Dasag has a number of products to its credit, such as concrete paving slabs, façade slabs or stair cladding, designed and prepared specifically for the needs of public investments. These are projects of a special type, because in their case it is particularly desirable to achieve social and utility goals. During the implementation of projects for this type of investment, it is extremely important that, apart from aesthetic issues, the products are adapted to a particular load, as well as adapted to the needs of people with disabilities.
Dasag has already completed hundreds of investments that can be described as public. The brand’s prefabricated concrete elements decorate squares and promenades of both the largest cities and small towns. Our terrazzo has been found on the sidewalks at Jana Pawła II Avenue in Warsaw , concrete slabs on the revitalized Historic Promenade in Świnoujście, and large-format Grande Prato paving slabs arranged in the pattern of a piano keyboard on the tourist promenade in a small seaside town – Trzęsacz. Dasag products can also be seen in cultural facilities (e.g. the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk) and sports facilities ( e.g. National Stadium ), and this is only a part of the completed investments. However, the design of concrete slabs and stair cladding for communication centers such as transfer stations, stations or airports is particularly demanding. Space arrangements should include systems of external and internal tactile marking, which makes it easier for the blind and visually impaired to move around the facilities on their own. It is the duty of people responsible for public investments, especially those related to the practical functioning of individuals in society, to provide such a form of organization of the environment that it is friendly to both people with physical disabilities and those suffering from vision problems. In the second case, solutions such as tactile paths, which are increasingly used in public space, will be practical, which consist of:
- guiding elements – concrete slabs equipped with longitudinal protrusions,
- information elements – concrete segments with convex points, usually placed on the branches of paths,
- warning elements – narrow plates enriched with longitudinal protrusions, mounted along curbs and warning of the presence of a lane or railway track.
Convex stripes or protrusions act as additional stimuli that activate the senses that support vision and facilitate spatial orientation. However, it should be remembered that planning facilities for the visually impaired should not be limited to the use of protrusions on tactile paths. Also, the shape and colour of important communication elements should be selected in such a way that they stand out from the surroundings and are more visible also to individuals with reduced perception of details.
In order to meet these expectations, our company is able to provide various solutions, such as sandblasted contrast plates, contrast inserts (rubber, metal, fluorescent, terrazzo), or edge plates distinguished by intense colouring. The popularity and effectiveness of individual solutions are best evidenced by the already completed facilities, which include: Warsaw metro stations, Wrocław Airport, Łódź Fabryczna Railway Station, Warsaw East Railway Station, or central stations in Leipzig, Hannover, Frankfurt and Stuttgart.
Designing public spaces is not an easy task
A public purpose investment is a project aimed at satisfying an interest that is important to the community at the local, national or sometimes even international level. An investor invoking a public purpose should therefore prove that the initiative undertaken does not serve only the satisfaction of private interest. Interestingly, in order for a given project to receive the status of a public investment, it does not have to be implemented only by public entities. In this case, the most important thing is the purpose and scope of the action taken, so private entities can also pursue public goals. It should be remembered that designing and developing such a space is not an easy task at all. This initiative requires a combination of creative, aesthetic and practical approaches. An innovative approach and following architectural and design trends result in the fact that public buildings more and more often surprise with their modern shape, and squares and promenades with their extraordinary design and innovative small architecture made of concrete. In addition, surface slabs or stair cladding must be characterized by exceptional durability and strength due to their very intensive use. These surfaces are traversed by hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes every year, so they should be resistant to abrasion, intensive use, and have anti-slip properties.
In these matters, the experience of the Dasag brand is once again gaining in importance, as for almost 40 years it has been successfully manufacturing and supplying concrete elements for more and more projects in the field of public utility facilities not only in Poland, but also abroad.