Cinderella on the Motława

Wyspa Spichrzów in Gdańsk has been the subject of a record number of urban projects that never get beyond the planning stage. Gray International have invited another five highly regarded architectural studios to present their concepts. Do any of them have a chance of seeing the light of day?

Wyspa Spichrzów (Spichrzów Island) on the Motława river in the heart of Gdańsk saw its best days long before the Second World War. During the centuries it bustled with granaries full of goods for the shipping trade. After the war the island fell on hard times. The local authorities have spent significant time and money on restoring the former glory of the city, but unfortunately seem to have forgotten about the island, as it remains the only unreconstructed part of the city centre.

Ideas come to nothing
A detailed development plan for the city centre, including approximately 30 ha of Wyspa Spichrzów, was first made ready in spring 1962. In the autumn of the same year, architects revealed their visions to the people of Gdańsk. Some of these ideas were implemented; however, those for the island have never been realized. The situation repeated itself throughout the 70\'s, 80\'s and 90\'s: all the plans drawn up by foreign or Polish studios stayed firmly in the city archives, leaving the island in complete planning chaos. A few of the granaries were rebuilt, the offices of ZUS and Samopomoc Chłopska, as well as the controversial Novotel hotel, were erected and warehouses took place of the old barracks. Another misfortune for this part of Gdańsk was the marking of the so called \'Warsaw route\' - Podwale Przedmiejskie St - leading through the district and dividing the island into the northern part, near Główne Miasto, and the less attractive southern part.
"I think that this division became so strong in the minds of the most of Gdańsk observers, that they forgot about the southern section and that whole Wyspa Spichrzów constitutes part of the city as well," says Ryszard Leśniewski, the president of Gray International, the company which has undertaken the creation of a complex vision for this area, and furthermore, has a plan for its implementation. As a result, 5 distinguished architectural studios have submitted designs: from Poland (Alter Polis and Bulanda Mucha) from Germany (Astoc) from Great Britain, (Chapman Taylor) and from France (Fiszer Atelier 41).

The French worked hard and...
The presentation of designs which took place on February 25th in the concert hall of Gdańsk, was the culmination of the architectural workshops organized by Gray in autumn 2005, when architects were able to see the results of the complex analysis and studies of the island done by the company since 2000.
"At that time we came from Paris to represent Nexity, the largest French company specializing in development and investments. Its domain in the domestic market is the revitalization and reconstruction of city centres," says Ryszard Leśniewski. "Nexity decided to start operating in Poland, and one of the ideas was to develop the  southern part of the Wyspa Spichrzów (app. 20 ha - edt.) The French just fell in love with this area!"
During the negotiations with Gdańsk\'s authorities, they were shown the development plans for the island. The officials liked the vision and a decision on signing an agreement on further cooperation with the investor was taken. The document was to have been signed in 2000. "We did a good job with Nexity, by managing to persuade the authorities that the problem of the island could be solved, although it would need long term cooperation, and the taking decisions which could not be modified after the local administration\'s term had ended," claims the president of Gray International.

... then went home
Finally, however, Nexity did not sign the agreement, since due to financial problems of the Viviendi group, a mother company, they decided to withdraw, not only from Poland, but also from other European countries. At the end the letter of intend was signed in October 2002 by Gray International together with the Sopot developer NDI, the  Gdańsk authorities and the State Treasury which was represented by the governor of Pomorze. The last two signatories are the owners of app. 2/3 of the area on the southern part of the island - the rest being under private ownership.
The letter of intend had been in existence for two years before being extended for another two years in June 2004. According to its terms, Gray and NDI were to prepare the urban, financial and investment development plan for Wyspa Spichrzów at their own expense. In return, the authorities of Gdańsk have promised not to sell their properties and to participate actively in the project. If the result of the cooperation would be promising business plan, interested investors would appear, all the parties would take steps towards the realization of the project. According to Ryszard Leśniewski, one of the steps should be the passing by the city council of a land development plan for Wyspa Spichrzów giving the project the go-ahead.

Quietly
Gray has not been wasting its time in Gdańsk. The company has conducted research costing hundreds of thousands of euros, covering the infrastructure conditions on the island among others. Unfortunately, the analysis has revealed the infrastructure to be a serious problem for the island, the solving of which would cost the city several hundred million złoty.
"In the meantime we agreed that developing only the southern part of the Island would be a big mistake and only increase the division of the area," says Ryszard Leśniewski. "We started working on how to restore the island\'s integrity, its character, functions and the question of how the island development plan should be modified in order to achieve this. We asked the five best - in our opinion -  existing architectural studios specialised in waterfront projects to assist us in this.

Doing the numberwork
Architects from Bulanda Mucha, Fiszer Atelier 41, Alter Polis, Chapman Taylor and Astoc have taken upon themselves the far from easy task of creating an urban concept for the island remembering of the existing development plan, respecting the history and meaning of the place. The participants could also avail themselves of the results of the soil, infrastructure and geodesic analysis.
The architects\' ideas are many and interesting. Each of them are based around waterfront projects fashionable in the West. As we learned from Ryszard Leśniewski, the most interesting projects eventually selected jointly by the city council will be included in the final development plans for the island, which will then be assessed by the citizens of Gdańsk. "We are confident that the final concept will encourage the authorities to pass the changes into the local development plan according to the vision, which will then allow us finalize negotiations with financial institutions," believes Ryszard Leśniewski.
The president of Gray claims that there are investors interested in the scheme, and through cooperation with them, Gray wishes to benefit as a deputy-investor.

The city says: yes
Attending the presentation of the architectural plans was the Mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, who once again gave assurances that the city authorities would lend their full support to the scheme. Also present were representatives from Spanish investors and developers Martinsa Grupo Inmobiliaria - the owner of two sites on the northern part of the island totalling 1 ha, for which they have their own ideas, not necessarily compatible with Gray\'s plans (which also include the Spanish sites). Nevertheless, Ryszard Leśniewski is convinced his work will bear fruit and be fully realized. He is also staying patient and will continue working on the project as he has done since his arrival in Poland in 2000.

Magda Konstantynowicz