Opening the Gates: The Polish Schools Built to Be Community Hubs

05_karola_musiola_opole_szkola_ac.jpg, default, Karol Musioł Public Primary School No. 5 with Integration Departments, Opole, Armii Krajowej/ZWM Housing Estate, photo: Anna Cymer, Opening the Gates: The Polish Schools Built to Be Community Hubs

#architecture

Should schools be separate, designated spaces accessible only to students, or is there value in making them public venues? Poland is home to several noteworthy projects in which schools are integral parts of cities, benefiting both urban planning and users alike.

From 1 September 2025, up to 450 children will be able to attend a new primary school on Konstruktorska Street in Warsaw’s Służewiec district. What makes it unusual is that it is the first public educational institution built entirely by a private investor. It’s a result of the so-called ‘lex developer’ (developer law), a special housing act from 2018 that allows – after city council approval – the construction of buildings that do not comply with local zoning plans.

In the case of Warsaw’s Służewiec district, which shifted from an industrial district into an office one in the 1990s and is now undergoing another transformation acquiring new residential neighbourhoods, the use of the law has resulted in the construction of a school. In exchange for the opportunity to build a housing development on the site of some demolished office buildings, the developer also financed the construction of an educational facility available to every child in the area.

Real estate meets education: Warsaw’s new school model

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The WWAA-designed primary school on Konstruktorska Street in Mokotów, Warsaw, photo: Mokotów District Office

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Designed by architects from the WWAA studio, the school incorporated many new solutions for school architecture. WWAA’s co-founder, Natalia Paszkowska, was one of the co-authors of the Szkoła Dobrze Zaprojektowana (Well-Designed School) guide, developed for the Warsaw city authorities in 2021. This collection of architectural standards, tips and guidelines is intended to help investors, officials and architects design modern, comfortable and functional schools. While many schools are being built in the capital, there is an ongoing need for more as new residential areas develop.

The Well-Designed School guide addresses specifics such as room layout, essential functions, daylight access, finishing materials and colour schemes. However, the authors also present a broader view: educational institutions as parts of the city.

‘A school should be designed in relation to its surroundings, as part of a broader urban complex, to strengthen its role as a key element of the local centre for public social, cultural and sports services,’ they write.

Although schools exist in every city, they rarely act as part of the urban fabric. Traditionally, they have been designed ‘inward’, fenced off and separated from their surroundings, both spatially and architecturally, and inaccessible after school hours. Today, the presence of schools in the city is viewed differently.

A building’s architecture and the functional solutions it offers, such as access to selected parts of the facility, should encourage the local community to use both internal and external infrastructure. The authors of the guide highlight that local government can use school grounds outside school hours for education, culture and sport, and to develop co-operation between municipal institutions and other local organisations.

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A WWAA-designed primary school on Konstruktorska Street in Mokotów, Warsaw, photo: Mokotów District Office

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The school in Warsaw’s Służewiec, open since August 2025, is designed to meet these requirements. The building, made up of several smaller structures, was laid out to create a public square at the entrance, an area suitable for meetings or community events outside of school hours. Some spaces, such as the library and cafeteria, have separate entrances, making them accessible independently. Although these are subtle changes, they make the school more integrated with the neighbourhood, attractive, and useful to a wider group of users.

Efforts to create less standardised, city-integrated, accessible school buildings are not entirely new. While schools have always been designed according to certain norms and standards, a few exceptional buildings have gone further.

A school at the heart of the neighbourhood

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The Karol Musioła Public Primary School No. 5 and Integration Departments, Armii Krajowej / ZWM housing estate in Opole, photo: Anna Cymer

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Among them, Primary School No. 5 stands out, built on Majora ‘Hubala’ Street in the Związek Walki Młodych (ZWM, now Armii Krajowej) housing estate in Opole. The estate and its infrastructure were designed in the 1970s by a team led by Janusz Grzegorzak, selected via a competition for a major housing development in eastern Opole. Apartment blocks started going up in the late 1970s, along with two educational institutions integrated into the modernist residential layout. School No. 5 was placed in the northern part of the estate, on a main pedestrian route. As was the custom at the time, the estate was designed as a car-free zone, surrounded by streets but criss-crossed inside by only pedestrian paths.

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The Karol Musioła Public Primary School No. 5 and Integration Departments, Armii Krajowej / ZWM housing estate in Opole, photo: Anna Cymer

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The school consists of several buildings of different sizes, arranged to form a square or courtyard between them. This is made all the more attractive by the fact that each pavilion forming the edges of this square has a slightly different character. One features arcades (very useful in rain or heat), another is slightly elevated with broad steps in front. Most importantly, the square is traversed on three sides by public paths. As a result, the school is not a fenced-off, isolated zone to be avoided, but an integral part of the housing estate. Above the walkways, architects placed connectors at the first-floor level, allowing students to move between sections without having to go outdoors. There is also a raised green terrace near the school square – even the columns supporting the arcades have been notched to accommodate planters.

In this way, a school courtyard, usually accessible only to students, was reimagined as an intimate public space, attractive to local residents and not at odds with the safety and comfort of the children attending the school.

