The place forms an important part of the city’s collective memory, including traces of multiple interventions. At the same time, it constitutes a distinct island of vegetation, part of a larger ecosystem. The concept of "limits" - mainly the presence of the river (water element) and the diversification of the built urban environment from the open space is an important issue offered for further investigation. During the design process, the place offers the foundation for devising structures. Namely, the course requested for the inclusion of a small Cafe (maximum area closed 25 - 35 m²) with outdoor platforms / plateau maximum total area of 75m into the overall design scheme. Moreover, the site is characterized by the presence of a free-standing wall, a remnant, probably part of an old mill building. One of the main objectives of the design process was the formation of a dialectic relationship between this pre-existing structure and the new constructions, in any way that student design teams thought as useful; either integrating the pre-existing into the proposed building or keeping it as an element for remote viewing, enclosed or intersecting with the new structures, depending on the synthetic approach and the landscape design, while the possibility of totally reconstructing the wall remained an option, offering further synthetic freedom.
Furthermore, an important issue for the design was the formation of a "connection" with the river (the water element). The landscape design challenge called for the creation of open space in proximity, where desirable, to the element of water, allowing the potential for people to come into direct contact with the river, at the same time taking into account the different qualities offered by the viewing areas - plateaus. The idea of integration is not connected, in any way, with copying or imitating traditional building types, but rather calls for the development of modern architectural thinking in this particular place. The design brief called for the proposed constructions to strike a balance between being absorbed into the place, while maintaining an architectural integrity, clearly and distinctively defined. The adaptation into the landscape and the "harmonization" with the surroundings was left up to the individual approach of each design team, forming the main synthetic challenge, which student teams needed to address through a contemporary "vocabulary", without “exhausting” the pre-existing site. Constructions (cafe, outdoor platforms, seating, etc.) had to grow from within the place, without adversely affecting the selected site, but creating the conditions for peaceful coexistence and integration. Through this approach, the subject and the underlying structures that relate to it become the link between concept and physical reality and at the same time the catalyst for the creation of space.
