The Old Garages

First typology, on the highest grounds of the Strzyza floodplain are the ‘Old Garages’. This typology is characterized by the linear basin of the Strzyza stream canalized in concrete. Here, on the banks of the Strzyza one can find many old, one-storey parking garages. As an intervention I propose to demolish one of the parking garages and transform it into a new entrance to the first garden. The green doors of the existing parking garage are re-used to enhance the physical border of the unpredictable, renaturalized stream’s garden. The concrete walls of the old garage (big concrete blocks) are used to create stairs, paths and new islands in the riverbed, which help slow down the flowing water and, at the same time, renaturalize the Strzyza’s waterbed.

Fig. 95: Renaturalized Strzyza’s stream bed. Re-erranged pavements create porosity for riparian vegetation to reappear in the urbanized river bed. By reconnecting water with soil created conditions for re-development of the riparian vegetation. 1. Harvesting plants around renaturalized Strzyza stream; 2. Stairs made of re-used concrete blocks from the demolished old garage; 3. Re-used concrete blocks are placed in the middle of the stream to slow down the water.

Fig. 100: Drawings of garden creation actions: planting new trees, destroying pieces of old garage walls, destroying unnecessary pavements and its fundaments, creating new topography, which slows down water flow, harvesting rainwater; Fig. 101: Drawings of actions of garden maintanance and harvesting: reparing garden walls and objects, harvesting edible plants, re-arranging dead branches; Fig. 102: Section A-A, zoom-in, red line represents the existing, removed elements. Strzyza´s water reconnected with the soil created natural conditions for spontaneous, riparian vegetation to reappear.