A unique structure from the era of “ZUS palaces,” it draws on the history of the site instead of reflective blue glazing, stone cladding, and expressive deconstructivist forms. The building, erected in the late 1980s, references the complex of historic granaries—Włocławek, Holland, Bociek, Biały Pies, and Korzec—that stood on this site before World War II. Interestingly, the idea, which we know from later projects in the 1990s as reconstructionism or retroversion, first emerged in Gdańsk two decades earlier, thanks to architect Szczepan Baum. In the 1970s, he created the first design for the ZUS building, which evoked the appearance of the historic granaries from several centuries ago. Baum’s design envisioned a U-shaped building imitating four granaries and a courtyard facing Chmielna Street. These plans were slightly revised in 1976 by Jan Brancewicz, in 1985 by Barbara Markuszewska, and finally completed the same year by Marek Karzyński, who enlarged the building’s volume with two more “granary” segments, bringing their total number to six. Not only does the Gdańsk Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) imitate six separate buildings (from the Motława River), but its walls were not constructed using half-timbered construction – what we see is a mock half-timbered structure with whitewashed or red brick. Address: Chmielna 27/33, Gdańsk.