Photos of the rebuilt market square in Lezajsk appeared all over the Internet a few weeks ago. Here was another realization joining the notorious group of "concrete pans" such as Zakliczyn or Cieszyn. Is such a perception correct?
Robert Tarczynski of the PA Format studio, one of the authors of the project, talks about the design process of the market in Lezajsk, the changes in its layout, the effect of the work and the partly unjust criticism.
Wiktor Bochenek: The market in Lezajsk became "viral" on the Polish Internet for a moment, joining the illustration of the "concretosis" phenomenon. In your opinion, is such a classification correct, or has the market in Lezajsk earned a bad reputation?
Robert Tarczynski (PA Format): The image of the market that has appeared in the media space, of course, perfectly illustrates the phenomenon of betonosis, but completely fails to reflect reality, showing only a fragment of it. In the most famous meme, a photo of a green square on a sunny day was caricatured juxtaposing a photo of an unfinished square from a gray autumn day with pallets still scattered about and no plantings. Meanwhile, the market square in Lezajsk is a much larger area than the one the media focused on. The entire eastern sub-area that is an integral part of it, mostly landscaped with greenery, is already overlooked because it doesn't fit the thesis, and this is, however, strongly detrimental to the market. This part is almost absent from the photos.
project implementation
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Wiktor: What did the square look like before you created the new design?
Robert: Let's remember that we are not dealing here with a square, but with a market, a place that has its own history, genesis and identity. One of the driving forces and reasons for the changes was the need to restore the historical dimension of the place. The market at the time we started designing was, in addition to access streets and a provincial road with a traffic circle, which is absurd in such a place, developed with two squares, parking lots, a plaza for garbage containers, and a public toilet. Both squares were even surrounded by parking lots, a mass of cars parked in a more or less chaotic manner, the whole was far from the idyllic image of a green oasis, especially the square in the southern (western) part. The lack of services typical of markets, restaurants or food gardens, made the market dead, the squares deserted, the benches empty, and the whole thing severely neglected. The authorities' diagnosis, which preceded the analysis, and which in our observations was confirmed, was that the existing way of development, the structure of services, made social activity disappear, and the market is a heavily socially and economically degraded area. In fact, it served as a large parking lot for the surrounding stores and the adjacent city hall.
project implementation
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Wiktor: Doesn't the provincial road cutting through the market undercut certain functions? Has the local government thought at all about restricting vehicular traffic around the market?
Robert: This is a curiosity, because in all the storm around Lezhaisk, no one has pointed out that the market is cut by a provincial road with a huge traffic circle, taking up ¼ of the space, with a lot of traffic, which is a real curiosity in such a place. Nor does anyone insist on taking this traffic out of the market, giving back this space. Our attempts during the design of the traffic restriction, the reclassification of this road came to nothing, the local government was also helpless and the topic was quickly closed.
In the market itself, traffic should also, in our opinion, be kept to a minimum, as should parking spaces, if we are serious about restoring life and improving the quality of this place. Unfortunately, in this regard, the authorities met with a lot of resistance from residents, or rather businessmen, and it was also at their request that the entrance to the traffic circle from the south was restored.
visualization of the project
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Wiktor: How was the greenery organized in this space?
Robert: Here we have to go back to the main conditions of the competition. One of the basic conditions was, in addition to restoring the market to its historical function, to create a place for organizing artistic, historical, social events. To give back the space taken over by cars and neglected to the residents, to enliven the place by creating a square, which Leżajsk lacked for events, concerts, meetings. A place for food gardens, shows, exhibitions, performances, social activation. There were two squares in the market, so the decision to give up some of the space occupied by greenery to realize these goals seemed right. Especially in the context of the neighborhood of Jordan Park and extensive green areas within a few minutes' walk from the market.
Thegreenery was therefore left and enriched in the eastern part, while in the western part it was replaced with plantings of isolating greenery along the perimeter, but without trees in the center of the square housing the stage and space for gardens and spectators. Located in the eastern part of the square, Fr. Lubas' square is an almost entirely green area, with tall trees, from which the dreaded toilets have disappeared, thanks to plunging them completely into the ground and covering them with a green roof. The parking lot has been reduced, and the yard for garbage containers has been eliminated. The square, which has gained in quality thanks to appropriate treatments, unfortunately doesn't appear in the photos, even though it is part of it and forms an integral whole with it. Perhaps because it doesn't fit the concourse thesis, even though it is separated from the part with the stage by several tens of meters.
photos before revitalization
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We should add that the square is an area equivalent to almost half of the market square in Kielce, two-thirds of the Five Corners Square in Warsaw, and, significantly, each tree cut down has found itsequivalent in the form of planting a new one. Nearly 2,000 sq. m. of green space in the context of the 2,500 sq. m. square in the western part is rather noteworthy. In addition to the trees left behind, a total of 52 new deciduous trees were planted, which is significantly more than were cut down.
