Completed in May 2013, the Infosys Green Horizon office building in Łódź has been featured in a comic book showcased in the recently-opened Łódź Comic Centre.

This is the way Skanska Property Poland, the building’s developer, has decided to preserve the fascinating history of the Green Horizon site for posterity, which has also been immortalized in some of the architectural elements of the building.

Abram Ajzyk Piaskowski opened his Factory of Wool Scarves, Textiles and Silk Goods in 1924 on Pomorska Street in Łódź, right next to the Solidarności Roundabout, as it is now called. The factory had a workforce of 220 and was equipped with 100 handlooms and 10 mechanical looms that were state-of-the-art in their time. Its textiles and ready-made goods were sold both on the Polish market and abroad. Piaskowski’s factory closed down in 1939 when the Second World War broke out and the owner was forced to escape abroad with his family to save his life. The factory was nationalized after the war and became the North-Łódź Textile Industry Plant, which was closed down in the late 1990s, as was most of the textile factories in Łódź. The remaining ruins of the buildings were demolished in 2009.

The Swedish developer Skanska decided to preserve the industrial traditions of the location and commissioned an expert study on the history and architecture of the former Piaskowski plant from architectural historians Hanna Jung-Migdalska and Xenia Modrzejewska-Mrozowska. The results were incorporated into elements of the final designs of the building as a testament to the industrial past of the Green Horizon site. One of the manifestations of this is the building’s very original visual signage system, which enables easy navigation of the premises. The walls next to the entrances on the ground floor are decorated with graphic motifs, depicting the buildings of the former factory, its name in the original lettering, official document headings and official stamps from the period.  

“Its textile industry heritage makes Łódź a veritable treasure trove of interesting architecture where a number of skillfully renovated former factory buildings can be found. Green Horizon is a different case; we purchased  just an empty plot of land with no buildings on it. However, we gave ourselves the opportunity to dig into the history of the site and we decided to present it in our modern office building,” says Waldemar Olbryk, President of Skanska Property Poland. “We are fortunate to work with people who are passionate about what they do, and it was their ideas that inspired us to incorporate elements reminiscent of the Piaskowski factory in the building’s design, and later on to tell this story in comic book form. This idea makes it possible to pass on local lore in a modern form, which I am sure will have partciular appeal for Łódź’s younger residents working in our office building and from the rest of the city,” added Mr Olbryk.

"Architecture always emerges from a defined context. This context is not only its geological surroundings, the lay of the land, the landscape and neighbouring buildings, but its history too,” says the architect Przemo Łukasik from the Medusa Group, which designed the office building. ”It was decided at the very beginning of the project that the designs to be developed for Skanska would contribute to preserving the history of the former Piaskowski factory at least in part, making it accessible to users of the building and the public space surrounding it, as well as passers-by. We agreed with the developer that  the history of the site of this new building should be respected and preserved. For this reason we employed a number of different means to ensure that these memories do not fade away, to preserve them for posterity and build a bridge between the past and the present,” added Mr Łukasik.

Display boards with information about the history of the factory were installed in the patio and outside the building. They draw the attention of passers-by and encourage them to discover the post-industrial heritage of the site. Some elements in the patio pavement are also a reminder of the original factory floor. 30 cast iron plates originating from the old factory have also been incorporated in the patio and the pavement surrounding the complex.

Following the construction of Green Horizon, a fascinating comic book has now been made at the initiative of Skanska Property Poland and a group of Łódź artists. It focuses on the history of the old Piaskowski factory and what happened next on the site where it used to stand. Several copies of the comic book are being displayed in the Łódź Comic Centre, which was opened recently.  

In approaching new projects Skanska always goes to great lengths to make its office buildings something more than just buildings. The well-being of the users of Skanska’s office buildings users is a top priority, and not only in terms of health. The right temperature and air quality inside the offices, user-friendly interior design and workspace arrangement, green spaces and patios are also extremely important, helping to make employees feel good in their work and providing opportunities to take their breaks in a pleasant setting. At the same time it is also very important to ensure that a building fits in with its surroundings. References to the industrial past of Łódź has made Green Horizon a unique business location that encourages its users to engage and identify themselves with their workplace.  

skanska.pl