Every great studio has a founding story. BM Warsaw's is not one moment but many. A city in transformation. A studio that refused to stand still. And people who came for a few years and never really left. Today, that same studio is shaping cities from Abu Dhabi to Calgary. Broadway Malyan Warsaw turns 25. Here's what three of its designers want you to know.
Origins
It started with shopping centres.
"Warsaw studio was part of Broadway Malyan's second wave of international expansion," says Principal Robert Kaminski. "The retail market was moving fast. Nobody could have predicted what would come next."
What came next would test the studio, reshape its ambition and ultimately define it. But in those early years, Warsaw was exactly what it was built to be, a responsive, talented studio moving at pace with one of Europe's most dynamic retail markets.
The Pivot
What came next was a financial crisis, a deliberate pivot, and two decades of reinvention.
Director of Architecture Antoni Konarski joined in 2005, just three years before everything changed. "The 2008 crisis prompted a clear strategic decision to diversify. We deliberately targeted sectors we hadn't previously operated in, healthcare, aviation and commercial development, and competed directly with long-established specialists. The pivot proved highly successful."
It wasn't luck. It was a conscious decision to back the Warsaw studios talent, and it changed the course of the studio entirely.
Left: Nova Waltrovka, Prague
The Gateway
"What's often missing in masterplanning is technical rigour," says Director of Masterplanning Lia Bezerra. "We create beautiful imagery, but we also deliver. That combination builds lasting trust, with planning authorities, sub-consultants and clients who keep coming back."
Antoni sees it in the work itself. "We're not just a concept studio. We partner from brief to handover. Across 20-plus countries. Clients notice that, and they come back."
Northern Europe is the next frontier. The connections are already there. The talent is already here.
The Culture
Today, Broadway Malyan Warsaw is 80% female, and that's no accident.
"It mirrors Poland's architecture schools, around 70% female graduates, but it also reflects something more deliberate about how this studio is led" says Robert.
"Flexible working isn't a perk here," says Lia. "It's how we keep exceptional people. When colleagues see real flexibility and respect for their lives outside work, they stay. "
"Most of us have been here over a decade," adds Antoni. "Boomerang employees. Long breaks followed by strong returns. I think we just genuinely like each other."
The Ambition
From mixed-use urban quarters across Poland to masterplanning entire new communities in the Gulf and East Africa, the scale of ambition at Broadway Malyan Warsaw keeps growing.
"Clients want experiences now, not square footage," says Antoni. "Quality over quantity. That shift is accelerating."
From a retail park in East Warsaw to cities across three continents. From a handful of people to a growing studio that consistently delivers. From a gateway city to a gateway practice, for Northern Europe and the world.
The next 25 years will be defined by four things: Projects. People. Planet. Innovation.
The Future
Projects that transform how retail, workplace and urban environments are experienced not just delivered. People grown from within, with mentorship already shaping the next generation of designers leading studio projects today. Planet-level thinking, with masterplanning at a scale that genuinely shapes communities and long-term environments, from Jubail to Muscat Structure Plan, from Warsaw's rapidly evolving neighbourhoods to sustainable city expansions that outlast any single commission.
And innovation, embraced without hesitation.
"We don't resist new things," says Lia. "Bring it on. That's always been our approach."
Robert agrees. "AI won't replace us, it amplifies the depth of knowledge that's been building here for 25 years. And in Warsaw, that depth is very real."
Twenty-five years in and the ambition is stronger than ever. Here's to the next chapter of Broadway Malyan Warsaw.