This is the city’s new showpiece. The square in front of the railway station in Opole after reconstruction

The square named after Olga “Kora” Sipowicz in front of the railway station in Opole is now complete. Its design was selected in a nationwide architectural competition organised by SARP Opole and the City Hall. The winning concept was prepared by architects from the SN Architekci studio.

The competition for the design of the redevelopment of the square was announced in 2018. The organisers received more than 40 entries. Implementation of the winning project began in January 2023. The place got its patron in the middle of the year, when councillors of Arkadiusz Wisniewski’s Club announced a competition for a patron. Residents decided that it should be named after Olga ‘Kora’ Sipowicz, singer of the band Maanam.

The architects’ task was to design an attractive square, which would become the background for the dominant and characteristic buildings of the place – the Main Railway Station, the Main Post Office and the newly-built Transfer Centre. At the same time, the square was to become a public space with a distinctive character.

The completed Square is a system of geometric mounds with a schematic arrangement of elevations, creating a modern urban park, providing residents with both places to relax and a small playground, a space for the presentation of railway monuments, or a meeting pavilion.

Currently, more than forty per cent of the Square is made up of green areas, and it is their restoration to the city that is the greatest design achievement, but also the greatest joy for Opole residents and visitors to the city,” explains architect Andrzej Nowak of SN Architekci.

The project took just over 11 months to complete. The square will show its full face in spring. And there is much to look forward to! New tree planting has recently been carried out here. Fifty plane trees and three-acre gleditsias were planted. This will be complemented by several thousand Japanese flowers and 170 bulbous perennials. The cost of the investment is approximately PLN 12 million.

design: SN ARCHITEKCI

source of photographs: Opole City Hall

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