ME-WLKP - The Aluminum Leader Rides The Waves of Popularity in Poland
Submitted by: DATA Lab
2013-09-19 00:01:42
For a country deeply immersed in the Communist past, this is a huge leap forward. However, it's becoming increasingly commonplace among Polish designers to build structures that remind Western patterns.
(OPENPRESS) Taking a trip 20 years back in time, the landscape of Poland appears gloomy. Tons of concrete all over the place with structures that looked extremely miserable. And even though the term concrete jungle was coined on the other side of the ocean, Communist architecture was one-of-a-kind in terms of being ugly. However, the wind of change brought along by the fall of the Soviet regime in that country has caused some changes in the country's architecture. From that moment on, out of a sudden, Polish landscape started getting more and more appealing. Skyscrapers sprouted all around the land, becoming a natural part of Polish architecture.
In Poland it is mostly private funds that are used for creative designing. Unlike it is the case in most other countries, the finest pieces of architecture are usually shopping centres or airports. As Polish media have observed, it's been only a very recent trend for public utility places to look well. One of the basic examples was the University of Warsaw's Neofilology Department.
How does that work? This country's constructions are mostly based on aluminum boards. This shouldn't come as a surprise since composite materials like that are truly easy to form. Plus to that, materials of this sort are extremely durable. In fact, it is their construction that made it possible. Every piece of board contains a core that is surrounded by two aluminum pieces. Thanks to that, they are able to withstand water and fire, as well as give perfect thermal and acoustic isolation.
Most of the constructions mentioned above were designed by ME-WLKP. This Poznan-based company is one of the leaders of the architectural market in Poland. Since its foundation in 1999, ME-WLKP has designed and built numerous buildings all over the country. The highlights include Lublin Plaza, Wroclaw Airport and Malta Aquapark. ME-WLKP is a member of various metal engineering associations. For this reason, they were assigned to build Rotterdam Railway Station or City Council in Mandala, Belgium.
