We know the winners of the architecturaland urban design competition for the development of the Main Market Square and the New Market Square, together with Kanonicka Street connecting them, in Kalisz.
Thecompetition organized by the City of Kalisz and the Poznan branch of SARP concerned an area located in the very center of Kalisz. The area under consideration includes: representative space (Main Market Square), access to the cathedral (Kanonicka Street), serviceand commercial zone (New Market Square) and passage through the recreational zone (City Planty).
The Competition Jury, chaired by Dr. Maciej Hawrylak, awarded three prizes and two equivalent distinctions.
1st prize
The competition was won by the Wroclaw studio Roman Rutkowski Architekci, composed of: Roman Rutkowski, Łukasz Modrzejewski and Konrad Zaborski. The award was given for, among other things:
A clear, coherent, very economical in means of expression, and at the same time extremely elegant and comprehensive idea responding to the needs of the city and its residents. The accuracy of spatial decisions goes hand in hand with the appropriate selection of proposed material solutions (e.g., the asphalt surface in the New Market), without exaggerating the excessively elaborate detail of the pavement or urban furniture, which allows to maintain the right balance between the floor and urban walls shaping the historic city.
1st prize, proj.: Roman Rutkowski Architekci; projection.
© Roman Rutkowski Architekci
The project prepared by the studio involves organizing the space of the Market Square, emphasizing its historical qualities and the axiality of the establishment, as well as exposing the City Hall building. An important element of the Main Square is the existing well, around which the architects designed gradually arranged granite circles. A reference to this form is the green hill of several steps proposed in the New Market area. In the New Market area, the architects also proposed a year-round market, a partial canopy and an open square.
1st prize, proj.: Roman Rutkowski Architekci; left: Main Market, right: Nowy Rynek
© Roman Rutkowski Architekci
The designers proposed removing the trees growing near the city hall and planting new ones at equal intervals directly on each frontage of the Main Square. Thus, the new greenery is to emphasize the geometry of the space and be a contemporary interpretation of the Greater Poland tradition of planting low trees with spherical crowns in the market squares. In turn, the space of the New Market was defined by rows of trees on the longer sides of the square.
1st prize, design: Roman Rutkowski Architekci; Nowy Rynek, bird's eye visualization.
© Roman Rutkowski Architekci
According to the authors of the project, in order to develop a concept for Kanonicka Street, it is necessary to think comprehensively about the entire old town of Kalisz. That's why the architects proposed six sample solutions for streets of different widths and for different purposes (carriageways with sidewalks, without parking spaces, with parking spaces on one side, withparking spaces on two sides, pedestrianand roadways, pedestrian routes, with and without trees) so as to first develop a coherent policy for shaping the floors in the Old Town area, and then carry out the design of Kanonicka Street.
1st prize, proj.: Roman Rutkowski Architekci; street variants
© Roman Rutkowski Architekci
For the entire area, the architects designed a set of simple urban furniture adapted to the different parts of the center of Kalisz - lamps, benches, trash garbage cans, bicycle racks, information boards and tree trellises.
2nd prize
The second prize went to the concept of the Warsaw design initiative composed of: Piotr Straszak, Mikołaj Zdanowski, Iwona Pawlak, Anna Woźny and Szymon Chwazik. The project was awarded for, among other things:
creating coherent and attractive spaces of the New Market and the Main Square, using economical means. The authors of the work proposed a correct and consistent zoning of functions in the New Market area, through which they created an orderly, disciplined and friendly character of the place, while allowing the use of the New Market for occasional and mass events.
2nd prize, proj.: design initiative; site plan
© design initiative
As the authors of the concept noted, both squares and Kanonicka Street connecting them, despite their rank and potential, are characterized by a chaotic distribution of random functions, an imbalance between open and built space, and a confusion of vehicular and pedestrian communication. This gives the feeling that the three urban spaces, are not places you go to, but places you pass through. The goal of the design initiative team's proposed development was to make changes that would make the space of the two markets an attractive meeting place that would provide opportunities for economic activity, social and cultural activities at the same time.
2nd prize, proj.: design initiative; Main Market, axonometry
© design initiative
On the Main Square, in front of City Hall, the architects designed a new nodal point - a fountain with seating, which commemorates the location of the historic cast. On Kanonicka Street, the designers proposed abandoning automobile traffic in favor of pedestrians, and transformed the New Market into a square with new market and café buildings adjacent to it. The architects connected the entire premise with homogeneous flooring and equipped it with urban furniture dedicated to this space.
3rd prize
The third place was awarded to Wroclaw-based Maćków Pracownia Projektowa, composed of: Zbigniew Maćków, Mariusz Maury, Paweł Karpa, Agata Kowalczyk, Alicja Mołyń, Anna Puchała and Małgorzata Radaj. The work was awarded for, among other things:
making existing urban spaces more legible and orderly, enriching them with interesting details and subordinating communication to pedestrian traffic. [...] A fountain in front of the Town Hall was proposed for the Market Square, and the cast exposed by archaeologists was elevated above the floor as an additional element of small architecture. Kanoniczna Street was adapted for pedestrian traffic with a new leveled floor.
3rd prize, designed by Maćków Pracownia Projektowa; left: Main Market Square, right: New Market Square.
© Maćków Pracownia Projektowa
equivalent distinctions
The jury also awarded two, equal honorable mentions to UK architects Sylwia Sobkowiak-Kani, Jaroslaw Kani and Karim Baaziz, and to the team of Wiekiera Architekci Filip Wie kiera studio from Kalisz.
The concept of the team consisting of: Sylwia Sobkowiak-Kania, Jaroslaw Kania and Karim Baaziz was awarded for, among other things:
the courage to think about the development of the city of Kalisz and determine both the potential of the New Market and the new use of this part of the city.
Equal honorable mention for the team of the studio Wiekiera Architekci Filip Wiekiera was awarded, among other things, for the solution of the Market and Kanonicka Street. According to the jury, the correct reading of the scale of the Main Square and the spatial relationships of the objects constituting its development results in the reduction of the elements located there, leaving only the town hall building (and the peripheral small architecture) and the flower bed, whose historical form, in this place, is very important for many residents of Kalisz.
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Illustrations courtesy of the studio: Roman Rutkowski Architekci, Design Initiative and Maćków Pracownia Projektowa
and Kalisz City Hall
