Architecture

Foster + Partners-designed supertall is EU's new tallest skyscraper

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Foster + Partners' recently completed Varso Tower rises to a height of 310 m (1,017 ft) in Warsaw, Poland, making it the European Union's new tallest skyscraper
Aaron Hargreaves/Foster + Partners
Foster + Partners' recently completed Varso Tower rises to a height of 310 m (1,017 ft) in Warsaw, Poland, making it the European Union's new tallest skyscraper
Aaron Hargreaves/Foster + Partners
Varso Tower is part of a larger development named Varso Place in Warsaw
Aaron Hargreaves/Foster + Partners
Varso Tower consists of 54 floors. The skyscraper features a stepped overall form and is topped by a large spire
Aaron Hargreaves/Foster + Partners
Varso Tower features a viewing platform at floor 53. It is the highest inhabited floor in Poland and offers excellent views of Warsaw
Aaron Hargreaves/Foster + Partners
Varso Tower's 49th floor features a landscaped terrace area with a bar that contains trees and greenery, breaking the record for Warsaw’s highest garden
Aaron Hargreaves/Foster + Partners
Varso Tower features a large plaza area enclosed within a glazed screen that contains trees and benches for office workers to enjoy breaks
Aaron Hargreaves/Foster + Partners
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Following five years of construction, the European Union's new tallest skyscraper has been completed in Warsaw. Named Varso Tower, the building was designed by Foster + Partners and rises to an impressive height of 310 m (1,017 ft), and is also home to Poland's highest viewing point.

Varso Tower is part of a larger development in Warsaw by HB Reavis called Varso Place. Structurally, it's built from concrete, glass-reinforced concrete, and has a glazed exterior, with a stepped rectangular form. The building proper is actually230 m (754 ft) in height, but it's topped by a spire measuring 80 m (262 ft), bringing the overall height to 310 m.

Its interior measures roughly 67,000 sq m (721,000 sq ft), spread over 54 floors, and has a capacity for 11,817 people. The available floorspace is mostly given over to office space, though it does contain an enclosed plaza hosting multiple trees and artwork, plus the viewing platform at level 53 that's the highest viewing point in Poland and provides choice views of the city. A landscaped terrace area and bar including 16 trees, is located on floor 49 too.

Varso Tower's 49th floor features a landscaped terrace area with a bar that contains trees and greenery, breaking the record for Warsaw’s highest garden
Aaron Hargreaves/Foster + Partners

The skyscraper has received the BREEAM green building standard for its relative energy efficiency (for a huge concrete skyscraper, that is), and it's finished in high-performance triple-glazed glass, which reduces its solar heat gain, while rainwater is collected to be used for irrigation.

For those unfamiliar with the more complex details of the geographical and political makeup of Europe, Varso Tower is indeed the tallest skyscraper in the European Union, which is a political union of 27 European states, overtaking the previous tallest, Germany's Commerzbank Tower, also by Foster + Partners. However, it's not the tallest skyscraper in the continent of Europe. Russia's Lakhta Center still reigns supreme at a height of 462 m (1,516 ft) in St. Petersburg. Incidentally, even if the UK hadn't voted for Brexit, Varso Tower would still just about scrape in as the tallest skyscraper in the EU because London's Shard has an official height of 309.6 m (1,015 ft) - or a mere 40 cm (15.7 in) shorter.

The project also involved BuroHappold and Epstein, and is the second high-profile skyscraper in recent weeks from Foster + Partners, following the completion of its 50 Hudson Yards in Manhattan, New York City.

Source: Foster + Partners

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3 comments
Robert
"(...) is also home to Poland's highest viewing point.". Will be. Observation deck is not open yet and is scheduled to open in 2023. Also, Poland have some mountains, with at least one observation deck at the top, so there are higher viewing points in Poland.
Jinpa
Space for 11,000 people. Where do they park? Are there enough on-site parking places so all of the occupants who commute in can park on the building's footprint? Or did the developers shuck that obligation off to the municipality, pocketing the profit? It is a universal problem: Build up, but let others pay for the parking-need created by the vertical space.
ReservoirPup
Jinpa@: instead of speaking of how good walking, cycling or public transport to the tower is, you bring up the priorities of the past century. What a pity