Kielce's Market Square will soon change its appearance. The square, which was rebuilt a decade ago, will finally feature greenery, shade and recreation areas. What has changed over the past few years, how to improve someone else's design and what challenges designers face are told by designers from MamArchitekci.
Kacper Kepinski: You are designing a new way to develop the Market Square in Kielce. Its last redevelopment a decade ago did not stand the test of time. What has changed so much in the approach to the design of public spaces that recently modernized squares have to undergo another metamorphosis?
Malgorzata Borys, Ewa Potapow, mamArchitekci: It is clear that a lot has changed. First of all, the approach of the Contracting Authority (local governments and public administration units) and conservation services has changed. But this change is a consequence of pressure from the public, activists, residents, local media. Only a dozen years ago there were voices denying the existence of the phenomenon of global warming, while today, experienced by the heat of recent years, fires consuming forests, record temperatures in urban centers,no one is discussing globalwarming anymore.
The necessity of greening cities is reaching people's consciousness - and the response to these voices is precisely the attitude of local governments, which a few years after revitalization are taking further action. I believe that this is the only right direction, and I am very pleased that it is becoming more and more common.
photo: mamArchitekci / UM Kielce
We write about the project to green the market in the article: From concourse, through urban living room to green oasis in Kielce's Market Square
Kacper Kepinski: As part of the project, do you cooperate with the designers of the recent redevelopment? How relevant are copyright issues here ?
mamArchitekci: Our project was based primarily on the guidelines of the City Architect, who also actively participated in the first revitalization. We do not cooperate with the designer himself, i.e. Chodor-Projekt Sp. z o.o., although we had the opportunity to talk. At every step, however, we emphasize the value of what has been done, and with our changes we fit into the existing development of the Market by creating enclaves of greenery as a complement and continuation of the decisions made at the time. The new pots, introduced to complement the existing ones, will be in line with the design of the already made elements of the Chodor-Projekt office's project. We also assume that some of the stone slabs being removed from the Market will be reused. Respecting the work of predecessors, but also the resources invested, is close to our work philosophy.
photo: mamArchitekci / UM Kielce
In the original design of the greenery in the revitalized Market Square was missing, but perhaps the guidelines of the Employer were different. However, it is worth remembering that the most important then, a huge change, was the removal of traffic from the Market Square. Before the revitalization, it was actually an intersection in the form of a traffic circle, with a central, poorly accessible green space. Thanks to the project, the Market was given back to pedestrians, decent granite paving was done, and several historical elements were restored (the so-called Kiebabczy's kiosk, the pump, the pillory). The Market itself has very "human" proportions, so there is a good chance that with the addition of greenery, it will become a truly attractive public space.
Kacper Kepinski: A consultation meeting was held recently . What do city residents pay attention to?
MamArchitekci: During the consultation, the most questions were about the seasonal gardens - entrepreneurs running businesses in the premises at Market Square are concerned about whether the changed development will allow them to continue operating. We reassured them - preserving the lease space was one of the guidelines of the Contracting Authority. And since greenery affects the use of the mood and the desire to stay in a given space, we are reassured about their business.
Photo: mamArchitekci / UM Kielce
Questions were also raised about the "city living room" - urban furniture, which a few years ago was designed by the Public Space Studio specifically for the Market Square. This installation was awarded in the Good Design competition. By design, the mobile has a chance to diversify another space in Kielce now, still undeveloped, as leaving it unchanged in the new development of the Market would compete with other elements.
We were also asked a lot of detailed questions (about irrigation, parameters for purchasing plants, etc.), which we did not have answers to yet due to the early stage of the project - these will be the tasks facing the Contractor of the further part of the documentation. There will be recommendations and general guidelines in our documentation.
Kacper Kepinski: Do you use participatory tools in your practice ? Are consultations conducted in Kielce a sufficient form?
mamArchitekci: Participation - the kind with real participation, where you listen to what people want to say - is very important to us. We very often work with A2P2 studio from Gdansk, which knows how to carry out the participation process very well, but exactly in the Kielce topic there was no way to involve residents in the design process to a greater extent than a survey posted on the Office's website. The funds for the project are from the fund, which leaves no time for consultation, and also shortens the design time itself, so the whole thing is really demanding. At the same time, the issue of the Market Square in Kielce has so far been widely reported in the media that the mood around the project has been palpable. The results of public consultations carried out on the occasion of the design of the "Urban Salon" also helped, where attention was drawn primarily to the need for more greenery.
photo: mamArchitekci / UM Kielce
Kacper Kepinski: You are introducing greenery into a place that today is a stone desert. What challenges does this raise?
mamArchitekci: For the purpose of the plantings, we are permanently "deconstructing" 16m2 of stone surface for each tree, while the substrate under the floor, in the areas where the trees are present, is being replaced with strips of a much larger area so that the root system of the plants being planted could have more space to grow. The substrate in these areas will be replaced to a depth of 100-120cm. We propose to use structural substrates that allow better development of vegetation in urban spaces. In addition, due to the drainage of water towards some of the green spaces, the substrate used will have to have improved rainwater retention parameters. As long as plant care is not neglected after implementation - it should be successful!
Kacper Kępiński: There are pedestrian routes in the Market, which run, among other things, through the outline of the former City Hall. In your project you are turning it into a green flower bed. Aren't you afraid that it will be trampled? What analysis did you do before creating the concept?
mamArchitekci: We were aware that the main pedestrian traffic runs along the longest diagonal of the Market Square, and the outline of the former City Hall, which we want to green up, partially overlaps this route. However, formal and compositional considerations were decisive here - we want to emphasize this space as discreetly as possible, in the floor. In the first place, we are betting on a lawn from a roll of grass species designed for recreation, withstanding the abrasion that accompanies pedestrian traffic. Such turf also makes sitting possible, and to us the possibility of sitting on the grass in the Market Square in the outline of the former City Hall seems very attractive.
Photo: mamArchitekci / UM Kielce
If this form of greenery does not work, ground cover greenery would be introduced, which does not encourage walking. Certainly, however, the introduction of greenery in such an area, in addition to highlighting the area occupied by the former City Hall will improve the climatic conditions within the market, in the summer months the temperature should be lower thanks to the greenery, which will certainly improve the quality of recreation in the area.
Kacper Kepinski: You propose planting, among others, linden trees - trees that are native and already growing in the Market, but are not very resistant to salty soil and harsh urban conditions. In the face of worsening climate change, shouldn't we start using more hardy species that have a chance of surviving longer in the city?
mamArchitekci: For historical reasons, the trees appearing in the Market should be native species. In addition - bearing in mind the rank of the space, it would look very bad to have a string of trees created by different species and yet in a rather haphazard manner. The introduced trees, complementing the existing plantings, will therefore be the same species that have already been designed. Despite the fact that lindens are indeed sensitive to salinity, they have the ability to phytoremediate, which is very important in urban conditions.
Urban Salon on the Market Square in Kielce
Photo: Institute of Design in Kielce
We will take care of the ground conditions in the project, however, the fight against salinity will rest largely with the land manager and local government officials. In the project we exclude the possibility of salting the pavement, which is already becoming standard in larger cities.
Kacper Kepinski: What are the next steps? Does your role also include detailed design and supervision?
MamArchitekci: Our role ends with the development of a Functional-Utility Program and a preliminary concept for greening. On this basis, a Contractor will be selected under the Design-Build formula. We would very much like to proceed with the design, but will we succeed? We'll see.
