Poland is on a roll. Last year, its outgoing Prime Minister Donald Tusk became the new President of the European Council. A few months ago, the Polish production Ida by Paweł Pawlikowski won the Oscar for the best foreign language film. And even more recently, its Szczecin Philharmonic Hall was granted the most important European architectural distinction - the 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award.
Architecture has been playing a crucial role in reshaping this central European country. From the Tatra Mountains to the Baltic Sea, hundreds of new developments are currently in construction, triggered by a booming economy (with enviable growth of almost 40 per cent over the last decade) and the ongoing flow of structural funds from the EU.
After major improvements in sports and transport infrastructure prior to the Euro 2012 football championship, public investment is now concentrated in culture and education. This does not involve just the capital of Warsaw; new academic facilities, museums, theatres and concert halls, created by both local and foreign architects' offices, spring up in almost every big Polish city. Public works are complemented by ambitious private initiatives, including office, retail and residential projects. New designs differ in scale and form, ranging from radical experimentation to subtler, functional schemes.
Here, we highlight 14 examples of this exciting wave of construction, a revealing sample of the remarkable architecture completed in Poland within the last year or so. And the country's architectural heyday has only just begun. Many more projects (by Polish designers and international stars like Peter Zumthor and MVRDV) are still underway, so watch this space…
Photography: Hufton + Crow, Jakub Certowicz
Philharmonic Hall, Szczecin, by Estudio Barozzi Veiga
Completed in September 2014 and honoured last May with the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Award, the new concert hall in the northwestern city of Szczecin by the Barcelona-based duo Barozzi Veiga stands on the site of the former German Konzerthaus, a casualty of the Second World War
Photography: Hufton + Crow, Jakub Certowicz
Philharmonic Hall, Szczecin, by Estudio Barozzi Veiga
Aptly nicknamed 'the iceberg', the new white temple of music cleverly reinterprets the city's Hanseatic architecture and boasts a stunning golden auditorium with 950 seats
Photography: Hufton + Crow, Jakub Certowicz
Philharmonic Hall, Szczecin, by Estudio Barozzi Veiga
Inside, the building's walls appear sculptural, imbued with a kinetic aesthetic that adds emphasis to the already dynamic space
Photography: Hufton + Crow, Jakub Certowicz
Dialogue Centre 'Przełomy', Szczecin, by KWK Promes
Adjacent to the Philharmonic Hall is the Szczecin National Museum's latest branch, designed by the Polish studio led by Robert Konieczny and scheduled to open this autumn
Photography: Robert Konieczny
Dialogue Centre 'Przełomy', Szczecin, by KWK Promes
Hidden under the public square, the new museum is dedicated to the city's recent turbulent history, highlighting the role of underground movements in the collapse of the country's Communist regime
Photography: Robert Konieczny
