown, very chocolate layer appeared – says Janowicz.

The Litoborski+Marciniak studio is responsible for the project. – From the outside it looks very good, just as it looked originally. Much respect for the decision to restore these inscriptions and neon. This building very well closed the perspective of the street in 1975 as one of the last elements of these modern additions to the post-war buildings. Earlier, Okrąglak was established, then Domar. The building largely adheres to the principles of Le Corbusier's modernist architecture, i.e. the ground floor is half openwork, airy, leading deep into the plot, striped window arrangements, simplicity – says Jakub Głaz, an architecture critic.

As he admits, he was a bit surprised by the scale of buildings deep inside the plot. – It probably wouldn't have hurt financially if it hadn't been done. Is it good and done sensitively? I don't know, I would have to see what is inside to assess what it is derived from – he adds.

He is also pleased with the announcement that there will be large apartments for rent, not micro-apartments. – This is good because the building will accommodate the optimal number of people, in my opinion, and not an excess number, which will then generate problems related to transport or other issues related to living in the center – he points out.

The building on Gwarna Street, built in 1975, is one of the most interesting examples of Poznań modernism. – This is one of the two buildings in Poznań that best meets the five principles of modern architecture formulated by Le Corbusier, the co-founder of modernism – explained Prof. Piotr Marciniak, co-author of the architectural design, expert in contemporary architecture and academic lecturer.

The seven-story, reinforced concrete Book House was built in the place where a tenement house stood before the war, partially destroyed during the war. After the war, at the then ul. At Lampego 13, the Children's Home was first established – this is what children's stores were called at that time. However, this building was demolished and a future bookstore was designed in its place. Its construction was part of a very broad project of rebuilding the center of Poznań according to plans from the 1960s. The Book House is therefore part of the same urban layout as Okrąglak and the one located at ul. December 27, the Domar building.

The authors of the original design of the Book House were Bogdan Bednarek and Zygmunt Łomski. The bookstore in Poznań was one of the most modern in the country.

Constructa Plus already has experience in conducting revitalization projects. On her initiative, the Żelazko tenement house at ul. Ogrodowa in Poznań, one of the most characteristic buildings of the Poznań Old Town.