Park under the Mound

In her thoughtful essay, Beata Gawryszewska highlights what sets the Park of Operation “Tempest” apart from other contemporary green spaces. Unlike typical “novel ecosystems” celebrating spontaneous urban nature, this park beneath Warsaw’s Uprising Mound — designed by Archigrest and topoScape — draws its authenticity from a profound reading of place. Gawryszewska appreciates how the designers embraced Warsaw’s layered history: exposing wartime rubble in monumental gabions, weaving fragments of facades into stairs, and letting native, semi-wild vegetation flourish. For her, it’s a park that doesn’t just commemorate loss, but powerfully narrates the city’s heroic rebuilding and deep love of life. She notes how this process, shaped by engineers, workers, and residents alike, mirrors Warsaw itself — a city collectively and continually reconstructed. It’s a space where memory, nature, and daily joy coexist, honoring the past while inviting new generations to keep building.

In the same issue, an interview with Maciej Kaufman in the series Profession: Architect.