Racibórz is a city with a rich but turbulent history. It represents an oasis of heritage that suffered destruction during the war and shortly after, due to the export of building materials for the reconstruction of Warsaw. The contemporary image of the city reflects its multi-layered history, yet even with an awareness of it, interpreting it in a way that would serve as the city's showcase is challenging.
Around the market square, there are three landmark structures - the Marian column, the church of St. James, and the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. However, these enduring witnesses to history lack the appropriate exposition and setting to create public spaces in the center of Racibórz that befit such valuable objects.
The project proposes the creation of a uniform pavement pattern consisting of overlapping grids. Each grid is perpendicular to one of the two churches - St. James and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The pattern is laid out with reclaimed cobblestones from the market square. Designed perennial flower beds are situated according to the pattern of the pavement strips, narrowing towards the Marian column, thereby enhancing the clarity of the surface division in the space.
As part of the city-museum concept, where the designed spaces on the square will serve as "exhibition halls" for the churches and the Marian column, the visual ranges of all three objects were examined. Efforts were made to identify views that could be framed with greenery, simultaneously concealing architectural objects with a different, inconsistent lineage and function.
The proposed plantings and flower beds are an extension of the existing city greenery systems - on the northern side, the greenery on the former city wall areas, and on the southern side, the square of Monsignor Stefan Pieczka. In the northern part of the square, a shallow concrete pond was designed, complementing the square's drainage system and irrigating urban greenery.
honorable mention
urbanism _ competition for the development of an urban-architectural concept for the revitalization of the old yown district in racibórz
location _ racibórz, poland
organizer _ SARP katowice
competition type _ executive
cooperation _ alicja maculewicz, aleksandra biernacka,
magdalena wilczyńska
project _ 2023
racibórz market square