A translucent colour-screen facade transforming industrial brewery buildings into a stronger brand landscape
| Project Location | Warka, Poland |
| Project Type | Industrial architecture, brewery, facade design, brand environment, translucent screen cladding |
| Project Description | A facade and identity design study for Warka Brewery in Poland, part of the Heineken Group, using translucent coloured screens to clad and transform existing industrial facilities. |
| Client | Warka Brewery, Heineken Group |
| Architect | UFO Architecture |
| UFO Architecture Team | Arjan Scheer, Andrew Yau, Claudio Lucchesi |
| Project Status | Design study — unbuilt |
| Project Year | 2002 |
| Programme | Industrial brewery facilities, facade cladding, translucent screen system, colour strategy, brand identity and external architectural transformation |
| Design Focus | Industrial facade design, brand identity, coloured translucent screens, brewery architecture, adaptive visual transformation and industrial site image |
| Facade Strategy | The proposal wraps selected industrial buildings with translucent coloured screens, creating a new architectural layer that unifies the brewery facilities while allowing the industrial character of the site to remain visible. |
| Brand Strategy | Colour, light and translucency are used to strengthen the public identity of Warka Brewery, transforming functional industrial buildings into a recognisable brand landscape. |
| Industrial Strategy | The design works with the existing brewery infrastructure rather than replacing it, using facade treatment as a precise architectural intervention to improve identity, legibility and site presence. |
| Environmental Strategy | The translucent screen system offers a lightweight approach to industrial renewal, improving solar filtering, visual coherence and material efficiency while avoiding unnecessary demolition of existing structures. |
Warka Brewery is a 2002 facade and identity design study by UFO Architecture for Warka Brewery in Poland, part of the Heineken Group. The project proposes a new architectural skin for the existing industrial facilities, using translucent screens in different colours to strengthen the identity of the brewery.
The proposal addresses the challenge of transforming a large industrial site without erasing its functional character. Rather than concealing the brewery behind a conventional facade, the design introduces a lightweight coloured screen system that gives the buildings a more coherent and recognisable public image while still allowing the industrial scale and logic of the site to remain legible.
The coloured translucent cladding creates a new layer between production infrastructure and public identity. During the day, the screens filter light and soften the appearance of the industrial buildings. In changing weather and light conditions, the facades shift in intensity, giving the brewery a more dynamic and atmospheric presence.
Brand identity is central to the project. The screen system uses colour, transparency and repetition to transform the brewery into a stronger architectural expression of the Warka brand. The proposal turns the industrial buildings into part of the company’s visual identity, creating a site that is both productive infrastructure and public image.
The project also explores a careful form of industrial transformation. By working with the existing facilities and adding a new external layer, the proposal avoids unnecessary demolition and focuses on targeted architectural impact. The screen becomes a cost-conscious and material-efficient strategy for renewing the site at the scale of the building envelope.
The design reflects UFO Architecture’s broader interest in adaptive reuse, facade systems, brand environments and the transformation of industrial architecture. Warka Brewery demonstrates how colour, translucency and lightweight cladding can be used to give existing industrial facilities a renewed architectural identity.
As an unbuilt design study, the project proposes a model for industrial architecture where functional production buildings can be reinterpreted as part of a wider brand, environmental and urban experience. The brewery becomes not only a place of manufacture, but a visible and memorable part of the landscape of Warka.
