New Port in Bydgoszcz – model revitalization of post-industrial areas in an open urban quarter

In the central part of Bydgoszcz, on the premises of the former Befana factory, a project is being implemented that significantly redefines the way of thinking about contemporary housing in Poland. Instead of the once planned shopping center, a publicly accessible, multi-functional part of the city is being built – Nowy Port – combining residential and service functions and an extensive system of public spaces directly connected to the Brda River. The renowned BBGK Architekci studio, known for its clearly city-forming projects, is responsible for the urban concept and design of the first stage.

Reinterpretation of industrial heritage

The investment area is located between the historic downtown buildings and riverside recreational areas. Its history dates back to the second half of the 19th century, when a production plant operated in the area of ​​today’s Marcinkowskiego and Obrońców Bydgoszczy streets, later developed into a factory specializing in the production of floating units. The industrial character of the place persisted for decades, and a section of Marcinkowskiego Street was once called “Nad Portem”, which became the inspiration for the modern name of the investment.

In the design process, it was crucial to preserve the material traces of this history. The 19th-century factory buildings and the tenement house have been carefully renovated in cooperation with the conservator. Thanks to this, they do not constitute only a decorative background for new buildings, but a full-fledged element of the urban structure, building the identity of the place and its cultural continuity.

A three-layer urban composition

The New Port masterplan is based on a clear, three-layer spatial structure. The first layer is created by the historic substance, which organizes the relationship between the investment and the city’s past. The second one is a new quarter development, whose scale and dimensions refer to the downtown tenement house tissue of Bydgoszcz. The third compositional element are height dominants in the form of 36-meter high points located inside the plot and facing the river. Their presence organizes the panorama and strengthens the visual relationship with the Brda River, without competing with the historical buildings.

The urban layout was designed as a complex of four downtown quarters divided by a new avenue resembling an urban shopping street. Wide sidewalks, rows of trees and active ground floors with service premises create an environment conducive to everyday social interactions. The perpendicular pedestrian passage connecting the avenue with the river has been enriched with two green squares that serve as local integration spaces.

A city instead of an enclave

One of the fundamental design assumptions was to abandon the model of a gated estate in favor of an open, permeable urban quarter. The investment area was not designed as an enclave with limited access, but as an element “sewing” the existing urban fabric and restoring spatial continuity between the center and the waterfront. The riverside boulevard with recreational and gastronomic functions is a natural extension of the city’s public space system, and not a private zone exclusively assigned to residents.

This approach is part of the shift towards urbanity observed in recent years, understood as a value that improves the quality of life. Instead of isolation and peripheral location, there is a desire to be in the city, in close proximity to services, culture, recreation and common spaces. Nowy Port is an illustration of this paradigm shift – an investment with a higher housing standard does not lose its public character, but builds it as one of its key attributes.

The direction of changes on a nationwide scale

BBGK Architekci’s activities are not limited to Bydgoszcz. The studio consistently implements masterplan projects whose ambition is to transform entire parts of cities and introduce sustainable, multifunctional urban structures.

In Warsaw’s Służewiec Przemysłowy district, in the district commonly referred to as “Mordor”, the Modern Mokotów housing estate is being built, the assumptions of which are based on the idea of ​​a 15-minute city. The monofunctional office area is being transformed into a sustainable part of the city with housing, services, greenery and publicly accessible neighborhood spaces. An important element of this transformation is the reduction of parking spaces in favor of linear parks and playgrounds, as well as support for social infrastructure, including the construction of a primary school.

At the same time, in the center of Warsaw, on the site of the former Polfa factory in Wola, the NOHO ONE complex is being built – a mixed-use project in a premium standard. Its urban structure was designed as a continuation of existing pedestrian and street routes, without introducing fences and spatial barriers. The investment includes a vast city square, green squares and representative streets with active service ground floors, inspired by European “high streets”.

Space quality as a new market standard

The example of Nowy Port and other projects of the studio shows that urban quality is becoming an important competitive factor on the real estate market. The value of an investment is increasingly determined not only by the standard of the apartments themselves, but also by the composition of public spaces, availability of services, integration with the existing city fabric and the clarity of the urban layout.

The New Port in Bydgoszcz is proof that post-industrial areas can be transformed into open, multifunctional and socially inclusive parts of the city. Instead of a closed enclave, a quarter was created, which completes the urban puzzle and restores the riverside areas to their due importance in the structure of the city center. This is an example of responsible design in which architecture and urban planning become a tool for real improvement of the quality of life of residents.