Park in Banja Luka

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PARK ALONG THE BOULEVARD OF SERBIAN ARMY IN BANJA LUKA

4th prize

International Open Design Competition

Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina

y=2021.

authors: Jovana Kovacevic, Milos Jokic, Nikola Gjorgijevski, Stefan Ilic, Tijana Mackic

Five field elements inform the code of the park: Surface, Totems (Hill + Lake), Points (Rain network), Strip and Lines. This type of space forming allows for various inputs to enter the algebraic code for generation a programme, creating flexible solutions attentive to citizens’ current needs, economic trends, and climate and environmental challenges - making this intervention sustainable, responsive and responsible.

Respectively, five landscape-scale layers + elements inform the project proposal. Ground zero is the terrain (surface morphology), followed by a points and lines field, an artificial rain network, a strip (responsively programmed surface), and two manmade landscape totems: a lake and a hill. When put together, all layers illustrate the image of the territory (the new park). The concept proposes a normed and flexible schema capable of mutation and transformations, expansions, and retractions.

site plan & exploded axonometric view

Concept: Landscape and Architecture

The size of this territory expands beyond the traditional architectural scale and pushes towards an urban landscape design thinking afore zooming in to architectural details. Therefore, it is necessary to articulate this space using field instead of architectural elements. Respectively, five landscape-scale layers + elements inform the project proposal. Ground zero is the terrain (surface morphology), followed by a points and lines field, an artificial rain network, a strip (responsively programmed surface), and two manmade landscape totems: a lake and a hill. When put together, all layers illustrate the image of the territory (the new park). The concept proposes a normed and flexible schema capable of mutation and transformations, expansions, and retractions. It uses an algebraic design system that allows for these operations to take place without losing the essence of the project proposal, contrary to the geometrical thinking of Baroque and Neoclassicist parks. This type of space forming allows for various inputs to enter the algebraic code of the programming and design methodology, creating flexible solutions attentive to the current needs of the citizens, economic trends, and climate and environmental challenges. The scenario unfolded in the project proposal reflects the current ecological and metropolitan conditions and circumstances in which we find this piece of territory in Banja Luka and, therefore, the proposed program, whether for processes of phytoremediation and air purification or skateboarding and playing basketball, aligns to the now-a-day priority for environmental healing and urban uplifting of Banja Luka.

multievent space / energy farm

Ground zero (surface morphology and existing flora)

The current terrain conditions, primarily affected by pollution processes in the past, dictate the urgent need for ecological purification, that of cleaning petrochemicals from the soil, purification hazardous air particle, and natural processes of water treatment. Furthermore, the lack of metropolitan and recreational activities in and around this piece of land dictated the need for intensive surface programing. Both urban and environmental factors acted as the first inputs in the algebraic spatial code generator for the park’s design. Additionally, all healthy existing trees and bushes are protected in our project proposal; however, in the area near the boulevard, new trees are planted, and some replanted to create a more park-like environment, contrary to the area near the river bank, where existing dense forest is enhanced to create a “wild zone,” for flora and fauna. Finally, we want to enhance the blue-green natural character of the riverbank, a now-a-day rare condition, with minimal spatial elements: elevated walkways and platforms around the riverbank.

Artificial rain network

As a response to the aforementioned inputs, a visionary for upcoming climate challenges, a network of thin pipes is installed throughout the park’s territory. The spatial eco-modernist module of this network allows vertical nods to delineate the spacelessness of the territory, offering a measurable and performative system. In situations of high air pollution, the water system is activated, merging airborne particles with water falling on specifically chosen tree flora and the already existing dendroflora that help purify the air. Additionally, specific plants such as mustard and sunflowers are planted for phytoremediation purposes of urban brownfields and soils polluted with petrochemicals.

Vrbas riverbank

phasing diagram

Points + Lines

A mash of pedestrian, running, and bicycling pathways organically spread around the park’s territory connecting different programs from one part, Vrba’s riverbank, to another, the Serbia boulevard. Along these tracks, there are various points (confetti programs) such as open gyms, coffee shops, open libraries, working spaces, public toilets, and multiple sports fields.

multievent space / energy farm - plans, section, elevation

Landscape totems: Hill + Lake

As Kevin Lynch describes in his book “The Image of the City,” the importance of spatial markers that create mental maps and orientation points, so is the core reason behind creating an artificial lake and hill. Not only do they act as focal points in the park, but the Lake additionally adds to the climatic benefits of the park – processes of evaporation – to cool down the temperature as well as a zone for ecological bewilderment – improving the living condition of aquatic fauna and flora. The hill is constructed from the soil dug for the Lake, which covers the transported waste and polluted soil from throughout the park.

multievent space / energy farm - exploded axonometric view & 3D section

summer stage scenarios & park pavilions

Strip: responsively programmed surface

Finally, we come to the central element of the park, the place the absorbs all the information, whether metropolitan, recreational, environmental, or climatic. The strip is the spatial formation of the algebraic code generator of program and function. The strip is the catalyst of change, and its code is easy to understand. It is divided into larger modules, “rooms” of 40 x 40m, that absorb and distribute the various main programs of the park. Both environmental and urban, the strip consists of: crafts market, a bike station, an air-purification forest, a child’s playground, an open summer scene, a skate park, phytoremediation field, an energy farm/multievent space, a dock with coffee shops, an enclosed garden, eco hub area, and sports fields. These are distributed according to current soil and flora conditions; for example, the phytoremediation field is positioned amidst a polluted area, while the sports field is placed in clean, lush green spaces. The strip is not imagined as a final, unchangeable formation; on the contrary, it only reflects a responsive program to the current surrounding conditions. It also doesn’t have to be built at once; a phasing diagram informs a proposed evolution. However, perhaps, 20 years from now, the strip can restart, reinitiate a code generating operation that absorbs the input surrounding information and reestablishes itself with bran new form, flora, and function, attentive to the normed and flexible proposed rhythm, in order to leave a door open for future resets and reinstallations – making this intervention sustainable, responsive and responsible.