The Family Activity Park in Wawer has been pleasing residents of the capital for a year now. It was created according to the design of the JAZ+Architekci studio, although what is most important about it was in place long before the first concept. According to the simplest definitions, a park is an area of landscaped greenery. But are we able to draw a line between a natural, landscaped space and one in which human activities have completely dominated nature? Warsaw's new park, nominated for the SARP 2026 Year Award, seems to have an apt answer to this question.
When it comes to parks and large green public spaces, Warsaw has set the bar extremely high in recent years. It's not just the award-winning "Storm" Action Park under the Warsaw Uprising Mound, but also Żeranski Park (both Archigrest and topoScape projects), the Royal Axis in Miasteczko Wilanów, or the linear park in Ursynów, under construction along Warsaw's Southern Ring Road , which is also the longest rooftop garden in Poland.
Slightly less media-savvy so far has been the Family Activity Park in Wawer, completely undeservedly, because in its case everything is unusual - from the location, through the process of creating the concept, to the green, active and somewhat waterlogged results.
Family Activity Park in Warsaw
proj.: JAZ+
common space, common idea
The creation of the Family Activity Park in Wawer began long before the competition for the architectural concept was announced. Although architectural design is carried out by specialists, people with appropriate education and licenses, the results of their work are often used by a whole cross-section of society. It is difficult to expect architects to be able to recognize human needs in all their diversity every time - the solution to this problem is participatory design, which was applied in the creation of the concept of a new green space in Wawer.
Working on the concept of developing a green area, the city authorities organized a series of consultations, meetings and workshops for the Wawer community, which resulted in a vision of the expectations that the neighborhood community has for the new park. A total of 230 residents and residents of Warsaw worked on developing the idea for the Family Activity Park. Only when their needs were clearly expressed did the city launch an architectural competition, which was won by the Jaz+ studio in 2022. It took almost three years to finish the project, as the new park in Wawer became available in April 2025.
The facility fits harmoniously into the landscape and cultural context of the area - primarily in the immediate vicinity of the Wawer Forest and, more broadly, in the tradition of the Vistula River Urzecz. Already before the project, the area of the future park was a valued place of recreation for local residents: a space for strolls and informal play in close contact with nature. The identified landscape, natural and social values became the starting point for the formulation of the main assumptions of the design concept.
- writes the JAZ+ studio about its project in Wawer.
Family Activity Park in Wawer district
The Family Activity Park was built on Węglarska Street in Warsaw, on an area of just over 4 hectares. It is bordered on the west and south by a sea of Wawer houses, and on the eastern side of the parks stretches the "Zdrowie" Family Allotment Gardens. The northern boundary of the area is marked by the wall of the Wawerski Forest, the second largest urban forest in Warsaw, the proximity of which is one of the sources of the park's recreational potential. Equally as important as the vegetation is the water in its surroundings , both the water flowing slowly in two nearby canals and seeping from between clumps of moss and grasses. Such an unusual area required an appropriate approach from the design team.
Family Activity Park in Warsaw
proj.: JAZ+
non-transformed place
The philosophy of non-transformation is resounding louder and louder in the design of green areas. It has been mastered by the Archigrest and topoScape teams, using the rubble of pre-war Warsaw or the destruction of the Żerań slab, overgrown with ruderal vegetation, as full-fledged landscape elements in their projects.Such an approach was also followed by the JAZ+ studio, which, when designing the Family Activity Park in Wawer, limited itself primarily to point-based activities, leaving nature to do what it does best:
The principle of well-thought-out, punctual interventions was adopted and the changes introduced were subordinated to supporting local nature and improving the quality of visitors' use of the area. The project proposes a composition based on "islands of activity" and varying degrees of accessibility of individual zones. Greenery was designed as an arrangement of plant compositions supporting biodiversity, assuming natural dynamics of vegetation and succession shaped by the method of tending the area. The potential for contrasts between wet and dry habitats and sunny and shaded sites was also brought out.
- reads about the Family Activity Park.
Family Activity Park in Warsaw
proj.: JAZ+
landscape experience
Wetlands are some of the areas that suffer most severely from human activity. The human tendency to "regulate" and control apparently cannot cope with the dynamic, often unpredictable nature of rivers, marshes and wetlands. Changes in water relations, so common in human-inhabited areas, often result in environmental degradation and ecological disasters. In the design of the Family Activity Park, the JAZ+ studio decided to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the untransformed landscape in a creative way:
A biocenotic area was designed in a wooded area with local wetlands, through which a viewing footbridge was routed. Here park users can learn about the characteristics of wetland habitats and the principles of the water cycle in nature, without generating unnecessary environmental costs. Non-invasive activity in contact with nature is encouraged, among other things, by the "Find This Place" outdoor game, which allows users to experience the landscape changing over time and learn how to use azimuths through free play. Its canvass consists of platforms located in different parts of the park, linked to characteristic habitats and natural sites. The project also includes elements of nature education in the form of information boards.
- explains the team responsible for the design of the new park in Wawer.
The diversity and richness of nature attracts, but also makes it sometimes difficult for us to "distill" individual phenomena from it. The platforms and other educational elements designed in the Family Activity Park allow us to direct our attention to the most interesting natural phenomena. Their observation is possible from an unusual perspective - for example, from a footbridge suspended under the treetops themselves. When one of the views proves to be particularly eye-catching, you can sit on one of the benches set up on the footbridge.
