Location
The park is located in the ancient town of Nitra on the river promontory below the 8th century castle. There used to be a game preserve under the castle. Today the historic bishop’s inn has been preserved. Breeding of fallow deer and mouflon is still in the park today.
Our task was to make the old park a place of relaxation for the 21st century.

The whole park is divided into several functional zones – a play area for small children up to 8 years old, big children, workout followed by always a refreshment area. In between this space is always inserted a multifunctional area of lawns for multifunctional use. There is also space for barbecues, film screenings. At the Bishop’s Inn there is a music gazebo and an area for dancing. An interesting feature is a small farm with domestic animals and another game preserve with fallow deer and mouflon. There is also a natural dead arm with wild beaver.

Fountain
The centrepiece of the park is a historic fountain with four bronze frogs to sit on. Children can influence the water flow and play with the water. The fountain changes types of splashes periodically. Around the fountain are high semicircular benches that define the space. Some have a backrest, others are backless. The benches and other furnishings are designed by the author for this park.

The road network
The road network was very complex and disorganized. We have preserved the main two axes starting from the Bishop’s Inn. One axis leads to the castle and the other to the centre of the park – the Frog Fountain from 1930.
In the centre with the Frog Fountain we have inserted a new element of a spiral of paths that develops from the centre of the park. The spiral allowed us to insert a program for relaxation into the park. There are benches in perennial beds around the path. The benches are used for lounging, allowing for faster recovery during sports. The fragrant plants in the flowerbeds also help to relax more quickly. The visitor therefore relaxes more quickly.
If you measure your stress on your watch and come out of the city with a high value, You come to the park and lie down on a lounger in the flower beds, the stress is quickly reduced.
There’s an in-line skating track around the park.

Game elements
The playground for bigger children has a floor plan based on a local legend about the giants of Nitra. The layout of the playground is divided into a section with the mountain “Zobor” and a river that divides the area into two banks. On the other bank is a castle symbolizing Nitra Castle. In the symbolic flow of the river there are trampolines and game elements symbolizing bridges and water crossings.
For older children, there is a water playground with the figure of a fairy-tale waterman. The water playground is interactive and water appears when the child starts pumping water into the play elements. The water sprayed into the air also cools the surroundings.

Vegetation
We have minimally impacted the existing vegetation, adding about 150 trees. We added flower beds to the space. Lawns were restored. Some of it is residential lawns and some of it is flower meadows.

The park program
Park visitors will change several times during the day. There are runners in the park in the morning, people doing yoga. Later, a group of people come with dogs and exercise them in hippotherapy. Then children come with their parents. In the evening, there are concerts, movie screenings or dance parties in the park. At the opening of the park, as captured in the video.

The program is planned by the city and once a month there are official events organized by the city or associations.

Nature conservation
The portion around the dead arm is left to wildlife and we have not encroached on this area. There are water birds on the surface and wild beaver and fish live here.
The lamps have a special spectrum of light that does not attract insects.

Blue-green infrastructure
The park was designed according to the principles of blue-green infrastructure. The original asphalt paths have been converted to permeable unpaved roads. Water seeps into the lawns and flower beds. The surfaces of the paths are white and have significantly reduced the heating of the surfaces.

Location: Nitra, Slovakia
Investor: City of Nitra
Landscape architect: Atelier Krejcirikovi
General contractor: Dynamik
Area: 10 ha.
Design year: 2022
Implementation: 2022-2024.

Investment cost: EUR 6 000 000

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