Barbara Costantino: []Urban Planning and Landscape - Europan 11 - The LivingPark - Esto, Nynashamn

Period: May - June 2011
Location: Esto, Nynashamn - Sweden
Subject: Landscape architecture and urban planning

Barbara Costantino, Francesco Garofalo and Giacomo Garofalo - http://www.openfabric.eu/

Europan 11 - Esto, Nynashamn - Sverige
SITE DEFINITION
The project site is an ancient seabed and comparatively flat, surrounded by a hilly landscape. To the west is a leisure harbour with the closest water line. Directly north of the site, the railroad forms a clear boundary. It is possible to cross it through a pedestrian bridge, part of a well used path that connects central Nynäshamn with the area of Estö. To the south and southwest is a large
residential area, mostly consisting of apartment blocks but also some singlefamily villas. Two main streets pass through the site, meeting in a junction. At the junction are presently a gas station, an outdoor bus garage and a small old kiosk transformed into a popular Thai restaurant.

THE MAIN TASK
was to develop a scheme that again transforms the area into an

attractive public space, which had the capacity to tie the town and its parts together. The urbanistic task had here to be performed with predominantly landscape means. The competitor must suggest a suitable programme that may

contain mixed functions, possibly with an emphasis on leisure activity and nature features. As the ground of the open field is close to sea level and therefore

hreatened by flooding, it was not possible to erect larger permanent buildings,

something that however may be considered for the surrounding heights.

THE PROPOSAL

The site is a complex and regardable reality included between Nynäshamn and Estö. Due to road network, facilities such as bus station and electrical switchyard, since sport facilities of Estö Idrottsplats have been realized, the location has become a urban void, an in-between place used by skaters and lived by occasional temporary

events. Its position is, on the other hand, strategic for place dynamics, for the way Nynäshamn and especially Estö are connected, for the way collectivity perceives the area, for distances between different locations and for surrounding terrain morphology. The liaison between Nynäshamn and Estö reaches on site its top clarity. Project defends and enhances this point with a flyover that turns the connection direct, linear and easy, for pedestrians and cyclists, realizing at the same time a fluid landmark, a reference point for a shared urban life, functionally and environmentally integrated. Besides its practical characteristic, flyover holds a fundamental position in park spatiality

management, being accessible from the island and the central square, from where departs park’s main paths. Paths have different hierarchies and connect park with recreational and landscape spots around the site, locating the park in a leisure network reachable walking and cycling due to close distances.

Surrounding landscape insists on site area, downhill is constitutive part of the project, clinging the region and determining space and being involved in it. Surrounding landscape is another active part of site, with a precisely defined border, Änggatan road, and non defined margin, merged with the context. Morphology, such as connections and distances, interacts actively with the project, working as a catchments, directing rainwater to ditches and basins, activating hydro-dynamical processes for water cleaning.

Actual connections and morphology are saved and re-presented to create an active landmark and used for nature related recreation activities, creating a live system able to adapt itself functionally and environmentally to seasons and climate changes.

Site is conceived not to embank, but to self-adapt dynamically to futures possible scenarios, such as groundwater level increase. Site is designed not to block existing connections realized by present activities but to be the heart of a circulatory system that bonds Nynäshamn and Estö. A live park that adjusts itself modifying functionality of designed elements without changing spatial configuration. The living park.