The White Eagle Square in Szczecin will soon change its appearance. The city has announced a tender for the investment. The concept is to create a place for recreation and outdoor events here. Instead of parking spaces, new greenery will appear.
The plan is to create an attractive public space whose appearance will correspond with the architecture of the Old Town. As part of the project, the surface of the square, parts of the nearby streets and pavements will be rebuilt. Much of the work will take place underground. A stormwater drainage system, water mains, gas mains and power lines to the site will be built. The entire site will be monitored.
The site will be filled with new urban furniture. There will be 25 stylised lanterns in the paved section and six wooden lanterns in the green section. A small stage for intimate events will be built on the site of the former wheel mill. There will also be space for café gardens.
The redevelopment assumes that most of the trees will be preserved and a few of the existing trees will be transplanted off-site. Planting of 14 new trees will be carried out. There will also be perennial perennials in pastel colours, grasses and flowerbeds. The existing turf will be strengthened and a rain garden will appear, informs the company Szczecinskie Inwestycje Miejskie.
Drivers will also feel the changes on the square. After the reconstruction, a new traffic system will be in force here. Delivery traffic to catering establishments, access to residents’ properties and access for services will be allowed. The site will therefore become pedestrian-friendly. Importantly, the area will have a single level, there will be no height differences distinguished, for example, by kerbs. Pedestrian and cyclist traffic is expected to be very convenient.
The square BEFORE the redevelopment:
After the redevelopment, different sections of the new urban development are to have different functions:
- the paved northern part of the White Eagle Square to the width of the Palace under the Globe with a fountain as the focal point – providing convenient conditions for the organisation of social and cultural events and serving the ground floor business premises;
- a green southern part within the contour of the former building quarter – providing for the realisation of ecological functions, free recreation of users and organisation of occasional social and cultural events around a small stage in the approximate location and contour of the former directional mill;
- a transitional part in front of the Ionian Palace which is a zone softening the boundary between the representative northern part and the green, recreational southern part;
- the historical Koński Kierat street – providing service to ground floor commercial premises, complemented by new plantings of high and low greenery and an educational value in the form of marking the course of the former water supply system;
- a pedestrian precinct in the eastern part of Plac Orła Białego, constituting a transformed route connecting the former Koński and Węglowy Squares – providing services for commercial premises on the ground floor;
- the northern pavement of Grodzka Street forming a coherent whole with Orła Białego Square.
As part of the works, the statue of Flora and two vases, which formerly adorned the façade of the Grumbkow Palace (Pałac pod Globusem) and now stand in the courtyard of the Academy of Art, will be developed in a new way. In this way, the sculptures will be reunited in a single arrangement, and any visitor to the square will be able to admire them together with the façade on which they were once mounted. The historic fountain will remain in its present location, and the floor will be marked with the course of the wooden water pipe that supplied water from the Warszewicki Hills to the Castle in the 18th century.
The city has been planning the redevelopment of the square for several years. During this time, several reconstruction projects have been developed, but none have been realised. The current concept is the result of a prototyping process to which the city has involved residents. When will the White Eagle Square in Szczecin be ready? We still have to wait for the results. Potential contractors have until 22 March to submit their bids. The winner will have 18 months to realise the concept.
source: Szczecin City Investments(sim.szczecin.pl)
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