M. Kowalski Torun
Architettura, Interni
This project carries an unusual professional provenance: Marcin Kowalski was Rise.Design's fire protection consultant and technical subcontractor across multiple projects before becoming a client himself. When he commissioned the fit-out of his own building on Rynek Nowomiejski and Szpitalna street in Torun's historic centre, his direct knowledge of the studio's standards made him an unusually informed client — and the commission a mark of professional credibility that client referrals rarely achieve.
The brief united two distinct programmes within the same historic building: a 96.25 square metre branded corporate headquarters for A3F Ochrona Przeciwpozarowa — Kowalski's fire safety company — and two compact urban apartments totalling approximately 76 square metres. The building's authentic fabric, exposed brick walls, deep timber structural posts, and robust masonry window reveals, was treated as the project's primary architectural asset rather than a constraint to be concealed. The January 2023 site survey confirmed the stripping of previous finishes, revealing the raw building stock that the design would celebrate.
The design philosophy was built around three principles: clarity, warmth, and longevity. Clarity through the glazed partition strategy that floods the office with borrowed light and creates visual transparency across the floor plate. Warmth through the walnut veneer surfaces — doors, storage, and corridor panels — that prevent the otherwise monochromatic palette from feeling sterile. Longevity through a material discipline that ages well: exposed brick sealed rather than plastered over, black metal that sharpens rather than dates, and wood tones that deepen with time. The renovation scope, documented across the January and July 2023 site photo sets, included new metal stud partitions, suspended ceiling installation, brick impregnation, and complete sanitary and electrical installations — a full fit-out of a stripped shell.
The office programme occupies the building with a language of transparency and industrial restraint: black steel and glass partitions separate the conference room and two private offices from the open workspace, while dark suspended ceilings establish zone identity and the A3F brand is integrated through a backlit signage lightbox. The wall colour palette is controlled and precise: a maritime blue accent at the bathroom tile level — deep and saturating against the white upper walls — connects to the A3F brand's heritage of reliability, while the steel profiles throughout are powder-coated in jet black for graphic precision. Walls in the open office zones read in a hybrid maritime blue at dado height, with cream above. Three layout variants (UO1 through UO3) were developed before the final office configuration was settled, and a 10-page technical drawing set alongside 27 pages of visualisation record the outcome.
The two apartments take the same heritage fabric — the same brick, the same timber beams — and achieve a warmer domestic register. Exposed brick reads as an accent wall rather than a raw structure. Laminate panels and warm oak flooring introduce softness. Terrazzo tile bathrooms with matte black fixtures maintain the industrial vocabulary without abandoning residential comfort. Both units, at 28 and approximately 47 square metres respectively, were also presented through a 24-page apartment marketing brochure, positioning them as compact urban rental product in Torun's historic core.
Six custom joinery detail sheets (M1 through M6) document the bespoke furniture elements that bridge the office and apartment programmes — built-in wardrobes, headboard walls, kitchen cabinetry — with a consistency of material language that gives the entire 172 square metre project its coherence despite the dual-use brief.
Design ran from January through April 2023; construction progress was recorded on site in July 2023. The project was confirmed built. Looking through an apartment window at the medieval church tower of Rynek Nowomiejski, the continuity between the historic townscape and the interior's authentic heritage materials is complete: the design does not try to escape its context but deepens it.
