Shaping the image of a city on the example of a development of parts of waterfront in Bydgoszcz - a relation of Rother’s Mills and Nordic Haven buildings

Abstract

According to Alexander Wallis, the city's cultural values relate to its historic and architectural, symbolic and religious, artistic and prestigious values. They are represented by individual buildings, monuments, sculptures, street furniture and entire urban complexes - streets, squares, parks, engineering works, and finally entire districts and urban landscapes. [1] In Bydgoszcz these values are represented by the Mill Island. After years of neglect, together with its immediate surroundings it has been re-incorporated into the city's structure, becoming a full-fledged, attractive and highly prestigious social area. The article presents a history of creation, functions and mutual relations of revitalized historic Rother’s Mills complex and Nordic Haven - a modern residential and commercial development and also aims to analyze the impact these buildings had on the space and surroundings of the Mill Island. The two architectural ensembles, arranged in mutual spatial relations, shape the landscape of the downtown, river bank part of Bydgoszcz on different principles. These buildings, as part of a historical urban layout of the city, represent extremely different methods of developing its areas requiring special protection and attention.