The subject of the article is the analysis of problems related to the two-room apartments, on the example of selected housing investments built recently in Warsaw. During the first three quarters of 2019, approximately 15,000 dwellings were commissioned here, with more than 95% built for sale or for rent. Such a definite dominance of the developer model affects, among others, popularization of specific solutions in the internal layouts. Two-room apartments are currently the most popular on the market. We will examine them in terms of the layout and size of rooms, taking into account the quota in the overall dwelling space and the average flat area. The purpose of the analysis is to indicate the most important problems affecting the comfort of living and an attempt to determine the optimal model of a two-room apartment. The research results are the starting point for discussion on the broader problem of housing availability in categories defined by the number of rooms.

The 21st century housing space due to computer technologies and the Internet is losing its physical boundaries, enabling residents to both conduct remotely life activities without leaving home and to control the physical living space from outside. These technologies create new forms of home activities while globally connecting living spaces.

This work presents results of a case study of available “smart home” technologies which was conducted to verify how and at what cost they serve residents. Research has shown that “smart home” devices offer a number of facilities and amenities allowing not only to control and reduce housing costs, but also to provide information and entertainment. At the same time, these devices more and more often take the form of interior furnishings, inconspicuously collecting and sharing information on the living activities of the household members and interfere with the traditional division into private and public space of residence. Smart homes require smart residents, but unfortunately the fact that residents don’t manage information they share, plays down them to the roles of consumers of products and providers of data about living space usage.

The contemporary architecture of meaning can refer to many cultural patterns. The subject of this article is to show the close relationship between the work of Romuald Gutt and its influence on the design of the Warsaw Pavilion – the Warsaw Insurgents Memorial Chamber. The scientific study was aimed at showing the relationship between the design path and the case study, i.e. study by design. This case study is based upon the analysis of the achievements, the architectural language, the style, the methodology and the design philosophy of the architect Romuald Gutt. The research methodology analyses several aspects of the architect’s work and its influence on the concept of the Pavilion. In this case study, we are considering a universal design method by analysing existing objects designed by the same artist. The architectural legacy, the methodology, the language and the narrative used in Gutt’s creative work allow us to see a whole new quality in the design process of the building we are studying – the Warsaw Insurgents’ Memorial Chamber at the Warsaw Insurgents’ Cemetery in Wola.

Polish residential architecture of the second decade of the 21st century was shaped based on the experiences of investors and architects related to the consequences of the global financial crisis of 2008. The construction boom before the crisis caused a decrease in competitiveness and at the same time a decrease in architectural quality of the built apartments. The crisis forced all participants in the construction process to rationalize planned investments. Their success began to depend on the functional, construction and aesthetic quality of the constructed apartments.

For the analysis of the typology of housing of the second decade of the 21st century, large investments were taken into account, in which architects were largely freed from individual external factors directly affecting the form of the buildings, such as a narrow construction and characteristic plot planning requirements. Investments forming entire architectural complexes or even urban complexes allowed architects to design residential buildings based on rational design assumptions arising from the market needs related to the functional layout of apartments and resulting from efficient construction technologies.

The affordability of apartment units is closely related to the availability of land for planned multifamily housing development. In crisis periods, real estate prices go up, reflecting the perception of real estate as the safest investment, and land speculation increases. Housing is the most important fabric of the city, and the availability of land for housing directly influences housing affordability. In many European cities, legal and administrative mechanisms have been worked out to force the construction of apartment buildings. In times of crisis, however, these mechanisms have proven ineffective. This article will focus on the process of elaborating innovative solutions, with Vienna’s systemically coherent housing policy as an example. In the decade following the 2008 crisis, the ongoing rise in real estate prices, especially the price of undeveloped land, led to a decrease in the proportion of new subsidized affordable housing. The leaders of the federal state of Vienna undertook legal measures to reverse this negative trend. Within two years, the local building code was updated with a provision describing a new land use category: “affordable housing”. Following this rule, the acquisition of a permit to build housing investments requires that two-thirds of the planned development’s usable area be devoted to subsidized, meaning affordable, housing. This provision in Vienna’s building code came into effect on March 1, 2019. It is expected that in the long run, the price of land for housing will drop by 90%. In the upcoming years, monitoring of the provision’s effects will be conducted. The provision is seen as a radical change in the law, ensuring the continued realization of affordable housing programs.

