CAM Wawer

Main ideas of the design concept:

Openness
We wanted the Intergenerational Activity Center (CAM) to be a place that activates and socially integrates different age groups of residents. For that purpose, we designed accessible spaces between the buildings – community gardens for families and friends to meet in an unrestricted and friendly way. Halls of individual buildings can be accessed from these open areas.

Space
We wanted staying at CAM to resemble being in an intimate holiday home. The interiors are decorated in light muted colors. A clear layout makes it easy to move around and orient oneself in the space. We placed the clubhouse, dining rooms and nursery on the first floor to make better use of the garden and encourage users to spend time on outdoor terraces and squares.

Intimacy
Classrooms and studios located upstairs are connected by a covered terrace that constitutes an attractive place for activities or simple relaxation. A full balustrade with small clearances provides a sense of intimacy and security. Most importantly, the terrace encourages people to go outside and take a breath of fresh air, without having to leave the building.

In touch with nature
CAM’s most important rooms open onto the gardens and forest square. The outdoor space has been landscaped to encourage group activities on the one hand, and to provide intimate resting places on the other. The area is complimented by two themed cultivated and flower gardens. We located the playground to the south and southwest, so that the noise of play would not tire other visitors.

Identity
We wanted the outside of the buildings to encourage their users with its expression and mood to be active, but also conducive to leisure and recreation. That’s why we proposed formal and material solutions associated with the leisure architecture of the “Świdermajer” style also found elsewhere in the Wawer district. These increasingly appreciated historical buildings, characteristic of the green districts of Warsaw, have many effective solutions that appeal to both the elderly and children, namely terraces, openness to greenery, and skillful use of wood. We tried to draw on these very elements, but also to capture a certain atmosphere, such as materiality, smell and warmth of wood and its decorations. At the same time, CAM buildings constitute contemporary architecture that builds a relationship with the user without the ambition to surprise them with showy modernity.

Main ideas of the design concept:

Openness
We wanted the Intergenerational Activity Center (CAM) to be a place that activates and socially integrates different age groups of residents. For that purpose, we designed accessible spaces between the buildings – community gardens for families and friends to meet in an unrestricted and friendly way. Halls of individual buildings can be accessed from these open areas.

Space
We wanted staying at CAM to resemble being in an intimate holiday home. The interiors are decorated in light muted colors. A clear layout makes it easy to move around and orient oneself in the space. We placed the clubhouse, dining rooms and nursery on the first floor to make better use of the garden and encourage users to spend time on outdoor terraces and squares.

Intimacy
Classrooms and studios located upstairs are connected by a covered terrace that constitutes an attractive place for activities or simple relaxation. A full balustrade with small clearances provides a sense of intimacy and security. Most importantly, the terrace encourages people to go outside and take a breath of fresh air, without having to leave the building.

In touch with nature
CAM’s most important rooms open onto the gardens and forest square. The outdoor space has been landscaped to encourage group activities on the one hand, and to provide intimate resting places on the other. The area is complimented by two themed cultivated and flower gardens. We located the playground to the south and southwest, so that the noise of play would not tire other visitors.

Identity
We wanted the outside of the buildings to encourage their users with its expression and mood to be active, but also conducive to leisure and recreation. That’s why we proposed formal and material solutions associated with the leisure architecture of the “Świdermajer” style also found elsewhere in the Wawer district. These increasingly appreciated historical buildings, characteristic of the green districts of Warsaw, have many effective solutions that appeal to both the elderly and children, namely terraces, openness to greenery, and skillful use of wood. We tried to draw on these very elements, but also to capture a certain atmosphere, such as materiality, smell and warmth of wood and its decorations. At the same time, CAM buildings constitute contemporary architecture that builds a relationship with the user without the ambition to surprise them with showy modernity.