OPOLE | External Reference

Type of project: Urbanism Project: 2 squares for Opole Location: Opole, Poland Status: Competiton Handing over date of project: September 2011 Built up area: 2.000 m2 Project team: N. Toribio, C. Zappulla Collaborators: Bartlomiej Poteralski, Gabriela Jervis The aim of the competition is to revitalise the downtown by giving a new outlook to these small plazas. Through the sun diagram study, the areas with the optimal sunlight have been identified so as to concentrate all the public activities of the plazas. Hence, the several aspects of the project (circulation, vegetation, concert area, outdoor bars) were shaped following these sunny zones. Maly Rynek plaza should be the “living room” of the city. Its core is an open-air stage for concerts surrounded by a sequence of rings for seating, water and green which isolate from the city. The amphitheatre is created by lifting up the borders of the plaza and makes a few steps to take a seat. This comprehensive concept helps to make an intimate space and makes people focus on the core of the plaza where music concerts, art exhibitions can be held. The wall, which separates the abbey from the site, is designed as a green buffer area between public and private spaces. Swietego Sebastiana Plaza is a negative version of Maly Rynek. Here the green occupies the center, and not the perimeter. Moreover, it becomes a place to relax, where a ring of seats contains the green area without excluding the view on Swietego Sebastiana Church. To conclude, sun creates “space for life”, green isolates, water provokes sounds and relax, and trees projects shadows.