52º32’0”N, 23º23’21”E are coordinates of a specific point along this line dividing both countries: the Bialowieża forest, an Old-growth forest, the oldest in Europe. This means it is an undisturbed forest, where there has been no –direct nor indirect– human intervention. Trees keep growing high competing for the light with each other and there is a great diversity of species and trees of different ages living together. The organic matter layer is considerable thicker and richer than normal. Trees that die and fall are respected, since they help the other this forest belongs to the European network Natura 2000, but again, the truth is that it also belongs to the Biosphere Reserve. Moreover, 142,000 Ha (more than 166,000 Ha semi-protected) have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage.
One single ecological entity of a priceless value, belonging to a single geographical zone but subject to a divided political reality: a border shaped by a barrier blocking free movement between both sides for local people and visitors of the forest. In fact, this division also means that the dimensions of the strict protection area affecting this enclave differ in both countries. This consequence is especially serious, because such legal vacuum regarding protection allow certain policies with questionable interests.
Starting from this given reality and making use of the proposed architectural strategies, we propose a Bialowieża Forest Interpretation Centre that would merge with the border dividing it. At the same time, this will give birth to a new spatial and bureaucratic reality, politically incendiary and never known before: a frontier territory enabling the visitor to cross the geographical border separating two countries, without breaching the political border. The goal of this space will be to highlight the ecological reality it represents, ultimately aiming at merging the whole ecological complex into the protection zone, thereby abolishing any border within it.
If this Project is successful, it will disappear · Puszczy Białowieskiej [Poland+Belarus] · 2016
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