Landscape architecture students create projects for renewing neglected parks

The jury appreciated two renewal concepts of the park in Ołdrzychowice.

Landscape architecture students at UPWr prepared projects for the renovation of Leśny Park in Polnica-Zdrój. 

Students from the Landscape Architecture Student Science Club were involved in creating the concept to renew the area around the Palace in Kiełczyn. 

Park in Ołdrzychowice Kłodzkie 

The Department of Landscape Architecture together with the Kłodzko city council created a competition for students of the second year of MA studies in landscape architecture to prepare a land development project in Ołdrzychowice Kłodzkie. The city council financed the whole year's trip to the park where Zbigniew Tur and the local authorities awaited them. In a meeting they discussed what the local community would like to see in the project.

A meeting with Przemysław Sałatowski, a representative of the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments of the Delegation in Wałbrzych was also held, because the land is registered as a monument. The design concept of Viktoria Dudar, Katarzyna Betkier, Aleksandra Łągiewka and Paulina Bilska came first, followed by the project by Natalia Niedbała, Agata Jarmuszczak, Izabela Leszkiewicz and Monika Piesik. 

The park which was neglected for years is meant to become a meeting place for local communities. It should also attract tourists interested in the history of the former owners of the entire palace and park complex, the Magnis family originating from southern Italy. They also had estates in Austria, the Czech Republic, Kłodzko and Silesia. The original quarters of the Magni family – as their surname sounded in Italian – was Lurago on Lake Como. The Magnises were merchants in Lombardy, in Milan. They emigrated to the German Reich at the beginning of the 16th century, led by Giovanni Pietro Magni, the imperial court physician. In 1622, the family was included as German nobility, as barons at first, and then became counts. They bought lands in Kłodzko County in 1780 and thus became part of the Prussian nobility. 

Park in Polanica-Zdrój 

Landscape architecture students at UPWr also took part in a competition by the city council of Polanica-Zdrój for creating an improvement project of Park Leśny. This is the first result of the agreement between the city council and UPWr. The competition was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Anna Bocheńska-Skałecka as part of her class. All the ideas are presented in the form of an exhibition that can be seen until the end of the summer holidays at the Mineral Water Pump Room in Polanica-Zdrój. There were 10 concepts in total.

The concept titled "Forest stream", made by Gabriela Stroińska, Ewa Sierakowska, Julia Ochojska and Łukasz Wedler, came first. The students suggested that the park should include a wooden playground for children, a regeneration ravine, and a space with a chillout zone. Additionally there would be health paths, such as: linden and spruce paths, as well as rich vegetation, a rain garden and various architectural elements that would serve to retain and collect rainwater. The second place was given to the project by Wiktoria Dzienniak, Dominika Koziura and Klaudia Kaczmarek called "Bear Enclave", and the third place was given to "Polanica delights everyone" by Sonia Dyla, Aleksandra Kvit, Patrycja Gierwatowska and Bartosz Chabierski. The winners received monetary prizes funded by the city council in the amount of: PLN 6,000 for first place, PLN 4,000 for second place and 3,000 PLN for the third.

The area around the Palace in Kiełczyn 

In February 2022, the Dzierżoniów city council asked UPWr to prepare a concept to develop of the area around the Palace in Kiełczyn, located near Dzierżoniów. The initiative was taken by Prof. Irena Niedźwiecka-Filipiak and Dr. Anna Podolska, who encouraged Karolina Keller and Julia Kurzawa, third year students and representatives of the Landscape Architecture Student Science Club, to participate in the project. The palace and park are registered as monuments, and the city council has been working since 2019 to restore the splendor of the building and its surroundings. The park is meant to hold public functions in the future. The city council obtained a grant for the restoration of the palace from the “Most the Most” Foundation in Warsaw. Currently, renovation works are underway in the palace, but developing the land around it is equally important. It’s meant to resemble ​​the historical park wich is now completely devastated, and take into consideration the current needs of the local communities. The students’ project submitted to the city council may be helpful in obtaining further external funds for implementing this concept.