Station of the Year 2024 — how the Art Nouveau station in Zakopane was restored

The top prize in the 'Railway Station of the Year 2024' competition went to the comprehensive revitalisation of the historic railway station in Zakopane, designed by Kahl-Gaczorek Architekci together with Bernatowicz Architektura. Giving the interiors a modern character while preserving their historic, classic style was the responsibility of Aleksander Bernatowicz, owner of the Kraków studio.

The conservator before the designer

The key to success was sequencing: before the first drawings were made, the designers brought in a heritage conservator and commissioned surveys that revealed the building's original fabric. On this basis, the historic colour scheme was recreated — the facade colour and the window and door joinery — and the original wall layout at the entrance was saved. It is detective work, in which the heritage building is first 'read', and only then designed.

A history that returns

The renovation ran from 2018 to 2023 and involved recreating the building's historic character and that of its interiors — in the spirit of Art Nouveau and Art Deco — despite the building's progressing deterioration and changes to its surroundings. The awards were presented on 14 November during the Railway Congress in Warsaw. The result is a building where historic detail meets contemporary functional standards.

For us at Method Press, Zakopane railway station proves that in revitalisation, value comes from humility towards the original — and a well-told story of 'what we discovered and what we preserved' builds a project's prestige just as much as the result itself. A heritage building becomes an asset only once we can explain why it is exceptional.