Nowe Jeziorki housing estate near Warsaw

Phase: final competition design (2nd stage of the competition), 2017

Design team: Antoni Surowiak, Mateusz Gierszon, Ewelina Siestrzewitowska

additional: support for local exchange and forms of activity, participation in the design and construction of some of the buildings, cohousing

1. Main idea:

The site development design was based on the following principles:

development in a block layout

the estate's composition based on intersecting axes

a. a shopping street (from the "Rynek" square to the station)

b. a green pedestrian route (from the park to the green route along Karczunkowska Street), onto which the green courtyards open and within which lie part of the neighbourhood centres, the school and the kindergarten. The route is not interrupted by vehicle traffic, which allows most of the buildings to reach the school and kindergarten without crossing any roads.

the set of public spaces is hierarchical: at the nodal points of pedestrian and cycle circulation, squares or street "pockets" are designed. The nodal points are:

a. the "Rynek" square – the main public space, the point where the shopping street intersects the green pedestrian route

b. the station square – the point where the shopping street meets the P+R car park and the railway station. To increase the attractiveness of rail transport, the area around the station and the roads leading to it are designed as high-quality public spaces.

c. the widening of the shopping street by neighbourhood K5a – the point where the shopping street intersects the street leading to the retail pavilion, and the shopping street with the "shortcut" leading to the newly designed stairs up to viaduct level

the division of the estate into a north-western part by the transport hub, with denser development and more service space, and a south-eastern part with lower development density, where the school, kindergartens and park are located.

the division of the estate into smaller units: neighbourhoods; most of the neighbourhoods have their own green centres, some of which are placed on the green pedestrian route,

a green buffer strip between the railway areas and the estate

gradation of the privacy of areas:

a. private: the flat, the front garden,

b. semi-private: the hall, the workshop room, the estate club

c. semi-public: the courtyard opening onto the green pedestrian route

d. intimate public: the green pedestrian route and the green neighbourhood centres

e. public: streets, squares, park

vehicle traffic routed around the perimeter of the estate, multi-storey car parks at the entrance to the estate,

within the green route, watercourses are designed which flow into a pond in the park and then into a system of drainage ditches. The watercourses and pond are fed by rainwater and drainage. The water in the watercourses and pond is purified through an appropriate selection of aquatic plants. The park pond is intended to be a natural rainwater treatment facility. The location of the park is linked to the presence of ponds in this area.

the system of watercourses and the pond are intended to receive excess rainwater; the same function is served by the lowering of the "Rynek" square and the partial lowering of the station square, and only once the assumed level is exceeded will water be discharged into the stormwater sewer network.

Water surface: 3,825 m², which gives the minimum volume of facilities for the retention of rainwater and meltwater at an average depth of the pond and watercourses of 0.45 m. Additionally, a floodable area of 2,900 m² is designated.

the gentle shaping of the embankments makes it possible to dispense with safety barriers around the water bodies and allows animals to use them.

within the green areas, it is planned to retain as many existing trees as possible: in the green route along Karczunkowska Street, in neighbourhood K5b and neighbourhood K2,

within the green areas, shrubs are planned as nesting sites, and within the buildings, nests are planned for birds (e.g. siskins, sparrows) that feed on insects (e.g. mosquitoes).

the layout of the estate ensures easy pedestrian circulation along the N-S and E-W axes, as well as numerous shortcuts and internal connections between neighbourhoods

at the same time, the block layout of the estate is shaped so as to prevent the formation of turbulence and zones of increased wind speed, by shaping the development so that there are no through corridors across the estate; the streets between the development blocks have widenings and narrowings that break the force of the wind, the layout of the buildings meanders, and tree planting is provided along the streets

the integration of the newly designed estate with the neighbouring area is assumed, both in a spatial sense – through a network of road and pedestrian/cycle connections with the surrounding buildings and attractions – and in a social sense, through the location within the estate of attractive, publicly accessible service and recreational spaces, a public school, kindergartens and nurseries, and the location of a market and educational buildings in the neighbouring areas. It is assumed that the distribution of functions in the area will enable existing and new residents to meet and integrate.

