E9_jury's report

JURY´S REPORT
european urbanity - sustainable city and new urban spaces
EUROPAN 9
WARSZAWA
WARSZAWA
A closer look at the design makes clear that the arrangements are not of an
arbitrary nature, but, with their “patchwork strategy”, they very precisely
reflect the contextual disarray of the surroundings and lend power to their qualities
without falsely harmonising or “straightening” them. The fragmentary
nature and polymorphism enable a phase-by-phase realisation. What has been
discussed with some controversy, is whether the design is rather meant as a
strategic contribution that advocates “fewer rules achieve more” and an open
development from “case to case”, or whether it deals with morphological
arrangements which are prescribed and not open for negotiation. The fact that
precisely this debate is kicked off at this site with these means is seen as a
quality however and, what is more, it is also indisputable that this project represents
in both interpretations a courageous, unconventional approach that is
dealt with virtuously and precisely.
MM 321 Warsaw
The author of this design is obviously fascinated by the poetic qualities of this
“terrain vague” and therefore does not propose a complete re-planning of the
competition area, but four groups of buildings in the forms of rows which act
like fragments flushed from the cut caused by the railway to the edge of the
city. Not only a hard border between city and wasteland, but a transition zone,
an area of porousness is intended. The author attempts to anchor the rows of
buildings more tightly to the site by placing them parallel to the existing building
lines. The four groups are joined up by glass bridges designed as large
public conservatories with Mediterranean plants, or by rows of tower blocks
that should create both space and identity. A mixed utilisation is planned for
the building which includes, in addition to offices and shops, child day-care
centres and common areas, although residential utilisation should dominate.
The position of the sun, lighting and shadow as well as the appropriate plants
are investigated in detail. The lack of private open spaces is seen with some
criticism, while the concentration of parking spaces in two strips and the exclusive
access of the Pradzynskiego are seen as positive because, in this way, the
intermediate spaces can be kept as homogeneous areas with vegetation. The
ring railway tracks will be laid underground thus removing a barrier within the
“terrain vague”.
All in all, the jury is won over by the sensitive creation of space, which balances
the openness and indefiniteness on the one hand, as well as order and proportionateness,
in an uninhibited way; moreover, the design enables a phase-byphase
realisation and programmatic adjustment in the face of changing conditions.
AR 002 four rooms
The project regards the town as an archipelago – every island is distinguished
by its own composition and its own character. The town district of Czyste is
dealt with as one of these islands. The already existing diversity of forms and
functions is seen as motivation to introduce a new organising principle into the
area.
Four long elevated building bars structure the space diagonally to the existing
street. This solution connects the neighbouring building and open space structures
in a way that is respectful.
This strategy can have both model character for growth in the city within
clearly defined boundaries and can represent an expedient upgrading of
modern terraced housing estates (of which there are many in Poland and Warsaw).
However, the new construction of elevated housing rows, which copy this type
of housing from the sixties without criticism, is discussed very controversially
by the jury.
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