The sustainable development rule changed the architects’ attitude toward the users of the buildings and an increase in their civic engagement. Exhibitions in New York’s MOMA or Frankfurt’s Architecture Museum and Pritzker Jury’s verdicts underlined the significance of community-engaged architecture and the involvement of an architect in the problems of contemporary society. At the same time, an analysis of theoretical works and everyday architectural practice shows some repetition of the creative design attitude even than the motivation behind it could vary. An analysis of such interwoven relations is an attempt to show the continuity and change in urban and architectural solutions. Such commentary linked to long-standing observations regarding the sustainable development implementation enables us to formulate long-term conclusions for the creation of the human spatial environment in the changing reality of the new century.

The subject of the article is the architecture of contemporary residential blocks from different parts of Europe. The aim of the article is to indicate and describe selected aesthetic trends related to the design of their form. The main topic of the article concerns residential city blocks from the first two decades of the 21^st century. The research has allowed indicating clear features that dominate and at the same time define the aesthetic expression and characteristic elements of the architectural idea behind contemporary residential city blocks. The principal research methods are analysis and case studies. The results of the research indicate a variety of spatial and aesthetic assumptions, which aids in discovering and searching for new typological solutions that affect the quality of habitation. The research also serves to formulate the theoretical basis for the design of this type of development, and allows one to forecast further directions for the advancement of the idea of a residential city block in the foreseeable future. The findings focus on revealing certain originality and attractiveness of the form as a common determinant of the prevailing pluralism of creative attitudes in modern architecture.

The dynamic development of computer technologies and multimedia systems has changed the way we learn about the world around us. Museums have undergone transformations, in which digital resources and multimedia exhibitions intensively supplant the 20th-century presentation methods based on passive contemplation. Contemporary exhibitions are spaces focused on evoking specific experiences, attractive to the recipient thanks to their immersion and interactivity, using multimedia and narrative structure. The article describes the observed changes and trends in the design of exhibitions and buildings in relation to the evolution of museum institutions. Objects constructed or designed over the past two decades have been presented, with particular attention devoted to new museums in Poland. The conducted analysis confirms that the museum object – its place in the city space, the architectural design of the functional arrangement, as well as the exhibition areas and the arrangement of the exhibitions themselves is evolving in parallel with changing technologies and new social needs.

Today’s approaches to the design of modern interiors have changed significantly. This is due to such reasons and conditions as: socio-economic terms of interiors’ use and service, rapid technical progress, the development of science and information technology, growing environmental requirements in accordance with the principles of sustainable development, the introduction of new building materials and technologies, accounting accessibility and national traditions, human-centered design, etc.

The purpose of the article is identification of conditions, features, principles and guidelines for the design of modern interiors. The study is based on a systematic approach that defines hierarchical levels of interior design. Methods of historical and comparative analysis were also used.

The article discusses the factors and conditions of modern interiors’ formation, features and principles of their functional and spatial solutions. The hierarchical levels and methodological provisions of the architectural environment design of modern interior spaces are revealed.

What is the today’s space of a single-family complex in the city? What is the contemporary house in the city like? Based on a comparative analysis of completed housing projects from the first decades of the twenty-first century in Poland and Hungary, the authors have identified characteristics that can be considered essential for building identity of urban space. A discussion of the form and expression of contemporary urban, suburban and peripheral zones, contrasted with areas of rural origin, was used as a background for the study. The subject matter of the study was also presented using student designs prepared as a part of the Architectural and urban design of single-family housing module at CUT. The results of the study indicate that it is possible to oppose the unification of space associated with the excessive growth of peripheral areas and globalisation resulting from the free flow of information – by searching for the value of architecture in local heritage.