The boulevards on the Slupia River in Slupsk - a new, popular place for rest and recreation - won the competition for the best public space in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The jury also awarded two honorable mentions to projects from Gdynia and Gdansk, and a special prize to an investment from Rumia.
The prizes in the Best Public Space in Pomorskie Voivodeship competition have been awarded since 2005 on the initiative of the voivodeship's local government. In this year's 16th edition, 34 projects were submitted, and nine qualified for the final round.
The main prize was awarded to the boulevards on the Słupia River in Słupsk, realized by the City of Słupsk (project: design team of the Socha company, general contractor: Strabag). The investment, which opened in May 2022, was recognized for "creating a space combining, in the urban dimension, the functionally and structurally diverse fragments of Słupsk's downtown, and creating a new space that is an integral part of the city's urban structure."
In the opinion of the Chapter, this realization is a particularly valuable example of a successful intervention, involving the opening of Słupsk's Downtown to the social, landscape and natural values of the middle section of the Słupia River. At the same time, the intervention has contributed to a complete change in the image of the area by creating an environment for historical objects with important social and cultural functions, as well as by connecting the two banks of the Slupia River with new engineering structures.
Boulevards on the Słupia River
PBPR
A forest park connected two neighborhoods in Gdynia
The competition also awarded two honorable mentions in the category of best urban projects. First-degree honorable mention went to the Forest Park in Oksywie, a pedestrian connection between Upper Oksywie and Lower Oksywie in Gdynia. The investment was carried out by the City of Gdynia and the Social Innovation Laboratory on the basis of a design developed by the CAD Authors' Architecture Studio from Warsaw. However, the basis for the project was the concept of the Kaja Pobereżny Architecture Studio, which was selected in an architectural competition. The general contractor was FB Jelcz from Chwaszczyn.
The project was recognized for "its special utility consisting in a very practical solution to the problem of spatial connection of two parts of the Oksywie district within an area that is not easy in terms of topography and use, which was carried out as part of an in-depth urban planning process."
According to the chapter, despite the leading utilitarian function of the space, the implementation of the project in the formula of an architectural competition made it possible to expose the recreational qualities of the place located within a district with a strongly industrial and military character, thus creating an important landmark and a basis for the development of a new forest park within it for the residents of the dynamically developing northern districts of Gdynia.
Forest Park in Oksywie
PBPR
Honorable mention for the fashionable Garnizon estate
The third level award, however, went to the Garnizon estate. The HOSSA Investment Group is behind the development of the area of the former military barracks in Gdansk Wrzeszcz (designed by the HOSSA Investment Group architectural studio).
The project was recognized as a positive example of shaping public spaces within new urban structures and housing estates. As substantiated by the chapter, "the realization is a valuable example of diversification of the scale and function of public spaces while maintaining a high degree of consistency of the individual stages of implementation of the entire urban planning assumption. By skillfully combining functions, the attractiveness of the entire assumption was increased, creating a space of everyday life not only for the residents of the estate, but an integral part of the urban structure of Gdansk Wrzeszcz."
Garnizon estate
Hossa
New public space within the Markowca Mountain in Rumia
In this year's edition of the competition, the chapter decided to award a special prize for the development of Gora Markowca in Rum ia , realized by the Municipality of Rumia based on a design by the IDeeS Architecture and Landscape studio Izabela Sykta. The general contractor was the MTM Construction and Road Company from Gdynia.
Development of the Markowca Mountain in Rumia
Rumia City Hall
The project was recognized for "a special activity of the local government, involving the creation of a new public space within an area important from the point of view of the identity of the local community, which was originally privately owned and was acquired by the Municipality of Rumia in order to implement the project and make the area more widely available to residents."
The work of the Chapter was headed by Prof. Iwona Dzierżko-Bukal of the Faculty of Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk. The composition of the Chapter: Prof. Karolina Krośnicka - representing the Provincial Urban Planning and Architectural Commission, Dr. Bartosz Macikowsk - chairman of the Council of the Pomeranian Regional Chamber of Architects, Dr. Natalia Balcerzak - president of the board of the Wybrzeże Branch of the Association of Polish Architects, Andrzej Poźniak - president of the board of the Gdańsk Branch of the Society of Polish Town Planners, Dr. Weronika Mazurkiewicz - from the Gdańsk University of Technology and Dr. Anna Galecka-Drozda from the University of Life Sciences in Poznań, representing the Association of Landscape Architecture.
