Project Description:

History
The weaving mill, built in 1852 by textile magnate Izrael Poznanski, is defined by its red-brick exterior and cast iron pillars. After over a century of use, the complex was abandoned in the 1990s.

(Re)Developer
The adaptive reuse project was commissioned by Warimpex Finanz-und Beteiligungs AG of Vienna, Austria. The real estate development and investment company if focused on building and operating hotels in Central and Eastern Europe. The firm operates in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania, France, Germany and Russia.^[1]

The interior design was handled by Jestico + Whiles who are famous for their practical, innovative and contemporary solutions. Jestico + Whiles, based on London, have won a number of national and international architecture awards for their work, among them the 2002 FX International Design Award for the andel’s Hotel Prague. The andel’s Hotel Łódź is already the fourth joint project with Vienna International.

The executive architect for the project was OP Architekten, founded by the architects Orlinski and Poplawski. The firm has made a name for itself thanks to its relationship with contemporary, elegant and functional architecture. OP Architekten’s achievements have already been distinguished at numerous architecture competitions. The accomplishments of the firm’s founders include Poland’s tallest hotel. With the andel’s hotel projects, the two architects further prove their experience in the field of exterior architecture.^[2]

Outcome
The former factory has been transformed into the first four-star hotel in Łódź, Poland. Jestico + Whiles painstakingly followed the city’s strict codes of historic building preservation to honor the tradition of the building. The hotel is actually one piece to the larger reuse of the complex, now called Manufaktura (a retail and entertainment center). The 200,000-sq.-ft., four-level hotel includes 180 guestrooms and 80 long-stay apartments. The hotel lobby is marked by the building’s original cast iron pillars supporting the red brick vaulted roof, and three light wells that slice through the ceiling with sculptural displays of concentric circles denoting the balustrades of each floor above, each lit with changing colored LEDs. The hotel’s pool was created out of a 19th century fire water storage tank and is located in a cantilevered glass box on the top floor, overhanging the building’s brick exterior.^[3]