H2O City : Gorzow Poland

“water has no taste, no colour, no odour, it cannot be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. not necessary to life, but rather life itself. it fills us with a gratification that exceeds the delight of the senses.”

anotine de saint exupery
wind, sand and stars1939

it is a well know fact that from the dawn of history great civilizations such as the egyptians, byzantine and others have evolved along the boundaries of any source of water. be at an oasis, the banks of a river or the coastline of the oceans the essence of water has always had a profound impact on humanity. water has been a critical component for the enhancement of life and cultures. at the same time a lack of it deals with many problems such as that of drought and famine. over time it has become very much a component of our lives.
our proposal deals with a thesis that involves the celebration of water as part of our cities today and for the future.

background
gorzow wlkp. lies in the centre of a triangle formed between berlin (germany), poznan and szczecin; and is located beside the river warta, which is the 3rd biggest river in poland after the wisla and odra. it has a population of approx. 125,500. gorzow wielkopolskie also happens to be one of two capitals of the lubuskie region. just before the 2nd world war gorzow had 48 053 inhabitants and was an important and thriving industrial centre with a well developed river port and many metal working, textile,
wood, paper, shoe, pharmaceutic, armaments, and food industry factories. at the end of the war most of the residents of the city were forced to flee their homes in the face of the advancing red army. those left was expelled when the polish authorities took over control of the town following the decisions made at the potsdam conference and the subsequent redrawing of the polish border. this marked the end of more than 700 years of german history in the area. under polish control, gorzows expelled german population was replaced by polish speakers from what is now ukraine and the east of poland. to complete the process of turning what had been the german city of landsberg warthe into a polish one the name of the city was changed to gorzow wielkopolski. under the
communist system gorzow continued to develop as a centre of industry: the most well-known and successful of which were stilon, a producer of synthetic fabrics and ursus where parts of agriculture machines were produced. sadly after the changes of 1990 very little industry remains in the city, and because of this unemployment is currently at more than 20%.

analysis
from the data provided by the city to enable us to understand the ing of the city and its issues we are faced with a big challenge. apart from the great historic content of the city it is our understanding that it has not been able to capitalise on a global platform in comparison to cities such as its neighbour poznan. but gorzow sits at a position of opportunity to become a global city if it chooses to. its proximity to large cities such as berlin 90minutes, , frankfurt oder (60 minutes), poznan (120 minutes), szczecin (75 minutes), zielona gora (120 minutes) provide it with great potential by being easily accessible. it is our understanding that the amalgamation of the history of gorzow coupled with its zest to progress will enable it to become the next major city of poland.

masterplan
our masterplan strategy begins with understanding the historic content of the city and its future requirements. we have been careful in respecting and maintaining the integrity of the existing historic structure by making sure they are integrated into the future proposals for the city. we completely support the cities initiatives for the provision of its pedestrian and bike paths. however we strongly feel that the core of the city should be pedestrianised. this would enable the limiting use of cars in the center of the old city. bringing cars into the core of most cities with historic content has proven to add to the chaos more than limit it. as a solution to this chaos one example to look at is london, where the city has imposed a tax for bringing vehicles into the downtown area. this initiative has drastically limited people from using their personal vehicles and focussing on other means such as mass transit to move around the city. the st. marys cathedral and the old market place have been programmed to retain their identity along with the existing sculpture masterpiece. we have however provided for a small pond for people to engage with. we envision this place in the summer to be buzzing with activity of people partaking in various events of the city that happen through out the year. we also envision the pond to freeze over during the winters and it could be used as an ice skating rink much similar to the one at rockfeller center in new york city. the challenge is to program such as ice sculpting festival and music concerts to keep the people of the city engaged with it through various events. we imagine the old market square to house the city’s christmas tree for all to gather around it. the entire pedestrian zone is pierced by an ever flowing network of water molecule urban parks and amphitheatres for people to relax and engage with informal performances.
our proposal also involves the pedestrianisation of the mostu staromiejski bridge that connects nova park in the new city to the old city. however we would like to extend the tram line over the bridge in order to connect to the new city. the bridge will be provided with bike pathways and pedestrian paths as well. in order to provide for
vehicular access into the city we have strategized for the
city to invest in two bridges. the one east of the existing bridge begins from wal okrezny street on the new city side and connects spichrzowa street in the old city. the other bridge runs parallel to the railway tracks going over the river warta. it connects fabryczna street in the new city to edwarda jancarza in the old. these extra bridges will enable the city to be programmed with an outer loop of peripheral roads that would cater to heavy and fast moving traffic along with an inner loop to cater to the inner city. this will reduce congestion in the center of the downtown neighbourhood.
within the pedestrian core of the city we would also like to propose the initiation of the urban core for gorzow. with the proximity of business and industrial cities gorzow has the potential to attract new businesses to be set up within its periphery. in order to capitalize on this potential we suggest the introduction of a mega “gateway” building project. the goal of this structure is to act as a symbol as a gateway between the new city across the warta and the existing old city. the tram forms an umbilical connection between the two cities. we consider the gateway project to house all the essential parts of a vertical city. the gateway is designed to house commercial office space, public office zone, the new town hall, retail stores and a university. we believe that the establishment of all of these entities under one roof will not only limit the possibility of sprawl but will also cater to energy efficient solutions. the skin of the gateway is to be designed with the incorporation of photovoltaic cells to generate natural energy for the ing of the building. the gateway is also equipped with internal urban parks and green spaces.
we have also provided a parcel of land to the west of the gateway to be developed into an artist village. this village would be integral in promoting the cultural and artistic influence within the city. this platform would be available for artists within or out of the city to exhibit their work or to be able to live within the provided quarters.

our main urban goal was to be able to integrate the entire fabric via pedestrian methodologies. one of the ways we have been able to do so is by sculpting the land in terms of subways, molecular urban parks, amphitheatres and water bodies. the molecular pattern also forms the paving pattern with lighting ded within the bands of the pattern. these bands are also composed of pvc modules that absorb energy during the day and can be used to generate energy to emit light at night. the grain of the fabric transforms into a more rigid nature as we head north away from the urban core. the fabric here contains historic buildings on edges of the block with internal zones barren and waste. we have programmed these courtyards into urban farms and as energy generating zones. these courtyards are designed to incorporate tree houses fitted with solar panels, green houses, children play areas and wind turbines. these courtyards will generate sustainable energy for the city of gorzow.

our proposal has been careful in incorporating the future of gorzow’s development with its historic core. we have taken great care to weave the new strategies around the existing historic fabric. this has enabled us to provide the city with a dynamic proposal that would transcend the existing scenarios and enable to the city to march into a new paradigm.