Yoga studio | Yoga Republic in Warsaw
Namaste. We designed a new Yoga Republic house in the heart of Warsaw. The studio at Plac Zbawiciela is a social space where yoga students meet not only to practice but also to deepen informal relations and build YR community. The location is not accidental, Zbawix is an urban symbol of diversity visible also among people who create the school.
Studio Yoga Republic is an untypical realization for us, but it has many values that we also encourage in our workplace design practices. The main aim of the project was to create a meeting place that supports the collective values of the school. The project’s assumptions concerned the naturalness and sincerity of design and the openness of space.
The effect of the co-creation process conducted together with the founders of YR, Przemek and Marta, is an interior that puts the needs of its users first: building interpersonal relations and the comfort of people practising ashtanga yoga. We invite you to take a walk!
Come in. When you cross the doorstep, you quickly drop your coat. The classes are about to start. You look around and feel that you have arrived at a place full of harmony, and behind the closing door you left all the weight of the passing day. The atmosphere is cosy and friendly.
From the very start of design process, this is how the first experience of visiting a yoga studio was shaped in our heads. And this is how the vestibule of the Yoga Republic studio welcomes you – a zone that combines the function of reception and exhibition space. We wanted the visitors to feel relaxed, unhindered and homely from the moment they entered this place.
In the initial design phase for Yoga Republic, together with the owners, we realised that this place needs a noncommittal space for community development. To achieve the collective goals, we planned a café zone on the ground floor – after all, we are at Zbawix, the social point of the city.
The coffee and networking space is free of chaos and noise, allowing you to relax for a while before or just after class. It is a green common space, a place allowing you to meet new people, exchange experiences and nurture community. Leave your shoes at the entrance, you do not need them there.
When we go up the stairs filled with plants, we reach the exercise space. While designing this area of physical activity we had many consultations with the initiators of the project. Their experience in teaching the YR community has shaped the assumptions of this zone.
Ashtanga room is associated with calmness and naturalness. The atmospheric interior allows you to focus on breathing and movement activity at the optimum temperature, light and humidity – necessary for the practice of this yoga technique. The right amount of natural greenery helps to do this, providing visual variety and soothing the stimuli coming to us from the environment. Even though you can see a vibrant city outside your windows, there is room inside to calm down and connect your body and thoughts.
Studio Yoga Republic in Warsaw’s Śródmieście district is an authentic space, an extension of the founders’ personality. Everywhere there are figures, carpets or Indian screens that Przemek and Marta brought from their travels. Shaping this place would not have been possible without their vision and involvement in the design process. Thank you!
Project Yoga Republic in numbers:
- Scope of services: inventory, design concept, co-creation process, executive design
- Area: 300 sqm
- Location: arcades of Plac Zbawiciela, Warsaw
- Duration: December 2019 – April 2020
Authors:
Management board of Workplace:
- Bogusz Parzyszek, CEO & Founder
- Dominika Zielińska, Co-CEO & Head Architect
Design team:
- Barbara Majerska, Lead Architect
- Marzena Bednarczyk, Senior Architect
- Małgorzata Romanowicz, Design Consultant
Photos: Adam Grzesik
Words: Mateusz Sikora
