4. design

This project is a showcase of exemplary interventions to uncover or renaturalize the Strzyza in places where it is still possible - on land belonging to the municipality of Gdansk. The first step in achieving the goal of this project will be to create seven showcase gardens around the Strzyza. These small gardens are the first phase in the process of uncovering the creek. The new gardens can stimulate movement and create space for new habits and new ways of interacting with the flooding creek. They reveal small pieces of the creek from the underground, reconnecting the citizens with the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the Strzyza.

These gardens aim to be upscaled in the future. After being realized, they can serve as examples of ecological resiliency for people living in the floodplain of the Strzyza. The DIY actions of maintaining and repairing can be performed by communities and private owners, mitigating the influence of the floods, changing the relation between people and the hidden Strzyza. A catalyst for changing habits. This project is not a fixed design but rather a set of tools for communities affected by the disappearance and flooding of the Strzyza. This design is never finished. It aims to be readjusted and renewed in response to constantly changing conditions and needs.

In the labyrinth of privatized land I searched for leftover sites, still belonging to the municipality, which have the potential to become community gardens around the Strzyza.

The locations of the seven new gardens are chosen based on the typology of the surroundings and the typology of the riverbed. From the Strzyza hidden in the underground pipes, flowing under the asphalt roads, to channeled in the concrete riverbed of the Strzyza, flowing slowly past old parking garages. I singled out seven typologies existing in the floodplain of the Strzyza and selected the most suitable for the intervention locations.

Fig. 87 - 93: Chosen intervention areas. The 7 locations are representative typologies which can be found in the floodplain of Strzyza stream. From heighest laying to lowest and closest to the Vistula estuary locations are as follows: The Old Garages (Fig. 87), The Historical Watermill (Fig. 88), The Dekert Street (Fig. 89), The Perforated Pipe (Fig. 90), The Courtyard (Fig. 91), The Hot Pipe (Fig. 92), The High Pipes (Fig. 93).

Legenda: existing parks and abandoned construction sites existing private gardens

Q500, flood surface direction of the water flow during the flood existing surface water (Strzyza stream) existing, canalized, underground water (Strzyza stream) new, renaturalised Strzyza stream new resilient community gardens new topography, small hills, wadis