;
;
Designing desirable retail experiences while embracing sustainability - and keeping operations running - is the driving force behind the refurbishment of Warsaw’s Atrium Promenada mall, one of the most lively shopping destinations in the city.
Client comfort, together with energy optimisation and cost control inform this refurbishment project, which is playing a role in the fast-track revitalisation of Warsaw’s up-and-coming Praga district. Shopping centre developer Atrium, which has an extensive portfolio of malls across central and eastern Europe, appointed Arup to provide the concept, building and tender designs for the extensive retrofit, designed to give an energy-efficient, sleek upgrade to the 20-year-old shopping gallery.
Arup has been involved from the earlier stages of the project, which began in 2015. Our building design consultants and engineers have worked to create a sense of quality and comfort throughout by means of an award-nominated Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) solution.
We are also providing site supervision of all mechanical, electric and public health installations for the reconstruction and enlargement of Atrium Promenada. With the first stage of the mall’s redevelopment finalised, work is currently underway on the new wing, earmarked for completion in 2022.
Project Summary
260 stores
90,000m²total area
2022completion date
Future-proofing Atrium Promenada: creating a covetable, sustainable shopping destination
Designed to provide an exciting, contemporary shopping experience, the Atrium Promenada refurbishment strategy focused on indoor thermal comfort, fresh air inflows and the design of adaptable lighting. Our building engineers and consultants provided a range of energy-saving solutions, including an innovative HVAC system which received a nomination for the Pascal 2019 Awards by the Polish Ventilation Association for sustainable, technical advances in building design.
To account for the huge changes in occupancy - as the number of shoppers fluctuates during the course of any one given day - all Atrium Promenada stores feature a variable air volume (VAV) ventilation system managed automatically by CO² sensors. This reduces the amount of energy needed to power ventilators, heaters and coolers.
The ventilation system uses the heat waste produced by air conditioning to warm up the ventilation air, which significantly decreases the overall energy use and reduces the demand pressures on the municipal network.
Beyond these nearly invisible solutions to enhance the shopping journey, our engineers worked on the installation of other eye-catching elements including Poland’s first interactive fountain, where falling water forms into words. More playfully, we also created the connection design of a ‘pixel river’, an underfoot LED screen display featuring realistic underwater animations.
“Arup delivers MEP design services which facilitate refurbishment of existing building and its further extension having in mind our needs and business priorities. ” Ronen Goldberg Project Director, Atrium Poland Real Estate Management
How do you retrofit a shopping mall while continuing operations?
The single biggest overriding challenge in this project was that the refurbishment work had to be undertaken while ensuring the mall remained fully operational - and open for shoppers every day.
Arup’s engineers and consultants worked together with all of the stakeholders to ensure the works were nearly unnoticeable to shoppers and the general users at Atrium Promenada.
One of the strategies included the relocating of all the retail units in one of the affected wings to another area, while a lot of the work also took place at night to avoid disruption during working hours.
