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Location: Radojewo Park

The village of Radojewo was already recorded in 1280 as the property of the Monastery of the Cistercians of Owińska. The village given to sisters by Przemysł I remained in their hands for 500 years. The name of the settlement itself probably comes from rejoicing (pol. radować się), which can be confirmed by the medieval entry „Radujewo”.  After the partition of Poland and the dissolution of the order, the estate was purchased by the Prussian banker Zygmunt Otto von Treskow, intending to build an estate for his son Henryk Baltazar. Karl Friedrich Schinkel (one of the most talented architects in  Prussia) was invited to design the estate, and to create the landscape park of Peter Joseph Lenné. The estate remained in the hands of the von Treskow family until 1945. The memory of the former owners is still alive among the inhabitants and the descendants of the family keep in touch with them. After World War II, the estate was nationalised, the palace building housed a school, and the park hosted classes and meetings organised by the Union of Rural Youth. Currently, the owner of the palace is the City of Poznań and the park belongs to the State Forests (pol. Lasy Państwowe).

The park is characterised by a large variety of species of trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and flowers. As many as 111 species of plants have been inventoried and qualified as rare. The largest part of the park is overgrown with ash-elm meadows represented by a subset of the fragrant violet, while in the southern part of the park central European oak-hornbeam forest is found. In addition, small areas are also occupied by acacia forest, groups of common lilacs and two- and multi-cut oak-hornbeam meadows. The area of the park is often referred to as Corydalic Hills (pol. Kokoryczowe Wzgórza), which refers to Corydalis solida, the fumewort, and Corydalis cava, the hollowroot, occurring in fragments of the forest covering the hillsides of the park. At the end of January or even earlier during the warm winters, the Eranthis flowers bloom in this area, later accompanied by snowdrops, violets, anemones, Gagea, and Corydalis, attracting more and more tourists. There are many impressive trees in the park, including the oldest Ash in Poznan, which is under natural protection, as well as pedunculate oaks, field elm, small-leaved linden, and individual London plane trees and common red beech.

The participants of the consultation meeting  appreciated the woodland character and shape of the park, the presence of old trees as well as the rich park fleece, air cleanliness, history, and the strongly affecting character of the place with romantic ruins, and tree circles. In terms of disadvantages, the state of the building as well as the park, the deterioration and littering are presented above all. Attention was paid to the need to secure the area against bicycle traffic, but also the entry of off-road vehicles. Residents are keenly interested in the protection of the place, hence this year the idea of revitalising the park  was submitted to the Poznań Civic Budget. Elements suggested for realisation during the Mood for Wood workshop are:
– elements enabling passive rest, contemplation of the place, meditation combined with the presentation of educational and ecological content
– elements enabling intimate rest for several people, also for families with children (place to sit, eat, etc.),
– elements providing information on the history of the place and its natural values,
– elements complementing parts of the former park layout

FINAL RESULTS

The Gate – installation has three functions:

– provides  a place to rest

– creates a strong visual impression of crossing the border of the forest

– educates about the history and natural resources of the site.

The horizontal form along with the linden tree growing on the opposite side of the path create a symbolic gate to the forest. It catches the attention, intrigues and encourages to cross the border. The deeper the structure goes into the forest, the more open and looser it becomes. The gradual lowering of the installation creates a sitting place at the end, moreover the disappearance of the structure symbolizes fading of the traces of the human presence inside the forest.
 Educational content of the project is intended to be interactive. It refers to the history of Radojewo village, the palace of von Treskov family and the forest (including local legend). Additionally, the basic knowledge about natural heritage is being presented. All this information is hidden in the structure of the installation.

Student participiants:

Laura Bartha, Matěj Čička, Maria Kwiatkowska, Anna Seimlová, Paweł Skworzec, Jiří Ullwer, Weronika Zaręba, Michaela Vatralová, Ada Kocieniewska, Wojciech Jenerowicz 

Tutor: Studio Nomad - Bence Pasztor + Soma Pongor

Architects from Hungary

Studio Nomad is a multidisciplinary design studio based in Budapest, Hungary. Bence Pasztor, David Tarcali and Soma Pongor are the founding members with background in architecture. The word ‘Nomad’ reflects the diversity of our creative work that spans from small objects to larger landscape architectural projects and spatial installations. Our aim is to show the beauty and joy residing in the simplicity of structure and materials. What drives us is our curiosity to experiment and our intention to create something new and unseen.