The"Storm" Action Park in Warsaw's Mokotów district combines seemingly completely opposite functions—commemoration of the city's painful history with recreation and fun. The historical symbolism of the site has not been obliterated, but the park has acquired functional qualities thanks to the reconstruction. Designers from the topoScape and Archigrest studios used rubble and wild greenery as building blocks.
The modernized park was opened on the 79th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, to which many elements of the design refer. From the side of Bartycka Street, at the entrance to the park, an original historical exhibition was realized, telling the story of the rebuilding of Warsaw. The ruins of the capital were exposed here in magnificent gabions, along with information boards. A similar treatment on a smaller scale was used along the renovated steps of the „W” Hour avenue, whose perspective directs the eye toward the contemporary silhouette of the „ruined” center of Warsaw. The exhibition is meant to give a sense of wandering in the labyrinth of the ruins of the destroyed city.
Under the symbol of Fighting Poland
stairs in the park
photo: Krzysztof Babicki © UM Warszawa
The centerpiece of the park is the Warsaw Uprising Mound, on top of which stands a renovated symbol of the Fighting Poland. Seated on a new, rust-colored pedestal, it harmonizes with the austere aesthetics of the park's small architecture. A two-level viewing platform has appeared on the mound itself.
park alley
photo: Krzysztof Babicki © UM Warszawa
The top of the mound can be reached by two routes—stairs with designated resting places and newly built ravines, the walls of which were made of rubble concrete. The material needed for the building blocks was obtained locally during construction. The mound itself was raised years ago from the rubble of the capital.
gullies made of rubble concrete
Warsaw Uprising mound
photo: Krzysztof Babicki © UM Warszawa
The crude walls of the gullies will be taken over by nature in the future, designers predict that over time they will be overgrown with moss. You can learn more about the local flora and fauna from the nature path, along which boards have been installed to provide information on the specifics of ruderal nature, species of pioneer plants colonizing the place. The path's route leads precisely among the trees. You can also enter it or take a stroller from the side of AK Group „North” street, where a dog zone has been created.
accessible park
bird's eye view
Photo: Krzysztof Babicki © UM Warszawa
In the renovated park, a recreational zone for children was created in a vast meadow, equipped with climbing walls, swings and slides and a tyrolean, among other things. Most of the play equipment was made of natural materials. As part of the project, the park has been adapted to the needs of people with disabilities or caregivers with children.
protected wilderness
park development project
© topoScape / Archigrest
An important decision was to preserve wildlife refuges to which humans have limited access. In addition, plantings of more than 450 young park trees and about 8,500 saplings of forest trees were made, and numerous shrubs and perennials of native species also appeared.
zgruzowstanie
visualization of the park and pavilion
© topoScape / Archigrest
The design of the park is the only contemporary project presented at the exhibition "Zgruzowstanie" organized at the Warsaw Museum and curated by Adam Przywara. The authors of the exhibition, dedicated to the historic reconstruction of the capital using rubble from demolished buildings, highlighted the contemporary use of this material in the project to modernize the Warsaw Uprising Mound—one of several artificial hills raised in Warsaw using material exported from the center. It is one of the most visible points on the map of anthropogen, the geological layer of Warsaw shaped by man. In the project prepared by topoScape and Archigrest, the park complex also exposes this material in new buildings—their walls built with the addition of debris from the mound are meant to testify to the history of the place.
ramp in the park
Photo: Krzysztof Babicki © UM Warszawa
