Falowiec: The Wave Building of Gdańsk

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, a series of peculiarly shaped apartment blocks were constructed in the Polish city of Gdańsk. They were collectively called “Falowiec”, from the Polish word “fala,” which means “wave,” and whose plural form is “falowce.” These buildings earned the name Falowiec due to their distinctive wave-like pattern as they alternate between blocks.

There are eight such buildings in Gdańsk, with the most renowned located in the Przymorze block. It has 11 floors, 16 staircases, 1,792 apartments in which nearly six thousand tenants live. It’s like a small town.

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The dimensions of the building—32 meters high, 13 meters wide, and 860 meters long—place it among the leading residential giants. The building stretches like a huge train with three bus stops along its length, and four addresses. The building is so large that it affects the air movement creating a microclimate around it. In the north it is colder, and snow and frost last longer. In the south, the average temperature is slightly higher, and in hot weather, grass and trees dry faster.

The Falowiec were built during a period when there was an acute housing shortage. The buildings were meant to be a temporary solution. However, they became embedded in the seaside landscape for many years.

The blocks were designed and erected according to a similar scheme. Most of the apartments are accessed from open galleries that run along the north wall. In the beginning, it was possible to walk from one end of the building to the other. But then, boarders erected walls separating the individual apartments from each other.

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There are a total of eight Falowce in Gdańsk. All of them were built in the 1960s and 1970s, when there was a huge housing shortage. They were meant to be a temporary solution. However, they became embedded in the seaside landscape for many years.

The blocks were designed and erected according to a similar scheme. Most of the apartments are accessed from open galleries that run along the north wall. They used to be able to walk from one end of the building to the other. Then, on the galleries, walls grew up, separating the individual cages from each other. The blocks have balconies on the south side.

The shape of the buildings resembles a sea wave. Hence their name. Vice-President Wojtkowiak still remembers when the largest of the wave houses, at Obrońców Wybrzeża Street, was settled. — It was done in stages. When the residents moved into the first segment, the next ones were still being finished, he recalls.

The giant's surroundings resembled a construction site for a long time. There were piles of sand around, concrete slabs lying around, one could only dream of lawns or even a sidewalk. But for most people, their own apartment was quite an ennoblement. Especially living in a place like this. From the upper floors of the block you can see the sea, and in good weather even the Hel Peninsula.