Family Activity Park in Warsaw
proj.: JAZ+
The captivating Urzecze River
As for the wetland nature of the area, the park design seems to interfere with it as little as possible. The amount of paved surfaces has been limited, and the entire area of the new park in Wawer is wrapped in a network of dirt paths, meandering between clusters of greenery and elements of small architecture.
An important point of reference for the project is the tradition of the Urzecz River - a micro-region of the Vistula valley, which is an important element of the identity of Warsaw's Wawer district. Due to the marshy nature of the area and periodic flooding of the river, its inhabitants had to develop the ability to function in a demanding environment. The combination of the harshness of living conditions in the area with the ability to take advantage of natural cycles of nature, influenced the formation of a distinctive cultural landscape.
- reads the description of the Family Activity Park.
Family Activity Park in Warsaw
proj.: JAZ+
An idea for an afternoon in Wawer
In keeping with its name, the Family Activity Park includes an infrastucture that makes it possible to squeeze out the "maximum" recreational potential with the least possible transformation of the valuable environment. Most of the activity zones have been designed in the northern and western parts of the park - farthest from the Wawer Forest, but closest to the street where the single-family housing development is located.
The new park creates a space conducive to residents' meetings, supporting the building of social ties and complementing the offer of Wawer's public spaces. The park's program includes badminton and boules courts, outdoor chess, a miniature golf course, a picnic clearing with fire pits, and a natural playground for children. A dog run will be provided for owners of four-legged dogs.
- JAZ+ studio lists.
Family Activity Park in Warsaw
design: JAZ+
otwock inspirations
The heart of the Family Activity Park in Wawer is a square, in the middle of which a small building stood:
At the nodal point of the park, a pavilion with a café was located - an architectural reinterpretation of the characteristic shelters of the Otwock line railroad stops, the tradition of wooden architecture and the austere aesthetics of the Urzecz area.
- it reads.
Family Activity Park in Warsaw
proj.: JAZ+
In addition to the room that houses the café, there is a covered terrace in front of the building, under which one can take shelter from the rain or the sun's rays. The elongated, partially glazed pavilion brings out the wooden structure in both the facades and the interior. Individual elements, for example, the faces of the beams and rafters are highlighted with accent colors:
All architectural objects and landscaping elements are designed from wood, protected by tanning, which as a conservation method significantly extends the life of the material. The natural and tanned wood is complemented by an accent color of dark red, which serves both an ordering and distinguishing function - including in the narrative of the designed nature trail. The pavilion, shelters, footbridge and other elements of small architecture were based on consistent detailing, creating a unique character for the park and reinforcing its rootedness in the local identity.
- explains the JAZ+ studio team.
Family Activity Park in Warsaw
proj.: JAZ+
architecture and nature in a row
The Family Activity Park in Wawer is one of those public spaces where - quite rightly - architecture does not come out in front. It is not backed by the lofty history of the Warsaw Uprising, as in the case of the "Storm" Action Park, or the industrial heritage present in the Żerań Park. However, the design philosophy seems similar - and that in the case of the Family Activity Park, it is nature itself, not man, that is responsible for the shape of the existing terrain, all the better.
SARP Year Award 2026
The Family Activity Park in Warsaw has a chance to win one of the most important architectural awards in our country. Below are descriptions and the full list of buildings nominated for the SARP 2026 Year Award:
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Border House - TOPROJEKT
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Home in the House. Reconstruction and expansion of a single-family residential building. Podkowa Leśna - Mak studio Łukasz Krzesiak | Michał Koć (Modus House).
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"House of Books" at 13A Gwarna Street in Poznań - Litoborski + Marciniak Architectural Office | EGO Studio | OYKA.
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Reconstruction, superstructure and extension of the "Rusalka" commercial and service building in Lublin - AKM Studio
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Multi-family building with first floor services at 17 Biernackiego Street in Lublin - AKM Studio
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"Center for Innovative Space" of the Warsaw School of Economics in Warsaw - Stelmach and Partners Architectural Office
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Elementary School no. 119 im. 3rd Berlin Infantry Regiment in Warsaw - WWAA
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AFI Office House in Warsaw - JEMS Architekci | Pracownia Architektury Krajobrazu Marta Tomasiak
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Ognisko Pracy Pozaszkolnej in Mikołów - INOONI Jakub Zygmunt | PSBA Przemysław Sokołowski Biuro Architektoniczne.
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F. Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz - PLUS3-ARCHITEKCI
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Faculty of Psychology at the University of Warsaw - Praga Project | Piotr Bujnowski Architects | Zielone Studio.
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Heritage Resort in Rybnik - TOPROJEKT
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Hotel Tribe Kraków Old Town - Ingarden & Ewý Architects
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SYLVA company headquarters in Wielu - APA Wojciechowski Architekci
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Berdychowskie Bridges in Poznań - Ski Studio Błażej Szurkowski | ARPA Jerzy and Bartosz Gurawski | Maciej Sokolnicki MS86A | Adam Turczyn
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Modern Mokotów, stages 1 and 2 - BBGK Architekci
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Central Square in Warsaw - A-A Collective | Landscape Practice
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Reconstruction and extension of the Spa House in Żegiestów - Design Studio F-11
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Arche Klasztor Wrocław - Arche
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Interiors of "Barbara" restaurant in Warsaw - 89 Degrees
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Family Activity Park in Warsaw - JAZ+ Architects
