K1 | |
Status: | Completed |
Location: | Kraków, Poland |
Start Date: | 1972 |
Architect: | Janusz Ingarden (original) Krzysztof Kiedra (modified) |
Floor Count: | 20 |
Building Type: | Office |
Architectural: | 1050NaN0 |
Completion Date: | 1998 |
K1 (before Cracovia Business Center), also Błękitek, is a commercial building in Kraków, Poland,[1] at Aleja Pokoju 1, near the Grzegórzeckie Roundabout. It is a 20-story building, housing offices for Bank Pekao and other companies. It is 105 metres high, which makes it the tallest office building and the second tallest building in Kraków.
Construction of the tower began in 1972, according to Janusz Ingarden's project. The building was originally intended to house the offices and printing presses of the "Prasa" Workers' Publishing Cooperative (Robotniczej Spółdzielni Wydawniczej „Prasa”; RSW „Prasa”), but construction halted in 1975 once it was realised that the then-very innovative design of the building was not able to withstand the weight of printing presses for newspaper production. In the mid-1990s, a Swedish company called Swede Center Ltd. purchased the unfinished building and originally intended to demolish and rebuild it, but then decided it was more profitable to reconstruct the existing building and adapt it to more modern standards. The building was reconstructed between 1996 and 1998 based on the designs of architect Krzysztof Kiendra.