Złote Tarasy (Golden Terraces)

From the terrace of the Palace of Culture, Złote Tarasy looks like a glass wave spilling between Warsaw Central Station and Złota Street. Beneath its undulating steel-and-glass roof is one of Warsaw's best-known shopping centres, opened on 7 February 2007 after more than four years of construction. The project was valued at around PLN 1.5 billion — and for years ranked among the most expensive in the capital.

A glass wave over the courtyard

The complex at 59 Złota Street was designed by the California-based Jerde Partnership, with structural engineering by the Polish branch of Ove Arup and building services by Tebodin. Its signature feature, the wave-shaped roof — a steel lattice filled with glass panels — was designed and built by the Austrian company Waagner-Biro, which won the European Steel Design Award for it in 2007. The roof covers the central terraced courtyard of the mall, and the interior uses sandstone, granite, plants and water. For the overall design, Jerde Partnership received the MIPIM Architectural Review Future Projects Award in 2006.

What's inside

Złote Tarasy is actually several connected buildings with a total floor area of about 205,000 m²:

• the shopping centre (about 65,000 m², 5 storeys) — in 2020 it had 200 shops and 30 restaurants, cafés and bars,
• the Multikino Złote Tarasy cinema on the Jana Pawła II Avenue side,
• two curved Lumen office buildings along Złota Street (about 59 m),
• the Skylight tower on Emilii Plater Street — 26 storeys and about 105 m tall; since 2009 it has housed the embassy of the United Arab Emirates.

Building history

Preparations took six years, and construction began in October 2002. The developer was the Złote Tarasy company, majority-owned by ING Real Estate, with the city contributing the land; the main contractor was Skanska. In 2004 lawsuits — including one brought by heirs of the plot's pre-war owners — halted work for several months, pushing the opening from autumn 2005 to February 2007. In 2013 the city sold its last 23.15% stake for PLN 217.6 million. Today the centre is owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.

Did you know?

• Poland's first Hard Rock Cafe opened here in 2007.
• The roof of the shopping centre has a garden — best seen from the viewing terrace of the Palace of Culture and Science.
• The complex neighbours Daniel Libeskind's Złota 44 tower, and the Palace of Culture is about 300 m away.

Tripto tip

The centre is open Monday to Saturday 9:00–22:00 and on Sundays 9:00–21:00 — but note that Poland has a Sunday trading ban on most Sundays, when shops stay closed and mainly restaurants and the cinema are open. From Warsaw Central Station it's a few minutes' walk, including via an underground passage. Złote Tarasy is a handy stop on a rainy day or between trains, and a good photo spot: the best view of the glass wave is from above, at the Palace of Culture, and from inside on the top floor of the mall.