Yoga Republic:

community studio

2020 - Warsaw

HEALTH

Details

A new home of Yoga Republic in the heart of Warsaw.

The studio at Plac Zbawiciela is a social space where students meet not only to practice yoga but also to deepen bonds and build the YR community. The location is no coincidence - Plac Zbawiciela (Saviour Square) is an urban symbol of diversity, a quality that is equally visible among the people connected to the school.

Space & Community

The primary goal of the project was to create a gathering space that supports the school's collective values. Our design principles focused on naturalness, honesty, and spatial openness.

The result of a co-creation process with YR founders, Przemek and Marta, is an interior that prioritizes user needs: fostering human connections and ensuring comfort for Ashtanga yoga practitioners.

Come in

Crossing the threshold, you drop your coat as class approaches. You immediately sense you have entered a place of harmony; the burden of the day remains outside. It feels intimate and friendly.

This initial user experience was central to our design concept. The vestibule acts as both a reception and an exhibition space, designed to ensure that visitors to this corner of Plac Zbawiciela feel free, relaxed, and "at home" from the moment they arrive.

A place for socialisation

Collaborating with the owners, we identified a need for a casual social space to help build the community. Consequently, the ground floor features a café zone—a nod to our location at Plac Zbawiciela a key social hub of the city.

This café and networking area is free from chaos, providing a moment of breath before or after sessions. It is a green, communal space ready for meeting new people and exchanging experiences. You can leave your shoes at the entrance; you won’t be needing them here.

Ashtanga Zone

Ascending the plant-filled staircase, you arrive at the practice space. Designing this physical activity zone required extensive consultation with the project initiators. Their deep experience in leading the YR community directly shaped the principles of this area.

The Ashtanga space was designed to evoke calm and naturalness. The atmospheric interior allows for deep focus on breath and movement, maintaining the optimal temperature, lighting, and humidity required for this specific yoga technique. An abundance of natural greenery supports this process, providing visual variety and softening the sensory input from the surroundings. Although the vibrant city pulses just outside the windows, inside remains a place for silence and the connection of body and mind.

The Yoga Republic studio in downtown Warsaw is a truly authentic space — an extension of the founders' personalities. The interior is dotted with figurines, rugs, and Indian screens that Przemek and Marta brought back from their travels. Shaping this place would not have been possible without their vision and engagement in the design process.