The longest residential building in Poland.

Here is an architectural (and social) design that is off the tourist trail for most in the Gdańsk/Sopot area in Poland. Welcome to Falowiec in Przymorze, ONE huuuuuge block of flats with an unusual shape that just happens to be the longest residential building in Poland and third longest in Europe. I’ve also heard it phrased the “largest residential building” in Europe. But before we dive into the numbers…

What is “Faloweic”? Falowiec was actually the general name given to a block of flats built in Poland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The word fala in Polish means ‘wave’, the plural of which is falowce. Due to the unusual design of these residential blocks, they were called Falowiec, as the flats wave in and out from block to block. While Falowiec exist in other Polish cities, Gdańsk has eight buildings of this type. The most famous of which is in the Przymorze block shown here.

Deets: Despite the fact that it is one huge building with 11 floors, it is separated into four segments; each segment has 110 apartments and four main staircases. While the exact population is unknown, it’s estimated that around 6,000 occupants live in the 1,792 apartments. This Falowiec is 850-ish metres in length (2,788 feet), and has three separate bus stops.

It has a very interesting “Social” aspect to its design that I will cover later with more photos.

I was super excited to find out about these. Design thoughts? Ready to move in?