RAMIREZ VENEGAS, A. Public spaces in fast-developing Wola district of Warsaw - adaptive reuse in search for a local center [online]. Brno: Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta architektury. 2024.
The presented project is interesting, meets the assumptions of modern urban planning and properly creates a new center of the district. The problems have been solved both on an urban and architectural scale. Some of the presented solutions lack specificity and details - both technical and architectural. However, the whole project is worth evaluating as the author's path of development from the stage of analysis and research to the final product. The willingness to implement changes, attentiveness to the tutors' comments and understanding of constructive criticism were evident throughout the project. In my opinion, a considerable advancement in the student's design skills is evident from the beginning of the work to its completion. Although the project is small in scale, the complexity of functions - from market trading places to the solution of residential buildings, shows the versatility of the approach and understanding of the need to create multifunctional downtown areas. The author used a number of interesting solutions and forms, but did not always manage to keep them consistent with each other. Although the initial problems included understanding and choosing the appropriate scale of the buildings, in the end this aspect seems to have been solved correctly.
| Kritérium | Známka | Body | Slovní hodnocení |
|---|---|---|---|
| Přístup studenta ke zpracování | C | The theoretical analysis of the project's problems was divided into two thematic areas. The first was an urban and architectural analysis of the plot and its surroundings. It was carried out in a meticulous manner, both on the basis of available data and studies, as well as author's own visits to the project area. The analysis correctly identified the most important features of the area and design challenges. The theoretical part of the analysis was much more limited. There is a lack of research on the author's proposed idea of the coexistence in one area of very different functions with different needs. The design part began correctly with the determination of key areas, functional zones, spatial dominants. On the basis of the analysis, the traffic system was corrected and a design strategy was developed, including, on the one hand, the construction of new structures of the city market, on the other hand, the remodeling of existing apartment blocks. An interesting solution is to open the first floors of residential buildings to services, which will definitely improve the quality of public spaces in the area. As part of the compensation, the lightweight frame superstructure on the top of the blocks has been designed to accommodate additional apartments and common spaces on added floors. The designed section is attractive, although there are not as many apartments relative to those being relocated, and their size varies significantly. Architectural shell of the added floors has not been solved in detail. The designed market square was located in the middle of the site, creating a clear local center of the district, which is in line with the city's strategic documents - this shows that the student correctly analyzed the city's development plans. In the square, she designed both service and green spaces, as well as places for commerce. This makes the square multi-functional and able to function at different times of the day, which is desirable in this type of project. The canopies and pavilions designed in the square are interesting and give it a dynamic form, although in the context of the surroundings they can seem quite random and visually disconnected. These elements were also used to integrate spatially the tram stop and pergolas on the roofs of residential buildings. In the urban planning layer, the proposed solutions are correct, but very conservative - the potential of the entire space has not been used, which is the result of "separating" a specific plot of land for the square. A better solution would have been to integrate the street with the square and also use the buildings on the other side of the street, which was a part of the initial idea but has not been developed. The pavement design lacks detail, making it impossible to evaluate, among other things, the functionality of bike paths or parking. To a large extent, the current road system has been preserved and merely adapted to serve the new market. |
Ana Paula Ramirez Venegas, in her conceptual and theoretical justification of the presented diploma thesis "Adaptive reuse for local public space", conducted a multi-layered and thorough analysis of the phenomenon of gentrification, proving that the key to building a fair city is the involvement of residents in the design process and community empowerment. The Wola district selected by the author, undergoing intense growth and transformation in the form of commercial architecture, is a good choice for a case study of gentrification. The author's diagnosis about the lack of social infrastructure in the district is accurate. In this context, the decision to rebuild the non-existent Kercelak market, which was the largest and popular market in Poland in the last century, is a very interesting proposition both because of the historical value and the social function of the bazaar. Thanks to the reconstruction of the market, there would be a chance to rebuild a local center that would enrich the food-scape balance and social life of the district. I have doubts about the choice of site for the intervention. Does a small plot of land next to an apartment block meet the parameters of a bazaar scale? Most newly built marketplaces are built in so-called "brownfield's", post-industrial areas, parking lots or vacant lots, safely away from the windows of existing residential buildings. In this case, it is a green area in front of an apartment block. I am afraid that the introduction of such a conflict-generating function as a marketplace could be met with a huge protest from the local community. In Polish conditions, a marketplace usually generates morning noise during deliveries, there is also a lot of waste and rubbish that attracts rats, and the marketplace generates large numbers of cars for both buyers and customers. All these elements make it very difficult to build a market near the block due to the “Nimb" for bazaars. In the presented analysis, I couldn’t find the voices of the residents in order to to understand their real needs, especially due to the fact that the Author referred to participatory processes as important elements of the design method. In the analysis, the Author of the project mentions the need to choose local materials, but I did not find any specific materials referring to locality in the project. Nevertheless, the project is an interesting proposal for rebuilding social infrastructure in Wola and a valuable element of restoring the local identity of the district. The shape of the market roof is a sculptural composition that could become a characteristic and interesting, small scale intervention in public space. The function of a food bazaar itself would enrich the neighbourhood's food-scape and perhaps contribute to a healthier diet for local residents. I rate the project as good - C and recommend it for diploma defense.
eVSKP id 160631