As a side note, 12 of the cut trees were overgrown thuyas, which even in the instructional video "Landscape of my city" released by the National Heritage Institute as part of a public campaign on urban space planning, the president of the Jordan Land Lovers Society Stanislaw Bednarz describes brutally - "The square is not a cemetery, the place of thuyas is in the cemetery." Controversial, but that's one of the reasons why, as indicated during the post-campaign consultation, they were cut down and replaced with deciduous species. Unfortunately, the budget of Lezajsk did not allow for the planting of mature trees, so the effect of the green elements of the market still has to wait.
project visualization
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Wiktor: In my article I wrote about "frying eggs" on concrete squares in Poland, which are losing their functions. What social and non-social functions does the town hall in Lezajsk have?
Robert: Frying scrambled eggs is a happening to draw attention to the problem we have with the climate, with hydrological changes, the need to change the way we organize public spaces, respond to rising temperatures, and show that this is not the way to go. We completely agree that this is even more of a necessity than a choice, which can be evidenced by our recent projects, such as the development of areas in Ruciane-Nida, but also putting Leżajsk in a row with markets in Zakliczyn, Cieszyn or Gniezno is a complete misunderstanding, clear to anyone willing to verify the information duplicated on the Internet.
The role of the town hall in Lezajsk as a place of governance is now to further stimulate and activate the place. It will depend on the authorities and residents whether and how many gardens and events will be created here, whether the space will start to live, how much it will be adjusted to new needs, as such adjustments may prove necessary, whether the structure of services around the market will change and how local entrepreneurs will benefit from the potential.
Theopen space allows not only to organize a concert or a show, but also, for example, fairs, sports tournaments, an ice rink in winter, Christmas markets, street theater shows, cinema, various events, re-enactments, rallies, etc. Events that have so far bypassed Lezajsk, among other things, due to lack of space, organized in a variety of ways, at different times of the year.
photos before revitalization
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Wiktor: How did the revitalization of the market from the urban side affect the adjacent street?
Robert: The breakthrough has not occurred. Although it has been possible to completely rebuild the stormwater drainage system in the market and a few hundred meters outside it, it has not been possible to move traffic out, change the qualification of the provincial road, significantly reduce the number of parking spaces, although they have been reorganized, so the impact on the adjacent streets, for now, is small.
The transformations are probably just beginning. Last year, we developed a concept for transforming the adjacent Blacharska, Żwirki i Wigury and Jaszowski Square streets, i.e. a huge area in the immediate vicinity of the market, into a woonerf as a complementary element of the revitalization. A woonerf is a street given over to pedestrians, with slowed traffic, dominant greenery, minimal parking, but also covered with flowers and shrubs. The streets would become green enclaves, unfortunately, it turns out that while cutting down greenery raises objections, planting greenery at the expense of parking spaces, raises even more, so the investment is in question.
A woonerf designed in the immediate vicinity of the market square
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Wiktor: This is a project from 2016, a lot has changed since then. Would you design the Leżajsk market in a different way today?
Robert: Probably yes, but let's go back to 2016.
2016 is not yet the time when environmental awareness, the need to protect the climate, is brought to the fore. This is the year when Solidarity Square in Szczecin, by current standards fulfilling all the hallmarks of the stigmatized "concrete", is showered with awards and is hailed as the best public space in Europe. Such a direction of opening space for people seems right and expected.
Thesea of concrete we're all proud of - no, I'm not going to criticize it, because it's a great project - will undergo an "ecolifting" today, but I want to bring it up to better understand the context of these times and how much recent climate change is changing the perspective from which we judge such places.
During the consultations and post-competition changes, we created more than six concepts for Lezajsk, implementing the recommendations of the National Heritage Institute, the Provincial Office for Historic Preservation, the Investor and the residents.
Wiktor: What did all the concepts have in common?
Robert: The recommendations were unequivocal, we should concentrate the greenery in the eastern part. The western square must relate more strongly to the historic market, both in terms of pavement, volume and greenery. There is no way to move traffic out of the square, and the biggest problem for residents was the restriction of parking spaces. In the end, the concept, as a compromise, reached today's shape, which at the time seemed reasonable and combining the expectations of all parties, especially that the parking lot on the west side should be two or even three times larger.
And so in 2022, being aware of climate change, further hydrologists' reports, we would probably do the project a bit differently, with more greenery also in the western part, but leaving the open, important, city-forming space around the stage and for events. Probably the program and guidelines in the competition today would also be different. The example of Solidarity Square in Szczecin shows that sometimes it's worth reaching for amendments even in a newly realized space, although we understand that sometimes other conditions, such as the project's shelf life, don't allow it.
The authorities of Leżajsk also have a concept with an analysis of underground infrastructure and possible places to supplement the western slab of the market with greenery, which we made and handed over to the city at the beginning of the year, and which it can at any time, if EU institutions allow it and there is a need - use and implement independently or together with the transformation of adjacent streets into a woonerf.
Most projects with such a protracted implementation in time require corrections and changes, but while in the case of private investors such changes can be made quickly, to the benefit of facilities, owners and users, it is no longer so easy in the case of public procurement. The fact that something can be done better and more functionally is unfortunately not a sufficient argument, and procurers, even seeing the need for corrections, must stick to the original solutions in order not to violate the law and risk subsidies.
Wiktor: Thank you for the interview.
