
GARDEN OF (NATIONAL) COLOURS
In the German-Polish Gardens
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Client: Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation
Year: 2018–2020
Service phases: Preparation and Brief, Concept Design, Developed Design, Technical Design, Construction (HOAI 1–8)
Area: 550 m²
The Polish-German Gardens in Skaryszewski Park in Warsaw were created on the initiative of the German Embassy in cooperation with the City of Warsaw to mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the ‘Treaty of Good Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation’ between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland.
> More information on the garden’s website





Before revitalization
The park was one of the projects we proposed as part of the Green City project we curated (Zielone Miasto project) for the embassy’s anniversary year, and in the following years it developed into a project that was supported financially by political representatives as well as private individuals or by participating in the planting of numerous trees in Wedel Avenue.
The then cultural attaché of the embassy, Fried Nielsen, and the director of the German-Polish Foundation, Cornelius Ochmann, as well as the many project partners who made co-financing possible, played a key role in the success of the project.
The Garden of (National) Colours is the first of the realised German-Polish gardens.
In spring, bulbous plants and perennials bloom here in shades of red and white. The blossoming rock pears and apples as well as hawthorns complete the composition, which changes in autumn from yellow, orange and red to the rare blackish hues of the foliage.
The national colours meet in the garden in a symbolic way, just as residents and guests meet in the garden sitting next to each other on the bench.
The long benches with backrests invite you to relax and offer a view of the colour compositions of the decorative borders, which are planted with grasses and structured by low hedges. The garden is closed off from the lake by a wide border at pavement level, which invites people to sit and sunbathe informally.
A Schwengel water pump and the water running in a shallow channel offer visitors the opportunity for physical exercise on the one hand and invite them to look after the plants on the other, as this garden is maintained by the community. This is the Park Initiative’s first community garden!

After revitalization



© Joanna Janeca


