the district is perfectly integrated into its surroundings. The open space forms the connecting element in the district
Interested in the latest competition results in landscape architecture, but hardly have time to look at them properly? In the G+L competition overview, Heike Vossen provides monthly updates on the most exciting competition results.
EUROPAN, Europe’s largest ideas competition for young planners under the age of 40, was held for the second time under the motto “Productive Cities” and continued to focus on how our cities can develop in a way that conserves resources and is fair. 901 designs, the winners of which have a chance of being realized, provided ideas for synergies and joint approaches to solutions. A total of 23 projects were submitted for the German competition locations of Selb and the merger of four towns in the Bergisches Land region, known as the “Bergische Kooperation”. In Selb in Upper Franconia, the task was to redesign the entrance to the town around the railroad station to tie in with the town’s long tradition of porcelain production. Architect Simon Gehrmann and architecture students Roderich Eßmann, Margarita Vollmer and Robin Thomä see the station area as a productive heart in their winning design “Shards bring happiness”. Their conceptual approach of restoring the area’s functions of meeting, production and residence enables new players and alliances without losing the identity of the location.
Two designs won for the Bergisch Cooperation location of the city triangle of Hilden, Ratingen, Solingen and Wülfrath, which cooperatively sought strategies for their urban transformation. “Bergisch plugin” by urban planner Nikolai Werner, architects Vassilissa Airaudo, Daniel Branchereau and architecture student Moritz Scharwächter developed planning principles that can be transferred to the respective cities despite differences in size and type. These nine principles are suitable for further developing existing buildings, but also for integrating new ones.
Urban planner Marc Rieser also impressed the jury with his comprehensive planning strategy: “The productive region” focuses on regional and community themes based on overarching guiding principles. However, the toolbox developed for space, use, ecology and mobility makes it possible to respond individually to the local qualities and potential of the various locations.
The award ceremony and exhibition of the EURPOAN 15 prizewinners will take place on December 13 in Berlin, in the “Glaskiste” project space, ExRotaprint Berlin.
Every December, the Swiss architecture magazine Hochparterre awards “The Best” of the year in architecture, design and landscape with the Hare Trophy in gold, silver and bronze. In the landscape architecture category, Ganz Landscape Architects won the top gold award for their exterior design of the Krämeracker school building in Uster. Their design is an unconventional answer to the question of what a child-friendly school environment should look like. In a small space, the landscape architects manage to combine many themes and create inspiring contrasts. Materials and planting take on the main role in the design, which, despite its diversity, comes together to form a coherent whole.
Hochparterre has been awarding the Hare Trophy for projects in Switzerland since 1993. The Senn Prize for young architecture, known as “the rabbit”, was recently added. The Zurich Museum of Design is presenting an exhibition of all the awards up to and including January 5, 2020.
“The Gap” was the theme of this year’s Austrian Young Talent Award, which aims to encourage students and young graduates to rethink and redesign open spaces. LAP 2019 was looking for planning proposals and visions for a freely selectable location that would temporarily or permanently place the previously unused space of small or large interstices in a new context. The students were asked to work out the opportunities offered by the free space and develop it as a place in its own right.
1st place goes to students from BOKU and TU Vienna: Clara Angelika Kessler, Sophie Schaffer and Deborah Sailer. Second place went to Konstantin Heidler from BOKU Vienna. The jury also awarded two 3rd places – to Katharina Streller and Maria Meyer-Giesow from BOKU, and to Milan von Möller from TU Berlin.
The World Architecture Festival in Amsterdam named Hamburg’s Oberbillwerder master plan the future project of the year 2019 in the master plan category. The recognition for the neighborhood of tomorrow is already the second award for the 100-hectare site planned as the 105th district, on which around 7,000 residential units and 5,000 jobs are to be created. In May, the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) pre-certified the project with the highest award in platinum. IBA Hamburg GmbH is developing the new district on the basis of the winning design by the Danish-Dutch planning team ADEPT with Karres en Brands. As energy self-sufficient as possible, the new district also relies on a new traffic structure: pedestrians and cyclists have priority, while eleven mobility hubs form additional infrastructure focal points. As a new element, they combine district garages and district centers with retail, culture and services. Green and open spaces cover around 28 hectares of the district, including a large activity park.
