Highest quality and maximum comfort are the hallmarks of a new real estate complex directly at Warsaw's main railway station. For this, the three buildings have already been awarded the BREEAM certificate "Outstanding" and the WELL Building Standard.
The Varso Tower, designed by the London architectural firm Foster + Partners, and the two high-rise buildings Varso I and Varso II, penned by Warsaw-based Hermanowicz Rewski Architekci, are so far the only buildings in Poland to have achieved such a high level of certification.
Swisspacer Vetrotech Saint-Gobain
Representative architecture in the station district
With its 53 storeys and a height of 310 m to the top of the tower, the Varso Tower is already the tallest building in Poland and one of the tallest skyscrapers in Europe. At a height of 205 m and at 230 m, two public viewing platforms offer a unique view over the city.
Connected by a glass lobby, the Varso 1 and Varso 2 buildings form an architectural and functional unit with the Varso Tower. The 90 and 81 m high glass towers rise on a cascading podium with a stone facade that echoes the neighbouring buildings in the city centre.
[A glass roof for the motorway in Warsaw]
Despite their contemporary character, the lower floors fit into the 19th century urban fabric in their dimensions and in the style of the facade. Intricately designed windows with glass on two levels are arranged between large limestone slabs.
Comprehensively certified buildings and facades
Swisspacer Vetrotech Saint-Gobain
Another key objective of the project is to provide a high level of comfort, giving all occupants a sense of wholesome, energy efficiency and safety. This is confirmed by the positive certifications from BREEAM and WELL.
Like BREEAM International New Construction, the WELL Building Standard of the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) places very high value on the health and well-being of building users, which must be demonstrated in categories ranging from light and air quality to thermal comfort and the environmental compatibility of building materials.
[Swisspacer under new management]
To achieve Varso Place's outstanding certification levels, great care was taken with material quality. Thanks to the EPDs now available, Swisspacer products will in future be even more suitable for buildings that are to be certified according to WELL or BREEAM.
Optimised Swisspacer for the glass facades
Swisspacer Vetrotech Saint-Gobain
Even at the planning stage of the Varso I glass facades, attention was paid to achieving optimum daylight gain and thermal comfort at the same time. The corresponding parameters are guaranteed by the use of the Cool-Lite SKN 176 II solar control glass from Saint-Gobain Glassolutions with the Swisspacer Ultimate spacer in triple glazing.
The special coating of the highly selective solar control glass ensures optimised illumination of the interior with daylight and a neutral colour tone when looking out. The Swisspacer Ultimate spacer has a very low thermal conductivity (lambda value) at the insulating glass edge. It stands for excellent Psi values and ensures a correspondingly low heat transfer coefficient (U value) for windows and facades.
This makes Swisspacer Ultimate one of the best warm edge spacers worldwide according to ift guideline WA-17/1 & WA-08/3.
[Joint study by Dow and Swisspacer: Warm Edge IG units at the highest level]
During the material testing for the Varso project, the technical aspects were supplemented by additional thermal calculations, which were carried out together with the system suppliers, the glass manufacturer Saint-Gobain Glassolutions and the architects.
The aesthetic aspects were also addressed. The triple glazing with the black matt Swisspacer Ultimate spacer optimally complemented the matt colour of the window construction. Thus the decision was made in favour of Swisspacer.
Swisspacer Vetrotech Saint-Gobain
