From BREEAM-certified office buildings to developments on the Baltic coast. Profile of the practice Chmielewski + Partners

Chmielewski + Partners is a Warsaw-based practice founded in 2005 by architect Kamil Chmielewski. It defines itself not as a classic design office but as a company combining architectural design with investment management, advisory work and market research — a model in which architecture is one element of a broader form of care for the investment process.

Multidisciplinary work as the core offering

What sets the practice apart is its multidisciplinary work. The team — a dozen or so architects supported by a permanent group of specialist designers — prepares documentation covering not only architecture but also structural engineering, roads, sanitary and electrical installations, and energy consulting. In many large projects the practice acts as a multidisciplinary co-author and documentation subcontractor for renowned offices, which illustrates the scale of assignments on which it has served as a technical partner.

Portfolio: offices, housing, seaside developments

In the residential segment, the practice acted as lead designer for, among others, a multi-family building with retail units and an underground garage at ul. Jana Kazimierza in Warsaw, with an area of around 32,000 sq m, carried through the full cycle — from concept, through the building and detailed design, to author's supervision on site.

In the office segment, the portfolio includes a class A building at ul. Traugutta in Warsaw, awarded a BREEAM Excellent certificate, which the practice co-created as co-author and documentation subcontractor for Płaskowicki Partners Architekci. It played a similar role on the class A office building at ul. Jana Kazimierza 34/37, awarded a LEED Gold certificate. There are also projects delivered in cooperation with APA Kuryłowicz & Associates and with the practice Bulanda i Mucha Architekci. On the coast, in Świnoujście, the practice co-created — again for Płaskowicki Partners — the seaside Baltic Park Molo complex: an apartment section and a hotel building with an area of around 45,000 sq m.

In the public-use segment, the portfolio includes a school complex in Marki, recognised with a Polish Green Building Council award, as well as involvement — as a multidisciplinary co-author and subcontractor for Nizio Design International — in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Wrocław project. It is worth noting that the main prize in the competition for the Wrocław museum went to the Nizio Design International team and the practice DCK Damiana Cyryla Kotwickiego; Chmielewski + Partners' role was that of a documentation collaborator.

Technology and certification as a common denominator

What ties these different scales and typologies together is the technological approach. The practice states it works on the basis of BIM methodology, which allows more precise control of the construction process, planning of material consumption and shorter delivery times. The second pillar is competence in sustainability certification — the team has experience with LEED, BREEAM and HQE systems, backed by specific buildings: BREEAM Excellent at Traugutta, LEED Gold at Jana Kazimierza 34/37, and a PLGBC award for the school in Marki.

What sets the practice apart is combining the role of designer with that of investment advisor. Client collaboration starts at an early stage — with analysis and concept work — and runs through design all the way to site supervision, spanning every discipline. The crowning achievement of this profile is the win in the 2021 competition for the 'Miasteczko Winna Góra' estate. From certified office buildings, through seaside developments, to a timber estate of the future, the practice's portfolio shows architecture treated as part of an investment managed holistically and, as far as possible, with a low carbon footprint.