2. Services:

at the northern edge of the estate there is a transport and interchange centre consisting of a bus loop, a rail stop, a P+R car park and a station square with services on the ground floors of the neighbouring buildings.

commercial services are planned – retail and services in accordance with the hierarchy of public spaces: along the main pedestrian routes and squares. The services are located mainly on the shopping street: station square/transport centre ↔ the "Rynek" square, and by the "Rynek". The existing retail pavilion is in the immediate vicinity of the shopping street. In addition, services are located by the neighbourhood centres on the green pedestrian route.

the social services are, besides the estate clubs, a school and 3 kindergartens with nurseries: 2 smaller ones and one larger, as well as a cultural-centre pavilion on the market square. The cultural-centre pavilion is conceived as an experimental pavilion – a temporary cultural and social pavilion together with a fragment of the square. A space for meetings and an incubator for experiments in the coexistence of residents, e.g. food cooperatives, exchange of goods and other forms of cooperation.

the school is located in the corner block of the "Rynek" so that it does not form its frontage but is in its immediate vicinity. The arguments for such a location are:

a. the possible use of the "Rynek" square for exhibitions or events organised by the school, and cooperation between the school and the cultural pavilion located on the square

b. the possibility of using the school buildings as facilities for events held by the "Rynek"

c. the "Rynek" and the service premises located by it can also "live" during adults' working hours, thanks to the activity of children

d. the "Rynek" lies outside the school's protection zone regarding restrictions on the sale of alcohol

the services are located in such a way that they lie on the route between the transport centre and the residential development, so that they can be used on the way to and from the station. The school and kindergartens are located in the same way.

3. Circulation and parking:

the designation of a residential zone is proposed across the whole estate, with the exception of the public road in the southern part of the estate designated in Warsaw's Study of Conditions and Directions of Spatial Development.

the designed layout provides for the location of parking spaces and circulation around the perimeter of the estate, without bringing cars in between the development blocks and neighbourhoods.

the estate has 3 exits onto public roads.

the entry of cars between the development blocks and neighbourhoods is permitted only for emergency vehicles, and by the short cul-de-sacs between the development blocks and neighbourhoods there are only parking spaces for people with disabilities. The only exceptions are the cul-de-sacs by the main kindergarten and the school, which have a Kiss and Ride car park function, so that parents dropping children off at school do not obstruct vehicle traffic on the main streets.

at the same time, these cul-de-sacs do not cross any internal pedestrian routes. K+R car parks are also located by the "Rynek" square and the station square.

at the entrance to the estate from the north and south, two 4-storey car parks are located. Their location at the edge of the estate is intended to reduce traffic on the perimeter roads.

the road layout also introduces right-angle turns halfway along the estate, so as to prevent cars from accelerating on long, straight stretches.

The estate is designed so as to enable the simplest possible pedestrian and cycle circulation within and across it:

the layout of the estate is shaped so as to facilitate circulation between the individual neighbourhoods and the railway station (the shopping route), as well as between the neighbourhoods (the green route, pedestrian routes)

this shaping is intended to make it easier for the residents of the surrounding buildings to reach the station across the estate and to promote rail transport: the shopping street, leading as a "shortcut" from the centre of the estate where the route from Mysiadło and the route along Żmijewska Street cross, together with solutions that make driving around the estate difficult, is meant to encourage pedestrian or cycle travel between the neighbouring areas and the railway station,

additional stairs from the estate level up to the viaduct are designed, and a pedestrian route is led between them and the shopping street

the design allows for the possible construction of an additional footbridge over the railway areas at the level of the cross street between neighbourhoods K5a and K1, which would connect the estate – and in particular the existing retail pavilion and the agricultural and green areas to the east of the estate – with the buildings on the other side of the railway line, and in particular with the local shopping centre with a market planned there.

all public routes and the green pedestrian route are designed as pedestrian and cycle routes without separate cycle paths. Additionally, a dedicated cycle path is planned along the eastern part of the perimeter road as a through path across the estate. If the above-mentioned pedestrian crossing over the railway areas is built, a second, transverse through cycle path is proposed in the future between

the railway crossing and the agricultural and green areas to the east of the estate.

all crossings over roads are designed as raised, with a changed texture; the road running across the "Rynek" is designed as raised to the level of the square, with the same paving texture as the rest of the square.