Grójecka

Thermal Retrofitting 2022 | Renovation and insulation of the residential block facade with ground-floor retail at 53/57 Grójecka Street in Warsaw | Team: Jan Strumiłło, Marta Szczepańska, Jan Jabłoński, Marek Jaxa-Chamiec | Architectural photography by Jędrzej Sokołowski

When it comes to design, we don’t back down from anything. Thermal retrofitting of apartment blocks is a huge topic we’d been passionately debating for a while, so we were thrilled to finally get our hands dirty and see how it works in practice. Luckily, we teamed up with a strong housing community and a sharp board who trusted us to design the new colour scheme and deliver on the energy audit’s goals.
The design was wrapped up in 2022, but the actual build had to wait a few years for funding to clear. Phase one started in early 2026, focusing on the main façade facing the busy Grójecka street. Our goal was to bring back the original cohesion the building had when it was first built in the 1970s, while sprinkling in a few fun details of our own.
We can proudly say the colours we picked sparked some lively discussions, but in effect won applause from the users—and delivered on our promise of a refreshingly non-pastel finish. We decided to capture the “before” phase, so we can fully appreciate the “after”. For now the building works have been completed on the Grójecka street side with the remaining three sides to follow in the near future.