A POST-INDUSTRIAL HOUSING COMPLEX

Faktoria Młyn is a housing complex with residential and mixed-use buildings designed in place of an old mill that has been a symbol of local enterpreneurship untill the XXth century. Nowadays, it has been transformed into a place full of life, surrounded by the blooming nature.
It is located in a peaceful neighbourhood in Cracow, Poland, where future residents would live among the blissful nature. Faktoria Młyn is an excellent example of refurbishment of a post-industrial site that simultaneously respects the history of the place and improves its general reappearance in the urban tissue. Preservation of the majority of greenery helped to minimise a heat island that usually develops when natural landscapes are replaced with concrete structures.

Post-industrial character of the place encouraged the architects to embody the idea of steampunk design. An unique place was created by combining the blissful natural surroundings and the roughness of the used materials as a distinguishing feature of an industrial style. Both exterior and interior design correspond with each other. Biophilic design is present not only on the outside, but also inside the carefully planned common areas.
The housing complex consists of three buildings individually designed to meet the needs of future residents.

B1+B2 Building (Grain Mill) is a five-storey mixed-use building built in place of an old grain mill. It houses 39 apartments, 4 commercial units, intimate gym and reading room for residents only. An unique appearance of the building is guaranteed by the preservation of an old smokestack, once used by the mill. Due to preservationist’s guidelines the mill’s remains have been composed into the tissue of a new building, creating a symbolic connection between past and future. Apartments on the top floor provide spacious terraces overlooking the greenery. Architects created both intimate and comfortable environment for living among the calming splashes