Reconnecting with nature
Restoring aquatic plants to architecture
Restoring aquatic plants to architecture. Urban water gardening
The project aims to re-establish the forgotten historical relationship between water botany and architecture: from growing water plants in abandoned concrete pots and running workshops for local communities on water gardening, to reintroducing water lilies into modernist architectural masterpieces. It shows how simple and easily replicable water gardening practices can help increase biodiversity in the city and improve urban microclimates.
International Geographical scope (i.e., in partnership, or cooperation, with one or more EU Member States, Western Balkans and/or Ukraine)
Poland, Spain
The project initiated by the Warsaw-based architecture studio Centrala was first developed in partnership with the Botanical Garden of the University of Warsaw and the Zacheta National Gallery of Art, before being implemented in Warsaw, Gdansk and Kielce. Then it was supported by the Mies van der Rohe Foundation in Barcelona that enabled the plantings in the Barcelona pavilion and involved local experts from the Barcelona Department of Parcs and Gardens and the Viver Tres Turons plant nursery.
Yes
Poland- Pomorskie, Poland- Świętokrzyskie
No
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
2022-11-30
Yes
I-Portunus, supported by the EU’s Creative Europe programme, 2021
No
No
As an individual partnership with other persons/organisation(s)
The project restores aquatic plants to urban spaces and treats them as allies in building a better future. Targeted at local urban communities, it aims to increase their daily contact with nature. It recalls the forgotten practices of water gardening, widely used as a natural method of keeping water clean before the spread of mechanical and chemical methods such as chlorination. It shows that instead of septic pools, we can create active ecosystems to increase biodiversity in the city. In small steps, a blue-green infrastructure is also being developed in this way, influencing the microclimate of public spaces and reducing urban heat island effects.
The project uses abandoned concrete pots for this purpose. During water gardening workshops organised together with cultural institutions and NGOs, they are planted with aquatic plants and placed in public spaces, and are then cared for by the institutions and their audiences. The project also reintroduces aquatic plants into historical architecture, in which the widespread and water-purifying aquatic plants have been replaced by chlorine. By reintroducing aquatic plants into the pool of the Barcelona pavilion designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich (1929), according to their original design, it shows that architectural icons can also become ambassadors of urban biodiversity.
Launched in 2018, the project currently includes aquatic plant pots in six locations in three cities in Poland (Warsaw, Gdansk, Kielce) and an intervention in the Barcelona pavilion that started in 2022. It is an open-ended project, prepared for implementation in further locations.
The project uses abandoned concrete pots for this purpose. During water gardening workshops organised together with cultural institutions and NGOs, they are planted with aquatic plants and placed in public spaces, and are then cared for by the institutions and their audiences. The project also reintroduces aquatic plants into historical architecture, in which the widespread and water-purifying aquatic plants have been replaced by chlorine. By reintroducing aquatic plants into the pool of the Barcelona pavilion designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich (1929), according to their original design, it shows that architectural icons can also become ambassadors of urban biodiversity.
Launched in 2018, the project currently includes aquatic plant pots in six locations in three cities in Poland (Warsaw, Gdansk, Kielce) and an intervention in the Barcelona pavilion that started in 2022. It is an open-ended project, prepared for implementation in further locations.
water
plants
biodiversity
microclimate
temperature
The project focuses on working with existing spaces and materials – reusing abandoned concrete pots in Polish cities and transforming septic urban pools (such as the one in the Mies van der Rohe pavilion in Barcelona) into living ecosystems. It shows that also these small bodies of water can be used as practical tools to increase urban biodiversity and improve local microclimates (temperature, humidity, etc.). It is a nature-based solution, synchronised with the natural cycles of plant vegetation. It is also based on natural, locally sourced materials: it uses natural lake water, local water plants species and compost from fallen leaves instead of soil with peat, the production of which has a negative impact on wetlands.
The project introduces additional small bodies of water in the city and encourages people to come into closer daily contact with nature: the different species of aquatic plants, as well as the birds and insects they attract. Water plant pots and newly planted pools – if properly cared for – are not only visually pleasing, but also have an impact on the local microclimate (temperature, humidity).
