The thinnest house in the world built between two tower blocks in Warsaw. The house measures 1.2 meters at its widest point and 71 centimeters at its narrowest. The building has been designed by Jakub Szczesny, who took his inspiration from the work of Israeli writer Etgar Keret. The new house is only 1.2 meters, but it comes with a bathroom, a kitchen and a bedroom. Architect Jakub Szczesny said that he designed the two-story aluminum and plastic house three years ago to fill a narrow space between a pre-war house and a modern apartment block in downtown Warsaw. The Foundation of Polish Modern Art and Warsaw Town Hall helped fund the project, which they consider an art work. But it may not be easy for the tenants. The triangular building runs 10 meters deep at the base and stands 9 meters tall. Metal and aluminum pipes hold the structure nearly 3 meters above the ground, and visitors will climb a metal staircase and squeeze through a hole to enter the building. The ground floor contains a toilet and shower, a kitchen with a sink and cupboards, a table for two, and a bean bag sofa. Another metal ladder goes to the second floor, which has a nearly double-size bed, a table and a chair. Szczesny told that the building achieves two goals: filing an empty city space and linking Warsaw's World War II tragedy, when more than half the city was destroyed, with modern buildings that went up afterward. The first tenant Etgar Keret, an Israeli writer whose ancestors died in Poland during the Holocaust, moved to the house. "It is a kind of a memorial to my family," said Keret, explaining that his mother's and father's families died in the Holocaust under Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland, and his paternal grandfather died in Warsaw's 1944 uprising against the Nazis. The structure has been named Keret House after the Israeli writer. He said he only visits Warsaw twice a year, so other tenants will be able to try out the tight quarters of the non-profit building for free, too.

Several new skyscrapers will appear in the Warsaw cityscape over the next few years. One of them may become the tallest building in Europe, reported The Warsaw Voice. A company owned by Jan Kulczyk, one of the richest men in Poland, plans to build a more than 282-meter skyscraper in the center of the city, near Zawiszy Square. Originally, the project was scheduled to get under way in 2009, but air traffic safety restrictions stood in the way. However, the regulations changed recently, and today there are no formal obstacles to issuing a permit for a skyscraper to be constructed there. "The Kulczyk Tower" is expected to be 282.4 meters tall, almost 52 meters taller than Warsaw's Palace of Culture and Science and nearly 24 meters taller than the "Commerzbank Tower" in Frankfurt, Germany, which is currently the tallest high-rise in Europe. "The Kulczyk Tower" will be almost 81 thousand square meter in area and host a service complex, hotel rooms, apartments and garages. The area where "the Kulczyk Tower" will be built will become the "Warsaw Manhattan" in the future. Many developers are interested in constructing tall buildings in this area. One ongoing project is the "Warsaw Spire" skyscraper, which is being built on Towarowa Street. The office complex will comprise three buildings: a 220-meter tower and two side buildings, each with a height of 55 meters. In all, the project will offer about 100 thousand square meters of office, service and retail space. The developer is the "Ghelamco Poland" company, which also plans to construct a tall building on Zawiszy Square, one rising to 130 meters. It unveiled the idea at a real estate fair in Cannes earlier this year. A few years ago, Spanish developer "Torca" bought a large plot on Towarowa Street, hoping to build 200-meter skyscrapers. The plot currently hosts the "Jupiter" shopping center and several other buildings. Local officials recently permitted the development of two towers there, one with a height of 170 meters and the other rising to130 meters. The area around the "Marriott Hotel" and the "Warszawa Centralna" train station will host another cluster of tall buildings in the future. A 260-meter skyscraper, designed by acclaimed architect Zaha Hadid and called "Lilium", is expected to be built there. However, the project, which has already been approved by the Warsaw authorities, has been put on hold due to the crisis. In the immediate vicinity, on Emilii Plater and Nowogrodzka streets, two 218-meter towers will be built in a project that will be in harmony with the skyscraper designed by Hadid. The "Twarda Tower", being developed by the "Hines" company, will be 160 meters tall. Located in the very heart of Warsaw on Twarda Street, it will hold a hotel on the lower floors and apartments on the upper floors. Nearby, on ONZ traffic circle, a 150-meter "Dipservice" skyscraper will be constructed. "Dipservice" is part of the "Grupa Polski Holding Nieruchomo?ci" real estate corporation. At the beginning of the previous decade, developers worldwide started constructing many tall buildings with luxury apartments. The global fashion for residential towers also reached Poland. Several such projects were started and a number of others were on the drawing board. However, many of these projects were later discontinued due to the crisis. Some of them have been completely abandoned, others have stalled and still others have been redesigned to suit new market needs. After an almost two-year hiatus, construction work has resumed on Warsaw's most luxurious building, the "Z?ota 44" skyscraper in the city center. The tower, being developed by the "Orco Property Group", is expected to open in 2012. The luxurious apartment tower will rise to 192 meters and 54 stories above the ground on Z?ota Street in the very heart of Warsaw. The building was designed by Daniel Libeskind, an internationally acclaimed American architect of Polish extraction. The tower, nicknamed the "Glass Sail" for its light form, and bright, almost transparent facade, will house a total of 251 apartments of various sizes. Located higher than any other apartments in Warsaw, they will be the most luxurious ones in the city, according to the developer. The lower part of the tower will house retail space with general access. The building will offer a swimming pool, a sauna, a spa center, a sun deck, a fitness club with a yoga studio and concierge service. It will also have space for celebrations, complete with house catering services.