Site Specific: Warsaw Central Square

A-A Collective - Warsaw, Poland, 2017-2025

Following the devastating events that befell Warsaw during the Second World War, Poland’s capital was essentially left a rubble-strewn wasteland. It was only through extraordinary efforts that the city was able to return to a semblance of it’s pre-war self in the decades that followed. 1955 was a significant year in the city’s reconstruction as it saw the completion of the Palace of Science and Culture (PiKN), a towering complex of civic amenities ‘gifted’ to the city by the Soviet authorities.

At the foot of the PiKN complex an outsize city ‘square’ named ‘Plac Defilad’ was created, used for mass rallies and military parades. Following the fall of the communist government, several attempts were made to envision a new identity for this urban space but these were never to materialise. This was in part because the future of the square was entangled in the controversies surrounding PiKN itself, which was frequently mooted for demolition in the years following 1989.

In recent years the contested nature of the PiKN complex has been essentially resolved and it has become the central protagonist in a new vision for this area of the centre of Warsaw. New buildings are starting to be built in the ‘no man’s land’ between Warsaw’s urban fabric and the isolated PiKN structure; the first to arrive is the new Museum of Modern Art (MSN) by Thomas Phifer and Partners.

MSN’s minimal elevations avoid the games of ‘look at me’ played by the nearby, logo-covered commercial buildings, and it makes a significant urban contribution simply by reducing the scale of the space between the busy shopping neighbourhood and the previously somewhat-marooned PiKN.

It is into this context that the newly named “Warsaw Square” has appeared, designed by Warsovians A-A Collective working with landscape architects Landscape Practice. While Phifer’s MSN building has forged a connection between the Socialist Realist PiKN and the adjacent shopping streets (via its ‘newness’ and the spectacle of Contemporary Art), the new square has added much needed connections with both the history of the city and the natural world.

The comparative muteness of the MSN building is perhaps echoed in a similar reticence expressed in the design of the new square; this is partly explained by a need to accommodate a hugely varied range and scale of activities within the square but also, perhaps, enables it to avoid becoming yet another ‘spectacle’ in itself. The newly made urban landscape mixes planting with an aura of ‘ruination’ which gently disrupts, but potentially also heals, this highly charged and scrutinised public space.

A-AC The design for Warsaw Central Square Central was the outcome of a two-stage urban-architectural competition organized in 2017 by the City of Warsaw.

The outset was a clear yet demanding challenge: how to create a meaningful public space within the vast, undefined void of Plac Defilad, once the largest square in Europe. The response was to search for a narrative rooted in the history of Warsaw, one that could give the place a distinct identity and a human scale.

Narrative stratification

The concept overlays the various historical layers that shaped the city centre during the 20th century. The first of these is a reconstructed grid of streets, tenement outlines and courtyards, which date from 1939. These were destroyed during the Second World War and form the basis of the geometry of the project. Former streets, such as Zielna, Złota and Wielka, now serve as pedestrian routes paved with granite cobblestones. Building outlines have been transformed into lawns, while courtyards have become a network of small squares and lush gardens.

The second stratum recalls the Warsaw Ghetto Wall of 1940 and has been integrated into the surface as a lasting memorial.

The third stratum revisits the 1950s Plac Defilad, incorporating the restored socialist-realist lamppost, the reconstructed honorary tribune and the Palace of Culture and Science’s upper plaza pavement into the new layout.

Material, use and sustainability

The project combines the archetype of the agora - a mineral, urban square - with that of the park - a green, shaded refuge. This hybrid approach allows the square to host big gatherings like concerts or protests while also mitigating overheating, retaining rainwater, and ensuring everyday comfort for the citizens and visitors of Warsaw.

The square’s design incorporates stone, stabilised gravel and fragments of the old square, as well as lush vegetation. This breaks down the former monumental scale of the square and the palace, creating shaded ’urban living rooms’ and defining a large central space for events.

Nearly one-third of the paving is made from stone salvaged from the original Plac Defilad, linking the site’s history with sustainability principles. Four large underground tanks collect rainwater for irrigating the plants and trees, integrating the square into the city’s infrastructure. The square is self-sufficient in maintaining its ecosystem.

A welcoming, diverse and flexible urban space is created by these layers, which are interwoven with greenery designed in collaboration with Landscape Practice. It is a place for concerts, markets, outdoor exhibitions and everyday leisure, allowing a new perspective on the city’s multilayered past.

NOTES

Many thanks to Martin Marker at A-A Collective for suggesting this post and for his help compiling it.

To see more work by A-A Collective, and for a full list of team credits, visit their website here.

To see more work by Landscape Practice see their website here.

Photography © A-A Collective, Maciej Niemojewski and Jędrzeja Sokołowski.

Posted 18th May 2026.