Floors of Culture: Public Architecture as a Generator of Social Integration

Across contemporary cities, the gradual fade-out of public spaces has emerged as one of the most critical urban challenges. Security-driven enclosures, car-oriented planning, privatization of shared realms, and digitally mediated lifestyles have weakened everyday social interactions. In response to this condition, public architecture is increasingly being reconsidered not merely as a container of functions, but as an active social infrastructure: one that generates encounters, relationships, and collective identity.

Floors of Culture, a project by Ela Szymańska, positions architecture as a mediator between the city and its inhabitants. Conceived as a hybrid of building and public space, the proposal explores how vertically stacked urban platforms can restore social integration, stimulate creative exchange, and cultivate entrepreneurial spirit within dense urban contexts.

Theoretical Background: Public Space and Social Integration

Urban theorists such as Kevin Lynch, Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, and Bill Hillier have long emphasized the relationship between spatial configuration and social life. Their research highlights how the decline of legible, accessible public realms leads to weakened social bonds and fragmented urban communities. In contrast, well-integrated public architecture fosters spontaneous encounters, supports social identity, and enhances collective well-being.

Within this framework, Floors of Culture responds to two interconnected dimensions of public architecture:

• External integration, where architecture connects seamlessly with the surrounding urban fabric, extending public life into the building.
• Internal integration, where spatial continuity encourages movement, pause, interaction, and prolonged occupation by users.

The project positions architecture not as an isolated object, but as a continuation of the city itself.

Public Architecture as a Social Generator

At the core of Floors of Culture lies the idea that architecture can actively produce social interaction rather than passively accommodate it. Instead of absorbing public space into a closed volume, the building unfolds as a sequence of open, accessible terraces, described as Floors of Culture, that function as vertical extensions of the urban ground.

These stacked platforms allow multiple forms of activity to coexist: working, learning, socializing, resting, and cultural production. By organizing public programs vertically, the building intensifies urban life while maintaining permeability and openness at every level.

Spatial Strategy: Generation and Concentration

The architectural concept is structured around two complementary processes:

Generation refers to the creation of consistent spatial axes that guide movement and define recognizable places within the building. These axes encourage natural circulation, visual connectivity, and intuitive orientation, key factors in sustaining active public use.

Concentration focuses on clustering specific activities and services within defined zones. By concentrating programs such as coworking spaces, research facilities, creative workshops, cafés, and community areas, the architecture sustains user attention and encourages prolonged engagement.

Together, these strategies transform the building into a dynamic urban condenser, one that amplifies social and cultural energy rather than dispersing it.

Programmatic Framework: A Vertical Public Ecosystem

The functional program of Floors of Culture reflects a deliberate mix of cultural, social, and entrepreneurial spaces. Key components include:

• Public squares and open ground-level spaces that anchor the project within the city
• Coworking zones and research centers that support innovation and knowledge exchange
• Skill-trade and DIY spaces that encourage hands-on creativity and learning
• Cafés, meeting kitchens, and informal gathering areas that nurture everyday social life
• Event spaces and cultural platforms that host exhibitions, performances, and collective activities

This diversity of programs transforms public architecture into a living ecosystem, one that adapts to different rhythms of use throughout the day.

Architecture as Continuation of Urban Space

A defining principle of the project is its refusal to treat the building as a boundary. Instead, Floors of Culture presents architecture as an extension of the public realm. Terraces, voids, staircases, and visual connections blur the distinction between inside and outside, private and public.

By stacking open platforms vertically, the project preserves surrounding public space while offering a new configuration of shared environments. The building does not replace the city, it multiplies its spatial possibilities.

Social Impact and Urban Relevance

By reactivating public architecture as a social integrator, Floors of Culture addresses contemporary urban issues such as isolation, loss of community, and reduced civic engagement. The project demonstrates how architectural form, program, and circulation can collectively foster social satisfaction, an idea reinforced by comparative studies of urban environments with high social well-being.

In this sense, the project moves beyond typology and aesthetics, positioning architecture as an ethical and social act.

Floors of Culture by Ela Szymańska presents a compelling vision of public architecture as a generator of social integration. Through stacked urban terraces, mixed-use programming, and spatial continuity, the project redefines how buildings can function as active participants in civic life.

Rather than responding to the decline of public space with defensive architecture, the proposal embraces openness, interaction, and shared experience, offering a resilient architectural model for socially engaged cities of the future.