Located in the center of Krakow, near the Vistula River and the Wawel Royal Castle, Kossak Square will be redeveloped. How? This will be decided by the jury of an architectural competition, which the city has decided to organize in cooperation with the Cracow branch of the Association of Polish Architects.
The square, despite its prestigious location, is currently a cab rank and a small green space. At one of its corners is Kossakówka - a historic mansion bought by the city last year, which had been in the hands of Juliusz Kossak since 1869. The villa was not only home to the painter's family, but also his studio and a space where Krakow artists met. The mansion, which is in poor condition, is to be used in the future for the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art. Also located near the square is the historic Medynski Villa, recently converted into a modern hotel, and between these historic buildings is a complex of six-story apartment buildings designed by the Lewicki Łatak Design Office.
Although the details of the competition are not yet known, this form of selecting the best urban development project is good news. When asked why the competition for the development of Kossak Square is important and what other spaces in the city require the selection of a project in the form of a competition, Marek Kaszynski, president of the Cracow branch of SARP, said:
Every public space is important and deserves to be treated with the utmost respect. I take the announcement of the competition as a sign of respect for the space, because only it gives the opportunity to consciously choose the best solution for the place. Within Krakow's "second ring road" there are more than a dozen smaller and larger squares, each of which has an important function in the city. Kossak Square has the unique advantage of being in direct proximity to the Vistula Boulevards and could become an element connecting them with the Old Town.
In turn, Piotr Kempf, director of the Board of Urban Greenery in Krakow, when asked what results the city expects from the competition, replied:
Juliusz Kossak Square, located almost in the very center of the city near Wawel Castle, is a public space that is important not only because of its location, but also because of its historical context. Particularly in such places, it is important to give a broader dimension to the discussion on the shape of changes. The form of an architectural competition provides such opportunities. This is because the Competition Jury is composed of representatives of various fields such as architects, landscape architects, art conservators, historians and representatives of the public. The simultaneous creation of several competition projects is an opportunity to look not only at a variety of ideas, but also at the inspiration, broader context and understanding of the topic behind the target presentation and design of the change. So we want the architectural competition to respond to the representativeness of Kossak Square and the needs of residents reflected in its changes.
It is not yet known when exactly the competition will be announced, we will keep you informed of the organizers' decisions.
