One of the main arteries in Warsaw's Bródno district will be transformed into the Avenue of a Thousand Trees. The green boulevard designed by WXCA will occupy the area above the eastern section of Metro Line II, which is currently under construction.
design workshop
Preliminary visualization of Kondratowicza Street
photo: Warsaw City Hall
The origins of the concept to transform Kondratowicza Street date back to 2015. At that time, the Warsaw Branch of SARP, commissioned by the City of Warsaw, organized a design workshop to indicate directions for the future development of the street. Five teams prepared their own concepts for the transformation based on accepted assumptions, requests from residents obtained during the open workshop and comments from experts formulated during internal design reviews.
common recommendations
Current plan of Kondratowicza Street after reconstruction
photo: Warsaw City Hall
On the basis of the analysis of the work of the project teams, the discussions organized around the projects and the workshops with residents , guidelines for the concept of a modern center of Bródno were formulated, including, above all, postulates:
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transformation of Kondratowicza Street into an urban street with orderly service frontages and lower technical parameters (lower functional class);
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the formation of a sequence of public spaces of varied character at the junction of Kondratowicza Street, Rembielińska Street and the axis of Bródnowski Park;
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connecting park greenery and islands of neighborhood greenery through green pedestrian routes;
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delineation of investment areas with a service program along Kondratowicza Street, thanks to the narrowing of the area of the street, without interfering with the internal structure of the estate and the park space;
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supplementing parking spaces for current residents and protecting those using the subway for further travel from the onslaught of vehicles.
The results of this work, the concepts themselves and the general guidelines developed provided recommendations for the planned activities related to the modernization of Kondratowicza Street after the construction of the second subway line station in Targówek.
boulevard and center
Construction of the Kondratowicza subway station
Photo: Warsaw Metro
In 2018, Warsaw authorities announced a tender for design work to result in a concrete vision for the 3-kilometer stretch of the street. It was won by the WXCA studio, and it is its project that is now entering the implementation stage. L. Kondratowicza Street is changing along the entire key section, i.e. from Rembielinska Street to St. Vincent Street. New stations of the second subway line will await residents at each of the two ends. A local center is planned near the final Bródno station.
avenue of a thousand trees
Construction of the Bródno subway station
Photo: Warsaw Metro
The60-meter-wide avenue, one of the main arteries of the Targówekdistrict, provides ample room for designers. A wide green belt between the roadways (a reserve for an unrealized streetcar line), side pedestrian spaces and the proximity of the Bródnowski Park are expected to turn this place into the green backbone of the neighborhood. Existing rows of trees will be supplemented and expanded. More than 700 of them will appear , mainly maples, hornbeams and lindens. Today there are about 300 in this section.
intimate squares
Visualization of Kondratowicza Street
photo: Warsaw City Hall
High greenery will be supplemented by 136,000 shrubs of various species and flower meadows. Along the street about 100 benches will be placed in small, "pocket" squares giving a sense of intimacy in this vast space. A large square planned by the Bródno subway station will have a more urban, open character, and a multi-level Park&Ride parking lot with a skate park on the roof, designed by Innebo Architects, will be built next to it. Dozens of trees and thousands of shrubs are also planned for the area of single-family housing surrounding the Zacisze station.
bike paths
A visualization of the Targówek P+R parking lot
photo: UM Warszawa
The surrounding network of bicycle routes will under go a major transformation. Two two-way bicycle paths, each 3 meters wide, will appear between subway stations. This means that the existing route on the south side will be rebuilt to a modern standard, i.e. with better mileage and a level asphalt surface. On the north side of the street, meanwhile, a second one of equally high quality will be built, which will provide bicycle access to numerous residential areas and a connection to St. Vincent Street. A set of bicycle crossings has been provided at all intersections and along additional pedestrian crossings between Rembielińska and Malborska streets. Along L. Kondratowicza Street there will be exactly 235 bicycle racks, i.e. space for 470 bicycles, with special attention paid to capacious bicycle parking at subway stations.
Visualization of Kondratowicza Street
Photo: Warsaw City Hall
