2020_Tomas_Pozdech_Island on the river Danube_Category A
It is a paradox that the line between the wilderness and the artificial landscape is more
transparent every day, but the most radical line between nature and man can be found in the heart of our cities. Rivers were present at the birth of civilizations and shape cities to this day. Turning back on the river is the result of a bigger problem, in which the fear of floods is the tip of the iceberg.
Agriculture, which created civilizations, became a monoculture absorbing nature.
The countries of the former Eastern bloc suffer the most from this stigma - land
collectivization and consolidation has led to a farmland rental paradox (Sklenička, 2016). The lethal combination is complemented by large-scale chemistry and a lost bond with the soil. The proverb of a good servant, but a bad master, takes on a new dimension in the context of an artificial landscape.
The meandering flows of the Danube, enriching floodplain forests, have been swallowed up by the surrounding „landscape“ over the century. The loss of a unique ecosystem right in front of our eyes is a disgrace of society.
The country must return to the hands of nature.
If we want to shape the landscape, we must focus on ecology, and if we disregard the
reference of ecology, we can talk about modernism, and perhaps landscape architecture is still waiting for its true modernism - ecological modernity - ecology without romanticism and aesthetics (Weller, 2006), in which the function of the country is its own essence.
The work responds to the current situation of the river landscape in the city, in the form of a suggestion of a „total landscape“.
In its essence, the country, as a continuously changing medium, can never be precisely
designed.
This fact is the mainstay of the proposed design.