An additional cultural benefit is the reintroduction of forgotten water gardening practices into architectural history. Our project began with finding abandoned concrete pots with a different than usual spherical shape. Through in-depth archival research, we learned that these were water plant pots used, among others, by landscape architect Alina Scholtz in public spaces on Warsaw housing estates in the 1970s. At the time, knowledge of water gardening, now forgotten, was widespread among architects, as evidenced by the now neglected teaching garden of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology with water plant pots and Witold Szolginia's ‘Aesthetics of the City’ textbook published by the faculty. Water plants, which help to keep water clean without the use of chemicals or electricity, were eagerly used by modernist architects, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, Roberto Burle Marx, Isamu Noguchi, Gio Ponti, Carlo Scarpa and Pietro Porcinai. As the practice of chlorinating water became more widespread, they often disappeared - bodies of water became easier to maintain, but they became ecologically dead. By restoring their original character, they can now become ambassadors of biodiversity. It also allows them to take a fresh look at their design - by restoring water lilies to the Barcelona pavilion, its pool is no longer just another flat architectural surface, but an active ecosystem.
An additional cultural benefit is the reintroduction of forgotten water gardening practices into architectural history. Our project began with finding abandoned concrete pots with a different than usual spherical shape. Through in-depth archival research, we learned that these were water plant pots used, among others, by landscape architect Alina Scholtz in public spaces on Warsaw housing estates in the 1970s. At the time, knowledge of water gardening, now forgotten, was widespread among architects, as evidenced by the now neglected teaching garden of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology with water plant pots and Witold Szolginia's ‘Aesthetics of the City’ textbook published by the faculty. Water plants, which help to keep water clean without the use of chemicals or electricity, were eagerly used by modernist architects, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, Roberto Burle Marx, Isamu Noguchi, Gio Ponti, Carlo Scarpa and Pietro Porcinai. As the practice of chlorinating water became more widespread, they often disappeared - bodies of water became easier to maintain, but they became ecologically dead. By restoring their original character, they can now become ambassadors of biodiversity. It also allows them to take a fresh look at their design - by restoring water lilies to the Barcelona pavilion, its pool is no longer just another flat architectural surface, but an active ecosystem.
The project proposes a solution that is cheap and easy to replicate. Our recipe for planting a water plant pot is based on historical records, including the water gardening practice of the Polish landscape designer Alina Scholtz (1908-1996) and the book Aesthetics of the City by Witold Szolginia (1981), as well as consultations with experts from the Botanical Garden of the University of Warsaw, the Botanical Garden of the University of Padua (which we visited thanks to an i-Portunus grant), the Department of Parks and Gardens in Barcelona and the aquatic plant nursery Viver Tres Turons. It can easily be replicated by individuals using the water bodies they have on hand. We have shared this recipe in the book Atlas of All Citizens (2022) and made it available as an open source document on our website (https://centrala.net.pl/aquatic-plant-pot/ ). We also share our hands-on experience with water gardening during participatory planting actions and open workshops (e.g. 'Hydrobotanic City', STUDIO theatrgalerie in Warsaw, June 2022, https://placdefilad.org/pl/aktualnosci/hydrobotaniczne-miasto/ ). The reintroduction of water lilies into the pool of the Mies van der Rohe pavilion aimed to promote the project on a larger scale and initiate a discussion on enhancing biodiversity in protected heritage spaces.
The implementation of water plant pots in different cities and the reintroduction of water plants into iconic architecture is an open project. After inviting a local institution, we organise an open public workshop on water gardening, which leads to the participatory planting of local water plant pots. The pots are then nurtured by the inviting institution and its public. Previous implementations have shown that the group of citizens who took part in the planting are keen to look after the flowering pots afterwards. With the knowledge gained from the workshop, participants can also replicate this solution, for example at home, in small steps increasing the blue-green infrastructure in the city. We have also made the recipe for water planting available in the book Atlas of all inhabitants (2022) and on our website (https://centrala.net.pl/aquatic-plant-pot/ ). In historic architecture projects, local citizens are not directly involved in the planting process and subsequent care of the plants, as these are carried out in close cooperation with the conservator and caretakers of the site. Instead, the citizens can later benefit from the ecological effects of these activities and look at familiar places with a new, nature-oriented perspective.
The project has been initiated by Małgorzata Kuciewicz and Simone De Iacobis from Warsaw-based architecture studio Centrala. It was first supported the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw and the Botanical Garden of the University of Warsaw, in particular by Anna Ptak, curator of Centrala’s exhibition ‘Amplifying Nature’ in the Polish Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, and Elżbieta Melon, curator of the department of aquatic, useful and medicinal plants.
