Solna 6 / JEMS Architects

Architects: JEMS Architects
Area: 7,620 m²
Year: 2025
Photography: Marysia Kot
Customer: OKRE DEVELOPMENT
City: Poznań
Country: Poland

Solna 6 residential complex, designed by JEMS Architects in Poznań, establishes a close connection between built form, historical memory, and natural surroundings near a 16th-century Carmelite monastery. Completed in 2025, the design rejects rigid geometry in favor of soft, curving volumes that weave between mature trees. A double concrete wall system enables thermal inertia while avoiding typical insulation layers. Reduced density, green roofs, and minimal ground disruption enhance ecological balance. Interiors follow the facade’s logic, creating enfilade-like spatial arrangements with panoramic views. The project maintains continuity with its setting through spatial restraint and material depth.

Set at the base of St. Adalbert Hill, the Solna 6 residential complex holds a layered cultural presence shaped by centuries of monastic occupation and unmaintained gardens once enclosed by cloisters. JEMS Architects responded to this dormant context by placing two buildings around loosely defined courtyards that offer spatial permeability rather than enclosure. Each courtyard opens toward a different condition. One facing the urban avenue, the other toward the monastery slope, allowing the layout to mediate between civic and contemplative landscapes. The facades were conceived as textured planes that capture light and shadow, reinforcing a sense of temporal change. The planning avoids symmetry and axiality, allowing the architecture to register subtle shifts in topography and use.

One courtyard opens toward a tree-lined urban avenue while the other faces the embankment leading up to the monastery. These orientations influenced the buildings’ placement and internal organization. The facades function as responsive surfaces that display shadow patterns cast by the canopy above. Free from orthogonal constraints, the buildings adopt a flowing geometry that integrates into the natural environment and avoids visual imposition.

The exterior envelope is constructed from a two-layer concrete system with varying material densities and no typical insulation-only core. Covered with thick, muted plaster in warm tones, the walls retain heat during the day and release it slowly at night, creating stable interior temperatures with minimal mechanical support. Deeply recessed windows and continuous concrete sills add dimensional depth while reinforcing facade rhythm and thermal performance.

Architect Dominik Wroński noted that the intention was to achieve a heavy, almost primitive surface with a visibly irregular grain that resonates with the site’s natural textures and historical background. This aesthetic preference for imperfection required technical precision to ensure the wall remained both watertight and structurally durable. The expressive treatment of the facade became an essential part of the building’s architectural identity.

The same structural logic continues inside. Apartments feature interconnected spatial sequences with loggias acting as outdoor extensions. Floor plans often resemble enfilades, where rooms align along sightlines to capture changing light and framed views. Unit sizes vary between 45 and 160 square meters and maintain spatial openness through deliberate room arrangements and controlled visual connections to the landscape. Large windows are designed not only for illumination but also for framing specific aspects of the surroundings, such as tree canopies, distant monastery walls, and the adjacent avenue.

Finishes in shared areas were chosen to complement the project’s natural and tactile qualities. Wooden handrails, terrazzo floors, and ceramic wall panels support the understated material palette. The external balustrades, described by architect Maciej Miłobędzki as filigree-like and intricate, contrast with the building’s mass and carry the same geometry found throughout the design, down to the smallest details. Entrance lobbies and stairwells feature wooden reliefs by Tomasz Trzupek, an architect and painter. These sculptural works draw from the project’s structural language and were integrated early in the design process.

Landscape design preserved the untamed character of the former monastery garden. Instead of imposing geometric order, the architects retained the spontaneous growth and natural disarray of the site. Stone paving was installed with open joints to allow vegetation to return between the stones. According to Miłobędzki, the goal was to maintain the quiet, mysterious feeling that defined the site before construction began.

Environmental strategies were embedded across the project. Green roofs manage rainwater and support biodiversity. The thermally massive concrete shell moderates indoor temperatures naturally. Underground garages were reduced in scale and impact, with new trees planted directly into native soil, giving them the potential to mature in the same way as the existing canopy. These measures aligned with the design’s ecological priorities and minimized long-term disruption to the site’s biological systems.

Although local regulations permitted higher building density, both the architects and the client chose to limit development to preserve open space and strengthen the project’s connection to the natural and historical fabric. This decision reflects an architectural approach rooted in restraint, contextual awareness, and material clarity. Solna 6 avoids monumentality and instead engages in a careful dialogue with its surroundings, offering a rare example of residential architecture that values continuity, subtlety, and permanence over visibility and scale.