Preparations are underway for the construction of Central Square on Warsaw's Plac Defilad. Warsaw's main public space will stretch between the Palace of Culture, the Museum of Modern Art and TR Theater under construction, and Marszalkowska Street. A green flower bed has been realized on a small part of the premise , which shows what the place will look like in the future.
The design of the new arrangement of the space called Central Square was selected in an architectural competition held in 2017. The jury, chaired by Marlena Happach and including Dariusz Hyc, Robert Konieczny, Joanna Mytkowska and Bogna Świątkowska, chose the work prepared by the A-A Collective team of Zygmunt Borawski, Srdjan Zlokapa and Martin Marker Larsen for implementation. Their proposal departs from the symmetrical assumption represented by most of the awarded works, which emphasizes the Palace of Culture and the rank of the space, drawing attention to the historical layering of the square itself and its difficult history.
Visualization of the Central Square project
photo: A-A Collective
The floor of the new square will mark the former buildings and the course of the streets. Their shape will determine the various use zones and the character of the space - from a water pond, to urban squares, to green flower beds. How the greenery in the new square will be shaped can already be seen today.
On a fragment of the square next to the Palace of Culture and Science itself, next to the Studio Theater, the organizers of the Plac Defilad project have cleared about 40 square meters of space to realize a fragment of the design of the future square on the freed area. Designers and designers from A-A Collective and Marta Tomasiak's Landscape Architecture Studio are responsible for the concept of the flower bed arrangement. 350 plants of various species have been planted there, creating an attractive, dense greenery. The project is being carried out in cooperation with the Bęc Zmiana and Puszka Foundations and the Centrala Group, and is curated by Aleksandra Litorowicz and Bogna Świątkowska.
Visualization of the Central Square project
photo by A-A Collective
All of this is taking place within the framework of the New Neighborhood Square, which is a series of meetings and conversations revolving around today's important topics: urbanity oriented towards overcoming crises, meeting new neighbors and neighbors from Ukraine, as well as recognizing and nurturing urban greenery and interspecies neighborhoods.
