The OVO Wroclaw is a landmark edifice spearheading a revolution in urban Polish design. Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture won the commission following an international competition and in 2008, their blueprint won the MIPIM Future Projects Award for Retail & Leisure.
The OVO Wroclaw creates a new vision of urban living that unites 180 luxury residences, a five-star DoubleTree by Hilton with 189 rooms and suites, corporate offices with high-end retail spaces within a modern and sleek rounded exterior that seamlessly blends the curved lines of the building with a stylish minimalism that typifies the interior spaces.
The amorphic design that was envisioned required alternative building techniques in order to be properly realized. After considering various options, Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture chose to clad the building in Corian panels. According to Asaf Gottesman, the particular form of the building is a result of the traditional urban guidelines of the city of Wroclaw and the desire to envelop the diverse set of spatial requirements within a unified skin. Asaf Gottesman comments: “Designing the OVO was a group undertaking, a process of research that required several members of the practice to contribute from their accumulated experience, technical skills and emotional and intellectual sensibility. To varying degrees, OVO Wroclaw is a sculpture, an expression of culture, a manifestation of optimism, a functional and efficient building, a social and cultural gener...