Millenial Housing Estate in Katowice. A sensitive place. Although the design conditions are defined by the Local Spatial Development Plan, heirs of its designers - the famous tandem Henryk Buszko - Aleksander Franta, as well as the inhabitants of the Housing Estate, observe all design initiatives within it with great attention. It was necessary to approach the subject with exceptional care and insight, so that the proposed solution would add value to the place and not a burdensome load. In the course of many months of studies, the concept of a complex of nine point buildings of various heights with fully green facades was developed. So that the new buildings do not take away the greenery from the inhabitants, but even multiply it.

The development plan for the Millennial Gardens provided the required local plan with a biologically active surface in the form of greenery on the ground and green roofs, and the green facades provided, in addition to the requirements, almost 3 hectares of green façade areas, supplied with native soil and flower pots, the area of which exceeds a total of 1000 m2 ... that such a solution required additional financial outlays, the Investor was convinced to bear them in the name of creating above-standard living conditions for both new residents and those already living in the neighboring buildings.

In the course of designing, the idea of green facades was explored and clarified. It was not possible to transfer automatically the experience of Asian or even European facades from Milan to Poland. They had to meet the requirements of local conditions and climate. Two years ago, in cooperation with the Botika company, sets of plants of various types were selected - from grasses and vines, through shrubs, to trees several meters high.

Many hours of talks between designers and the Investor focused on whether green facades will be universally accepted, because insects, bees, nesting birds, smells ... However, the arguments that green is a source of oxygen, filters the air, eliminates dust and pollution, moisturizes and ionizes the air, creates a human-friendly microclimate. Thanks to it, the temperature balance between the inside and outside of the building is reduced by 3 degrees Celsius throughout the year. Greenery also contributes to acoustic comfort by reducing noise phenomena, and reflects acoustic waves that are so annoying for humans in concrete and glass housing estates. Therefore, the entire solution provides a unique comfort of communing with life-giving nature, not only thanks to the home garden on the ground floor or the green roof garden, but also on all intermediate, several or several floors between them. Each resident has their own garden as an extension of the living space within the urban ecosystem. It is therefore a huge added value for living in a multi-storey building, in a housing estate of several dozen thousand people, in the capital of a Silesian conurbation with several million inhabitants.