Once part of the Gdańsk Shipyard, a vast terrain used to produce ships and where the country’s anti-authoritarian ‘Solidarity Movement’ was born, Hall 31B has reopened as a cultural ecosystem rooted in reuse and reinvention. Established in the late 19th century and reborn in the summer of 2025 after extensive renovation, the hall — having taken on more roles than most buildings see in a lifetime, from wood drying plant, to boxing gym, mess hall, office and more — has found its next and most creative calling.
Today its upper level hosts Grid Arthub, a non-commercial creative space defined by its resourceful approach to reclaimed materials and an ethos that values process as much as output. Below, Dust Kitchen’s less-waste vegetarian menu, Plot Social Club, and the offices of the Gdańsk Tourism Organization create a mixed programme that subsidises the artists on the first floor; supporting Poland’s expanding creative sector with favourable rents and an ongoing calendar of cultural activity.
Inside, the approach to materiality is unusually rigorous. The striking wooden floor was rescued from the Olympic Training Centre in Cetniewo, and arrived only after a long search for 1,000 square metres of adhesive-free boards that could be salvaged intact. They were lifted by hand, stored, cleaned and relaid without sanding, sports markings left intact. Elsewhere, window glazing comes from dismantled skylights, stoneware tiles have been reclaimed, and handles, countertops and partitions have been shaped from recycled plastic. Even the vivid red and green details originate from shredded drinks crates collected from a neighbouring bar.
Elements that couldn’t be recovered were built on site using simple construction methods and occasionally open-source designs. Architect Filip Kozarski of IPA studio created pieces designed to be dismantled and repurposed, including a bold red table, a yellow shelving structure of formwork panels and scaffolding pipes, and a corrugated-metal bulletin board. The result is a functional framework that’s ready for future shifts.
“Grid Arthub provides a new level of security and comfort for local artists. Not only do they finally have central heating, running water, etc. but also a ten year contract, which is uncommon in heavily gentrified areas” notes Alicja Jabłonowska, founder of Grid Arthub and Plot Social Club. “Some of our residents include Mariusz Waras, a street artist known globally for his project called m-city,and PB/Studio an architecture company, which recently got nominated with Ipreferanalog and studiomania for the Mies van der Rohe prize.”
Standing as a rare cultural stronghold in a district shaped by rapid change, Grid Arthub Gdańsk is a place where community can form, evolve and carry the story of the old shipyard into its next chapter.
@grid.arthub
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Hall 31B Grid Arthub Gdańsk Photography, PION STUDIO.