After the successful planting and caring for the first aquatic plant pot in Zachęta (2018), the curatorial custody of the project has been overtaken by Aleksandra Kędziorek and the project have been implemented in different Polish cities, where it was usually supported by cultural institutions and NGOs (in Warsaw: Studio theatregallery in the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Museum of Earth, Zodiak Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture, in Kielce: Institute of Design, in Gdańsk: NOMUS – New Art Museum, branch of the National Museum in Gdańsk).
The reintroduction of aquatic plants into the pool of the Barcelona pavilion took place as part of the Centrala's art intervention 'Nenufars blancs / White waterlilies', curated by Aleksandra Kędziorek. On the part of the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, the project involved Ivan Blasi (curator), Adriana Mas (project coordinator), Víctor Sanchez (building management), Ruth Castilla (gardener), as well as external experts: Carles Palau from Viver Tres Turons (aquatic botany), Ana Calderón and Carles Palau from Viver Tres Turons (planting), Åkerblom Studio (video documentation), Fernando Ramos (architectural consultation), Ajuntament de Barcelona: Institut Municipal de Parcs and Jardins de Barcelona (technical consultation). The project was also supported by the Instituto Polaco de Cultura in Madrid.
After the successful planting and caring for the first aquatic plant pot in Zachęta (2018), the curatorial custody of the project has been overtaken by Aleksandra Kędziorek and the project have been implemented in different Polish cities, where it was usually supported by cultural institutions and NGOs (in Warsaw: Studio theatregallery in the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Museum of Earth, Zodiak Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture, in Kielce: Institute of Design, in Gdańsk: NOMUS – New Art Museum, branch of the National Museum in Gdańsk).
The reintroduction of aquatic plants into the pool of the Barcelona pavilion took place as part of the Centrala's art intervention 'Nenufars blancs / White waterlilies', curated by Aleksandra Kędziorek. On the part of the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, the project involved Ivan Blasi (curator), Adriana Mas (project coordinator), Víctor Sanchez (building management), Ruth Castilla (gardener), as well as external experts: Carles Palau from Viver Tres Turons (aquatic botany), Ana Calderón and Carles Palau from Viver Tres Turons (planting), Åkerblom Studio (video documentation), Fernando Ramos (architectural consultation), Ajuntament de Barcelona: Institut Municipal de Parcs and Jardins de Barcelona (technical consultation). The project was also supported by the Instituto Polaco de Cultura in Madrid.
Experts in the field of aquatic botany were involved in the project. Employees of the Warsaw University Botanical Garden were directly involved in recreating the recipe for the aquatic plant pot: based on the archival information collected by Małgorzata Kuciewicz and Simone De Iacobis from Centrala, they suggested plant species to be planted in the pot, provided the cuttings and participated in the planting process, during which they shared their expert knowledge and developed methods for caring for these plants. Experts from the Botanical Garden of the University of Padua enriched the research phase of the project with a broader context and historical knowledge of the evolution of aquatic plants, from indigenous to hybrid species. Project participants in Barcelona: Viver Tres Turons aquatic plant nursery and the Department of Parks and Gardens of the City of Barcelona consulted on plantings in the pool of the Mies van der Rohe pavilion. Carles Palau from Viver Tres Turons participated in the selection and planting process.
The project also required knowledge of architecture and architectural history. Centrala's archival research was supported by the project's curator and architectural historian, Aleksandra Kędziorek. The historical research was made possible thanks to an art grant from the City of Warsaw (project for photographic documentation of water plant pots by Simone De Iacobis from Centrala) and an i-Portunus grant (study visits to Brno, Padua and Barcelona, including the Tugendthat villa in Brno by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, consultations with villa curators). The project in Barcelona was directly consulted by architect Fernando Ramos, who was one of the architects responsible for the reconstruction of the Barcelona pavilion in the 1980s.
The project also required knowledge of architecture and architectural history. Centrala's archival research was supported by the project's curator and architectural historian, Aleksandra Kędziorek. The historical research was made possible thanks to an art grant from the City of Warsaw (project for photographic documentation of water plant pots by Simone De Iacobis from Centrala) and an i-Portunus grant (study visits to Brno, Padua and Barcelona, including the Tugendthat villa in Brno by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, consultations with villa curators). The project in Barcelona was directly consulted by architect Fernando Ramos, who was one of the architects responsible for the reconstruction of the Barcelona pavilion in the 1980s.
