Gdynia Film Centre PL

The Polish city of Gdynia (in German: Gdingen) on the Gdańsk Bay is not just an important port and shipyard location, but also a cultural centre where you can visit many architectural monuments. As a “white city”, “window to the world” and “symbol of the resurrected Poland”, the city experienced its boom between the two world wars by achieving both economic and military importance. As one of the few cities in the world, it was built in the style of modernism from the ground up. The architectural style inspired by Bauhaus can still be noticed in many buildings today. Gdynia has also been home to the Polish film festival since the 1970s. And since 2010, it has also been the location of a renowned film school for training in the subject-matter production. The Gdynia Film School forms the core of the new film centre which was opened in 2015 on the Grunwaldzki Square.

The Gdynia Film Center was awarded "Building of the Year 2015" in Poland.

Greened and walkable areas in front of the Film Center Gdynia

The urban development and greening of Grunwaldzki Square was part of the project. Potential problems with slope water due to the immediately bordering city hill (left in the picture) had to be considered.

In addition to the film school, the new building also integrates a studio cinema, an art gallery focusing on film and cinema, as well as a restaurant and a café. The offer is addressed to both professional filmmakers and cinema-loving amateurs. And with its location in the heart of the city, only a few hundred metres away from the city beach and city harbour, the newly designed site should also become a recreational area offered to all citizens and visitors coming to the city. The fact that the ensemble meets all these requirements and at the same time convinces with its "excellent execution results" is confirmed by the award "Building of the Year 2015" the architectural office ARCH-DECO SP. Z O. O. obtained for this project by the Polish Association of Civil Engineers and Technicians in cooperation with the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure and Development and the General Office for Construction Control.

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Greened and walkable areas in front of the Gdynia Film Center — A high-performance protection and drainage membrane with additional water storage function solved these problems and also got the planting through hot summers. The condition in 2021 shows: The square has been transformed into a much-used green oasis.

The concert shell with integrated gastronomy built as part of the project has become a real hotspot for residents and tourists.

Studiokino des Filmzentrums — The patio area below the film center with its much-used sundeck in the summer.

An essential aspect was the urban development of Grunwaldzki Square and, in this context, the greening of the underground car park created under the square. A particular challenge was the location of the property in the immediate vicinity of the district Kamienna Góra, located on the moraine hill of the same name with the highest point of 52 meters above sea level. For this reason, in particular during the seasons of spring and autumn, an increased amount of surface water is to be expected, which runs down from the hill onto the green areas. To permit a safe dissipation of the said water on the surface and in the sealing level of the green roof structure and the protection of the plants from damaging waterlogging, a high-performance protective and drainage layer must be laid.

In this context, the product DELTA^®-FLORAXX TOP was used as a combined drainage, water storage, and filter layer. This multiple function is made possible by the special shape of the knobs reaching a height of 20 millimetre. They offer a drainage capacity around 10 l/s. m; at the same time, the knobs have a storage capacity up to seven litres of water per square meter. The excess water is drained down through a perforation in the membrane and from there in the sewer network of the knob structure. In this manner, you can reliably prevent waterlogging which may damage plants. The laminated filter fleece permanently prevents the drainage from clogging up.

DELTA®-FLORAXX TOP water storage membrane — The geotextile may be turned back by approx. 10 cm at both membrane edges. In this manner, the 1 or 2 knob rows can be laid well-covered while the overlap may be safely covered again with the filter fleece.

A visit during the summer season of 2021 clearly shows that the use of the railway as a water reservoir and high-performance drainage layer has proven its worth. Neither the hot summer of 2019 nor the rainy autumn and winter months could damage the green areas. The redesigned Grunwaldzki Square has become a green oasis in the middle of the city. And the concert shell with its integrated catering, also built in the context of the project, has become a point of attraction, as has the newly installed cable car to the viewing platform on the Kamienna Góra hill. In this way, a recreational area and a cultural meeting point for the city population and many tourists were created.

Eingesetztes Material

5000 sqm of DELTA^®-FLORAXX TOP serving as a drainage layer and water storage for the greening of the underground car park and the roof area of the film centre
2.000 sqm DELTA^®-EQ DRAIN DRAIN serving as a protective and drainage layer positioned under the accessible area
200 sqm DELTA^®-MS DRAIN serving as a protective and drainage layer positioned under the entrance to the underground car park

Name	Film Centre
Location	Gdynia
Country	Poland
Architect	Architectural office ARCH-DECO SP. Z O. O.
Products	DELTA^®-FLORAXX TOP, DELTA^®-EQ DRAIN, DELTA^®-MS DRAIN

Big cinema

Eingesetztes Material