Honorable mention (ex aequo)

category: diploma design work
5000 zlotys

author
Mateusz Modzelewski

Title
"Development of Grodzka Island in Szczecin. Heterotopia of the garden as a narrative developing the potential of the island"

university
West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Faculty of Architecture.

promoter
Dr. Leszek Świątek

opinion of the jury
The jury ofthe competition awarded a distinction to the work for taking up and interesting solution to the subject of development and making available to the public
space of allotment gardens as an important component of urban areas. The functional and aesthetic value of allotment garden areas often located in the central fragments of Polish cities repeatedly determines the spatial quality of these areas. This
in many cases is the reason for the great commercial investment pressure, and the concept presented in the highlighted project of area-small and at the same time functionally different architectural interventions is an exemplary way of giving these areas a usable potential, which is the basis for their protection against their transformation into enclaves closed to a wider group of users.

Giving undeveloped fragments of allotment gardens the character of public spaces
public spaces, armed with value-enhancing social infrastructure, is an important voice in the discussion of how to solve the
social problem of protecting urban green areas from appropriation by commercial investors, which makes the
the project is an interesting proposal of how to give space social values.

Thanks to the proposed solutions, the author builds towards the owners of allotment gardens a utility offer, which, through its functional multithreading, will be a driving force for the creation of significant and diverse interpersonal ties between them, becoming an expected axis for the socialization of this group, and through the openness of the proposal opens an analogous possibility for the creation of similar relations with other residents of the city.

An additional, but at the same time important value of the work is the quality of the proposed architectural solutions, which, through their
their conciseness, are an example of the possibility of achieving significant values in the conditions of low-budget investments. The project also shows the possibility of giving a distinctive architectural character to a space that, due to its inherent development, is not an orderly space and, prior to the intervention proposed in the project, is not characterized by a coherent aesthetic expression.