It's not uncommon for officials to ask themselves how to make use of areas that have been created after mining activities. Krakow has given residents a bathing area on Zakrzówek, and Jaworzno an Arboretum. In Ulina Wielka, on the other hand, a multifunctional Recreation Center was built. See what the Ulina Park designed by {tag:pracownie} looks like and offers.
For decades,the quarry in Ulina Wielka met the needs of the surrounding communities for limestone and marl, used it to pave roads and build fences. The quarry extracted more than just raw material - many specimens of prehistoric animals, including ammonites and sea urchins, and Neolithic tools were also found there. In recent years, the stone deposits began to run out, and in 2020 the quarry was finally extinguished. What was left behind was a large gap in the landscape, which the municipality of Golcza decided to develop for the benefit of local residents. How was the defunct quarry in Ulina Wielka developed?
Ulina Park in Ulina Wielka
Photo: Tomasz Prokop © ARP Manecki Architects
swimming pool, cinema and butterfly house
There were 43 hectares to develop. Despite such a large area of land, no scrap of space went to waste. Ulina Park, as the new recreation center was named, has quite a lot to offer visitors. There are two swimming pools, an artificial reservoir with fountains and a footbridge, a restaurant, a cinema and even a butterfly house. Situating so many attractions in the quarry required appropriate infrastructure, which was the responsibility of ARP Manecki Architects, a Krakow-based studio.
Ulina Park in Ulina Wielka
Photo: Tomasz Prokop © ARP Manecki Architekci
road to the quarry
The complex was created in two stages - the first of which took care of the immediate surroundings, making the quarry area a safe and easily accessible place. At a cost of more than PLN 4 million, the area was cleaned up, new access roads were built and lighting was installed. A second building was to be constructed to house, among other things, two auditoriums: an auditorium and a conference room, a butterfly house and a restaurant. Construction work began last spring, and in August this year Ulina Park was visited by its first users.
Ulina Park in Ulina Wielka
Photo: Tomasz Prokop © ARP Manecki Architects
up to four times a piece
A building with a rather unusual floor plan has been constructed on the quarry site. The buildings of Ulina Park are in fact four cuboidal, elongated blocks, which were connected by a common thoroughfare in the form of a transverse connector. On the southwestern side, the pavilions are perched on a rock, while on the opposite side their blocks are overhung by a slope descending into the quarry. In this part, each wall has large-area glazing, providing adequate interior lighting and a view of the quarry surrounding the buildings.
Ulina Park in Ulina Wielka
Photo: Tomasz Prokop © ARP Manecki Architects
The form of the building as a whole was dictated by its rich and varied functional program and unusual location. The latter posed some difficulties:
The biggest challenge during the design was to integrate the multipurpose pavilion into the slope of the quarry. Interspersing elements of the facility with the limestone rock, disturbed by years of mining activities, required the development of unusual solutions to make both the facility and its surroundings safe for users.
- write the architects.
The quarry, while picturesque, had previously posed a danger to visitors.
The most important part of this project was to develop a system to prevent stones from falling off the walls.
- Explains Mateusz Manecki, chief designer of the building.
The unusual spatial layout, in turn, is a consequence of locating several different attractions in the building:
The four-divided composition of the building's masses results from the division of the building's function. Each part was designed so that it could function both together and independently of each other.
- explains Daniel Targosz, one of the architects responsible for the project.
Postapo in Ulin
The buildings were covered with weathering steel, a material that is both durable and changes its aesthetic qualities over time. Its rust color corresponds to the surroundings of the stone quarry, whose limestone slope, thanks to the presence of iron oxides, has orange discoloration. The geometric forms of the buildings, the large glazing and the rusty facade of Ulina Park are associated with a post-apocalyptic aesthetic.
Ulina Park in Ulina Wielka
Photo: Tomasz Prokop © ARP Manecki Architects
Ulina is going strong
The new buildings at Ulina Park are just the beginning of an investment that will expand to include other attractions in the future. The municipality plans to build a rope park, a rock maze, an artificial ice rink, bicycle paths and a service center with a special effects simulator. Will this be enough to attract visitors to the small village?
Ulina Park in Ulina Wielka
© ARP Manecki Architects
what's too much is unhealthy
Probably yes, but observing the way the municipality plans to develop the complex, the saying "what's too much is unhealthy" comes to mind. The buildings of Ulina Park, although efficiently blended into the landscape and minimalist in their form, function to the accompaniment of an inflatable slide, polychrome butterfly figures, a queue straight out of an amusement park, and miniature excavators that are enclosed in metal cages. It's hard to imagine what the area will look like when more buildings and an ice rink appear on it. After all, not only the functionality, but also the aesthetics of the spaces we inhabit affect how we use them and how we feel.
