Design of the Słupia River Boulevards in the centre of Słupsk

1ST PRIZE IN THE SARP ARCHITECTURAL-URBAN COMPETITION, 2015

Design team:

Ewelina Siestrzewitowska

IDEA

The basic idea of the project is to create a set of attractive, modern and functional public spaces that emphasise and highlight the city's natural charms and its most characteristic features. Each space should have its own individual character while maintaining the coherence of the whole ensemble, as the city's 'backbone' and – perhaps – its future hallmark.

The area along the Słupia River was divided into functional zones – spaces of science, culture, entertainment, leisure, sport and nature education. The intention was to concentrate their respective functions in order to create 'hubs' of urban activity, while assuming a certain natural interpenetration. Each non-park functional zone was assigned a so-called 'activity stage' – the main public space – a square designed for public events (cultural/entertainment/scientific), concentrating the area's attractions and binding it in terms of circulation, space, views and function into one compact whole. The 'activity stages' were placed in the most characteristic spots with interesting views, to highlight the identity of each place.

All the spaces are connected by the city boulevards – uniform street furniture (benches, bins, lighting) and a uniform cycling-and-rollerblading route connecting the North Wood with the Tank Bridge and binding the whole layout.

Norbertanum Centre – the Space of Science.

The basic premise for the area by the Library is to connect it with the square and green by the Youth Culture Centre and the area by the Pomeranian Academy. To this end, a space on the water was introduced as a strip of activity containing a stage, an amphitheatre-leisure space, a table for public debates, tables, benches and street furniture. A new footbridge binds this thematically related space into one ensemble and connects the spaces on both sides of the river.

The park in front of the Library and the park by the Chopin Monument were treated as one space on two levels, connected by an opening and stairs in the historic wall and by a two-level pavilion – the Social Debate Centre – accessible from both the upper and lower park. It was designed as literary gardens, with a multimedia reading wall with workplaces and network access, deckchairs and hammocks. On the lower level of the Social Debate Centre, a reading café was designed.

Witkacy in the Słupsk Art Granaries – the Space of Culture.

The 'heart' of this area becomes the space in front of the Art Granaries, designed as Witkacy Square. Together with the pedestrian-cycling-rollerblading footbridge leading from it, the square binds the entire museum area in terms of views, function and space into one layout. Witkacy Square, with characteristic psychedelic forms, ends in a stage over the water, whose direct extension on the other bank is an amphitheatrically shaped slope by the tower with leisure spots.

CASTLE BRIDGE

The Castle Bridge is currently the largest circulation and spatial barrier in the perception of the areas along the Słupia. It was therefore proposed to raise the boulevards reaching the bridge to road level, narrow the lanes to 3 m along the whole bridge, and replace the surface with cobblestones. Trees are proposed along the pavements widened by the lane narrowing. These measures create a friendly space on the bridge by slowing car traffic, introducing greenery and new street furniture, and visually connecting it with the rest of the boulevards.

MILL ISLAND

Mill Island is a beautiful, under-used area with enormous investment potential. Owing to its characteristic, attractive buildings and its location, it was proposed to use the island as the city's main entertainment hub. New development is proposed inside the island, with ground floors for services, creating an interior square that can serve as an interesting public space. It is proposed to connect this space with the Castle Bridge and the rest of the boulevards, creating along the island's coast on the Leisure Park side a gastronomic boulevard rich in cafés, restaurants and pubs, and to connect the boulevard with the Leisure Park by new footbridges.

Spaces of leisure, sport and nature education.

An intensification of the sports function was designed in the southern part of the Leisure and Entertainment Park, on the site of the former MOSiR centre and adjacent areas: a city beach with full facilities, a campsite, a kayak marina, beach and sports pitches, a new MOSiR building, a set of playgrounds and a recreational cycling track.

In the remaining leisure areas, a revaluation of the surface, uniform street furniture, leisure and fishing piers, and a pedestrian-cycling-rollerblading route were planned.

BOULEVARDS

The whole layout is connected by boulevards in two versions – wide city boulevards with a concrete surface, well lit and located by service points or important institutions, and 'romantic' boulevards – a pedestrian-cycling-rollerblading route surrounded by greenery and a grassy slope shaped amphitheatrically with leisure spots.