Kwartał Dworcowa — a private regeneration of 11 heritage tenements in Katowice
The hardest task in architecture is not building something new, but bringing something old back to life. Konior Studio is taking it on in the centre of Katowice — and doing so publicly, dispute included.
Konior Studio, Tomasz Konior's Katowice-based practice, is leading Kwartał Dworcowa in the city centre — a private regeneration of 11 heritage-listed tenement buildings from the former railway directorate. The buildings are being transformed into a mixed-use scheme with two Marriott hotels, plus retail, service and office space. It is one of the most ambitious private regeneration projects in the country — and one of the most difficult.
A heritage site brought back into use
Regeneration is the hardest task in architecture: a contemporary function has to be fitted into an existing, protected fabric without killing what makes it valuable. For an entire quarter of tenement buildings, the challenge is multiplied by scale — this is not a single building but a fragment of the city that must be brought back to life while retaining its historic character. The two Marriott hotels are meant to give the scheme a function and the flow of visitors that Katowice city centre has needed for years.
A dispute that proves its significance
The project is not free of controversy. Some criticism has focused on the scale of demolition within the quarter — the removal of elements from the interiors of the historic tenements. This is the real tension in every regeneration project: how much of a heritage building must be removed for it to function again, and where the line falls between rescue and destruction. Tomasz Konior is addressing this question publicly — and the debate itself is proof that the project touches something the city genuinely cares about, rather than leaving it indifferent.
For us at Method Press, Kwartał Dworcowa is a case study in a development where the narrative is as demanding as the construction itself. Regeneration means a long, 'dirty' phase of demolition and dust before any result becomes visible — and how a developer communicates that process to residents and the city determines whether the project is seen as rescuing heritage or damaging it.
Editorial material by Method Press based on public press coverage (Property Design — 'construction photos' of Kwartał Dworcowa; Konior Studio materials). Project details (11 tenements, two Marriott hotels) and the context of the dispute are sourced from the cited media; details may be subject to change.