Film Centre Gdynia Polen
DELTA

Big cinema

The urban development and greening of the adjacent Grunwaldzki Square were an essential aspect of the new construction of the Gdynia Film Centre. However, potential problems with slope water coming from the neighbouring town hill had to be considered. A high-performance protective and drainage membrane with additional water storage function solved these problems and brought the vegetation through hot summers.

Name Film Centre
Location Gdynia
Country Poland
Architect Architectural office ARCH-DECO SP. Z O. O.
Products DELTA®-FLORAXX TOP, DELTA®-EQ DRAIN, DELTA®-MS DRAIN

The Polish city of Gdynia (in German: Gdingen) on the Gdańsk Bay is not just an important port and shipyard location, but also a cultural centre where you can visit many architectural monuments. As a “white city”, “window to the world” and “symbol of the resurrected Poland”, the city experienced its boom between the two world wars by achieving both economic and military importance. As one of the few cities in the world, it was built in the style of modernism from the ground up. The architectural style inspired by Bauhaus can still be noticed in many buildings today. Gdynia has also been home to the Polish film festival since the 1970s. And since 2010, it has also been the location of a renowned film school for training in the subject-matter production. The Gdynia Film School forms the core of the new film centre which was opened in 2015 on the Grunwaldzki Square.

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Film Centre Gdynia
The Gdynia Film Center was awarded "Building of the Year 2015" in Poland.
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Greened and walkable areas in front of the Film Center Gdynia
The urban development and greening of Grunwaldzki Square was part of the project. Potential problems with slope water due to the immediately bordering city hill (left in the picture) had to be considered.

An essential aspect was the urban development of Grunwaldzki Square and, in this context, the greening of the underground car park created under the square. A particular challenge was the location of the property in the immediate vicinity of the district Kamienna Góra, located on the moraine hill of the same name with the highest point of 52 meters above sea level. For this reason, in particular during the seasons of spring and autumn, an increased amount of surface water is to be expected, which runs down from the hill onto the green areas. To permit a safe dissipation of the said water on the surface and in the sealing level of the green roof structure and the protection of the plants from damaging waterlogging, a high-performance protective and drainage layer must be laid.

In this context, the product DELTA®-FLORAXX TOP was used as a combined drainage, water storage, and filter layer. This multiple function is made possible by the special shape of the knobs reaching a height of 20 millimetre. They offer a drainage capacity around 10 l/s. m; at the same time, the knobs have a storage capacity up to seven litres of water per square meter. The excess water is drained down through a perforation in the membrane and from there in the sewer network of the knob structure. In this manner, you can reliably prevent waterlogging which may damage plants. The laminated filter fleece permanently prevents the drainage from clogging up.

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DELTA®-FLORAXX TOP water storage membrane
The geotextile may be turned back by approx. 10 cm at both membrane edges. In this manner, the 1 or 2 knob rows can be laid well-covered while the overlap may be safely covered again with the filter fleece.

A visit during the summer season of 2021 clearly shows that the use of the railway as a water reservoir and high-performance drainage layer has proven its worth. Neither the hot summer of 2019 nor the rainy autumn and winter months could damage the green areas. The redesigned Grunwaldzki Square has become a green oasis in the middle of the city. And the concert shell with its integrated catering, also built in the context of the project, has become a point of attraction, as has the newly installed cable car to the viewing platform on the Kamienna Góra hill. In this way, a recreational area and a cultural meeting point for the city population and many tourists were created.

Eingesetztes Material

  • 5000 sqm of  DELTA®-FLORAXX TOP serving as a drainage layer and water storage for the greening of the underground car park and the roof area of the film centre
  • 2.000 sqm DELTA®-EQ DRAIN DRAIN serving as a protective and drainage layer positioned under the accessible area
  • 200 sqm DELTA®-MS DRAIN serving as a protective and drainage layer positioned under the entrance to the underground car park