The park is located in Warsaw, near the Natolin housing estate, on the edge of the Kabacki Forest reserve. It serves as the boundary between human habitat and natural habitat. This location became the source of the principle of its formation as an ecotone, a boundary, a space between, a space of encounter, exchange, and coexistence, rich, diverse, active, and variable.
The park was created on the site of waste disposal. Accumulating heaps, landfills, and construction deposits from the settlement’s construction shaped a unique human-made topography, which holds the history of the district. The Kazurka Hill, built from waste, stands as a dominant feature, allowing one to rise above the terrain and admire previously inaccessible views. This place was gradually taken over by nature, but also by people who have been using it for years, trampling paths, carving bike trails into the hill, and taming favorite spots.
Being an unguarded area, it attracted various, not necessarily positive, initiatives, it began to serve as a shortcut for cars and a site of chaotic development. As a result of residents’ voices and city initiatives, steps were taken to organize it in order to preserve its park-recreational character. A nationwide competition was organized, and the winning project was implemented.
The idea of our project was drawn from the character of the place. Two factors, the city and nature, their mutual interaction creating a unique environment, set the principles for shaping the park. And above all, the preservation of its natural extensive charm.
The park space is connected to the housing estate area. The hill strategically closes off the block interiors, serving as a green wall or a crowning of the street axis. This composition is continued in the park design, which opens up to neighboring estates and invites with multiple entrances and scenic openings. To define and organize the internal space, garden art tools were used. Clearings, spatial sequences, borrowed views, and compositional axes created a landscape composition, into which all spontaneously created paths and places by people were incorporated, along with necessary functional objects.
The main elements of the spatial structure representing the housing estate environment are small architectural objects: viewpoint, pavilion, gazebos, playgrounds. They appear in equal displays surrounded by greenery, which has been developed to reinforce the natural factor. Over three hundred trees and several hundred shrubs were planted in the park. Local communities were enriched by introducing native perennials and grasses. The selection of greenery respects the proximity of the reserve. An important element of the park was the use of surface water flows. The natural axis of the park became a dry stream, a seasonal river formed after rains. The terrain morphology of the flow retains rainwater longer, and appropriately selected vegetation frames the watercourse, enhancing biodiversity.
The relationships between the human settlement environment and nature are also told through materials. Elements in contact with the ground – the viewpoint platform at the top, bench pedestals, footbridges – are concrete, while those elevated above – play structures, signs, seats, gazebos – are steel and wood. In this way, the idea of coexistence has been enriched, providing both space for people and nature.
The park also incorporates a narrative. Named after the Silent Unseen Paratroopers AK, it recalls history through artifacts integrated into the park space. Small architecture subordinate to this story serves as elements of learning through play, drawing attention to the skills of this outstanding unit that fought on various fronts.
The process of creating the park continues. Due to lack of funds, the pavilion and the viewpoint platform were not realized. Even before its completion, special attention was drawn to the concept of a lapidarium in the park, a place of symbolic structure built from artifacts unearthed – witnesses of the construction of surrounding estates, for which a decision was made to eliminate. The place is alive. What is new slowly grows into space, takes root. In accordance with our assumption, the Park constitutes a composition susceptible to supplementation. Located on the border of nature and the city, it will be an environment of change responding to the changing relations between humans and their environment – an ecotone.
Other landscape architecture offices involved in the design of landscape:
Authors: eM4.Pracownia Architektury.Brataniec,
Marcin Brataniec (chief designer), Urszula Forczek-Brataniec, Marek Bystroń Author’s cooperation: Damian Mierzwa Interior design: Marcin Brataniec, Marek Bystroń
Landscape architecture: Urszula Forczek-Brataniec, Marcin Brataniec, Marek Bystroń
Landscape architecture – cooperation: Paulina Koppel (greenery), Wojciech Bobek (high greenery, bushes), Przemysław Kowalski, Michał Grzybowski (perenials)
Structure: Janusz Krzykawski
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Location: Warszawa, Osiedle Natolin
Design year: 2019-2021
Year Completed: 2022-2023