Where students & neighbours mingle

The North Ursynów Estate in Warsaw, project of development, 1972-1977, authors: Marek Budzyński, Andrzej Szkop, Jerzy Szczepanik-Dzikowsk, photo: courtesy of the architect — North Ursynów, Warsaw, a design for expansion with additions, 1972-1977, created by Marek Budzyński (general designer), Andrzej Szkop, Jerzy Szczepanik-Dzikowski and their team, photo: courtesy of the artist

It is hard to find other schools in Poland so thoroughly integrated with their urban surroundings, intersected by paths open to residents. But there were more architects who believed schools should be open to all, not just students. The designers of North Ursynów, led by Marek Budzyński, devoted considerable attention to making schools in the area serve social purposes as well. In the 1970s, their team included experts in psychology and education, tasked with drafting urban planning guidelines. Budzyński explained:

Our primary goal is to shape the human environment so that it provides the best living conditions. The path to this goal is ARCHITECTURE, considered not solely as the art of designing a building, but as a comprehensive process of organising space, based on the latest advances in social, natural and technological sciences.

In Ursynów, schools (unfortunately, not all of the planned ones were built) were located between apartment blocks, divided into smaller units, and had public squares with seating planned in front of their entrances (the simple low walls surrounding the school’s entrance square became a centre of community life). Some rooms were designed to be accessible after hours from outside. Facilities such as a library, community centre, gymnasium and cafeteria could be opened to residents. The plans also envisioned amphitheatres, playgrounds, open-air sports fields and even swimming pools around the schools. Not all of these ideas could be realised, mainly due to the economic crisis of the 1980s, which forced severe cutbacks. Nevertheless, the district seems to fulfil Budzyński’s 1970s vision to this day: ‘Ursynów cannot become a dormitory neighbourhood. It has to be a new vibrant part of Warsaw... We want Ursynów to be, not just an anonymous accounting unit for planners, but a city district with its own distinct character.’

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School Complex No. 59, 68 Sobieskiego Street, Warsaw, designed by Halina Skibniewska & Andrzej Małek, photo: Emptywords / Wikipedia.org

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Halina Skibniewska was a pioneer in viewing architecture as socially responsive. In her estates, she provided apartments adapted for people with disabilities, and made sure homes could adjust to residents’ changing needs. The school in Sadyba in Warsaw that she designed in 1971 with Andrzej Małek was no less innovative. Here too, the low elongated building blended into the new green residential area, provided spaces open to residents, and was fully accessible to people with disabilities. Like many other schools built at the time, it was separated from the streets, nestled among apartment blocks so that children could safely walk to classes or the playground unaccompanied.

From standardisation to community hub

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Primary School No. 28 in Wodzisław Śląski, photo: Primary School No. 28 in Wodzisław Śląski, 10 Mieszka Street, https://sp28-wodzislaw.edupage.org/

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During the communist era, construction was dictated by norms, standardisation and prefabrication, but even so, some original forms were possible. During the political transformation of the 1990s, these limitations disappeared. Modernist forms fell out of favour as designers saw them as lacking individual character, seemingly too austere, cold and unfriendly for children. Despite this change, schools that were integrated into their urban context remained rare. Ryszard Jurkowski, Janusz Kapitoński and Jan Pallado were somewhat ahead of their time when they designed a primary school in Wodzisław Śląski in 1988. Situated atop a hill and surrounded by parkland, the building has an irregular shape. Classrooms cascade across the sloping terrain, while the school entrance is fronted by wide stairs and marked by a turret. Through these features, the school became both a landmark and a focal point for the entire neighbourhood, simultaneously distinctive yet hidden among the greenery.

The importance of schools for the entire local community, not just students, is particularly evident in villages and small towns. When she was still an assistant to Romuald Gutt, the 25-year-old Halina Skibniewska designed a school in Radkowice-Kolonia in Starachowice County. Built during the difficult post-war period (construction began in 1946 but was only completed three years later), this humble brick building had large windows to bring light into the classrooms, and also provided spaces meant for public use right from its inception. The architect clearly separated the teaching area from the places designated for the local community.

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The primary school in Książenice, designed by Piotr Hardecki (lead designer) & PALK Architekci, 2011/2012, photo: Bartek Makowski / PALK Architekci

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Although this approach was never standard, it is increasingly being revived today. An example is the primary school found in Książenice near Grodzisk Mazowiecki. It was completed in 2012 following a national competition, and was designed by Piotr Hardecki and PALK Architekci. The architects focused on both student comfort and the needs of the local community, taking into consideration the less-than-friendly urban planning. Located at the intersection of two roads and built in a V-shaped plan that defines the street corner, it creates a recognisable public spot (the entrance is preceded by a large green square with seating). From the start, it was assumed that the gymnasium, library, dining hall, recreation rooms and selected teaching labs (including the computer lab and language classrooms) would become accessible to other residents after school hours. Furthermore, a park designed by topoScape studio (famed co-designers of the award-winning Warsaw Uprising Mound Park, together with Archigrest) was planned around the school, giving it an attractive and diverse form featuring ponds that captured rainwater.

Since the end of World War II, the concept of a comfortable, functional school has constantly evolved. Social and technological changes and new educational visions shape school buildings and their layouts. The question of where to locate educational buildings within urban and rural spaces, as well as their role and integration into the context and fabric of residential areas, still remains challenging, especially since we have become accustomed to seeing schools as entities largely isolated from their surroundings. Meanwhile, many projects that break this mould demonstrate the benefits of making an educational institution an integral part of their settlements and neighbourhoods. This matters even more now given the declining numbers of children in some regions – some schools are sitting empty or being closed down when instead they could also serve the broader community.

This text was written as a result of an artistic and research residency at the ZWM (Armii Krajowej) Housing Estate, part of Festiwal Jednego Osiedla – Blok Kultury (the One Neighborhood Festival – Culture Block) organised by the Contemporary Art Gallery in Opole.

Originally written in Polish, translated by Michał Pelczar, August 2025

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