What does one do with a long-defunct water tower, sitting all by its lonesome on the site of a very much still-inhabited prison in Wronki, Poland? If Polish architect Adam Wiecinski has anything to say about it: create a boxy, ultra-modern new exterior and turn it into a museum space, hotel, and, uh bar. Wiecinski— who has worked on everything from high-concept retail spaces to a trendy mobile home—plans to first return what he calls Water Tower 2.0 back to working order as a water tower, and then increase the structure's surface area to 800 square meters (about 8,611 square feet) by surrounding the tower with freestanding columns, which will be outfitted in jutting prefabricated modules.
In keeping with the structure's jailhouse location, the first floor of the Neo-Gothic structure will house the museum exhibit "Cells of the World," in which each module will be made to resemble cells in famous penitentiaries like Alcatraz and Cebu—the full prison experience without the hard time. Above the exhibit will be space for a hotel and bar, both with exquisite views of the, um, prison complex on all sides of the tower. Design Boom has more renderings of the slightly too-close-for-comfort proposal, right this way.
· Adam Wiercinski revitalizes water tower 2.0 in Wronki, Poland. [Design Boom]