The project focuses on aquatic plants, which are rarely the focus of architects' attention. Using expertise in architectural history and aquatic botany, it demonstrates that it is possible to create biodiverse water bodies in urban spaces and maintain them using natural methods, without the use of mechanical or chemical means. The project also demonstrates the possibility of involving local communities in small-scale projects that can be easily replicated by them in different locations, in public and private spaces, and step by step contribute to the expansion of blue-green infrastructure in the city.
The project combines knowledge of architecture and architectural history with aquatic botany. It restores the connection between these disciplines that existed before bodies of water in public spaces began to be treated mechanically and with chemicals such as chlorine. By bringing together experts from these two disciplines, a method for working with water plant pots has been developed. It is being implemented in public spaces through collaboration with local cultural institutions and NGOs, which help to involve the local community in the project, both the planting process and the subsequent care of the plants.
The element that is easiest to repeat is the design of the water plant pot. It can be reproduced in a participatory way in the public space, but also individually using available water containers with appropriate parameters such as volume and depth. We have made the recipe for the water plant pot, tested and implemented as part of the project, available in open source: in the book Atlas of All Citizens (2022) and on our website (https://centrala.net.pl/aquatic-plant-pot/ ). We also teach its implementation in practice during the water gardening workshops that accompany each new planting.
Also, recreating aquatic plants in historic buildings according to their original designs is replicable - as part of the project, we have compiled an extensive list of places where aquatic plants used to occur but are now missing. However, the restoration of these plantings is site-specific and takes place in close consultation with the conservators and managers of the building in question.
Also, recreating aquatic plants in historic buildings according to their original designs is replicable - as part of the project, we have compiled an extensive list of places where aquatic plants used to occur but are now missing. However, the restoration of these plantings is site-specific and takes place in close consultation with the conservators and managers of the building in question.
The project contributes to biodiversity in the city - it introduces aquatic plants into the urban space, which turn septic water bodies in the city into active ecosystems and attract other species, such as birds and insects. This brings city dwellers into closer daily contact with nature. The project also contributes to improving the microclimate and reducing the perceived effects of the urban heat island - the presence of small bodies of water in public spaces affects the perceived temperature and humidity of the air, which is particularly important during heat waves intensified by the climate catastrophe.
The result of the project is the development and implementation of a recipe for an aquatic plant pot that can be easily reproduced in urban spaces. After the first implementations, local cultural institutions and NGOs in Poland recognised its environmental and social value and started inviting us to their premises. The water plant pots are now in six locations and the number is growing every year. In some locations, the planting was accompanied by regular temperature measurements, which showed the impact of the presence of the aquatic plant pots on the local microclimate.
Introducing plants into historic spaces - in this case the Barcelona pavilion - not only has an impact on the appearance of specific buildings, but also contributes to a new interpretation of architectural heritage. By restoring water lilies to the pavilion designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, the previously empty pool ceased to be a flat architectural surface and became an active ecosystem. Because the depth of the pool was significantly reduced during the reconstruction of the pavilion (from approx. 1 m to 30 cm), the project developed slowly: more time is needed for the plants to adapt. After the first season, which served the testing and adaptation phase (2022), the planting began to produce concrete results in the following season. For example, dragonflies and ducks have become regular visitors in the pavilion. Their presence confirms that the septic pool has been successfully transformed into a biologically rich body of water. Due to its process-oriented approach rather than immediate spectacular results, the project has not yet received much coverage in the international press. However, it has been recognised by the local media (e.g. El Periodico), the architectural press (e.g. Stedebouw & Architectuur) and has also been featured in Hans Ibelings' recent book 'Modern Architecture: A Planetary Warming History' (2023).
Introducing plants into historic spaces - in this case the Barcelona pavilion - not only has an impact on the appearance of specific buildings, but also contributes to a new interpretation of architectural heritage. By restoring water lilies to the pavilion designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, the previously empty pool ceased to be a flat architectural surface and became an active ecosystem. Because the depth of the pool was significantly reduced during the reconstruction of the pavilion (from approx. 1 m to 30 cm), the project developed slowly: more time is needed for the plants to adapt. After the first season, which served the testing and adaptation phase (2022), the planting began to produce concrete results in the following season. For example, dragonflies and ducks have become regular visitors in the pavilion. Their presence confirms that the septic pool has been successfully transformed into a biologically rich body of water. Due to its process-oriented approach rather than immediate spectacular results, the project has not yet received much coverage in the international press. However, it has been recognised by the local media (e.g. El Periodico), the architectural press (e.g. Stedebouw & Architectuur) and has also been featured in Hans Ibelings' recent book 'Modern Architecture: A Planetary Warming History' (2023).
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