Landscape architects Brien Wessels Werning have redesigned the lakeside promenade in Bad Segeberg. The result is a string of pearls made of walkway elements. The aim of the design: to interlink the town and the lake.

Landscape architects Brien Wessels Werning have redesigned the lakeside promenade in Bad Segeberg. The result is a string of pearls made of walkway elements. The aim of the design: to interlink the town and the lake.

Bad Segeberg, a small town in the middle of the Hamburg – Lübeck – Kiel city triangle, is normal. Plain and simple, just like northern Germany. The climatic health resort became famous throughout Germany with the Karl May plays, which have been held in the summer months since 1952. The Großer Segeberger See lake, which is only a few minutes’ walk from the town center, offers a high recreational value. The aim was to strengthen this.

The south-western lakeside promenade was redesigned by landscape architects Brien Wessels Werning and inaugurated at the end of 2014 after just one year of construction. The aim of the planning was to dovetail water and land, strengthen the connection between the city center and the lake and bring urbanity to the lake. The landscape architects’ design has a clear and uncluttered structure: The promenade, which is around 100 meters long, nestles into the natural, linear course of the shore, reacts to the local conditions and therefore does not form a foreign body in the landscape. The planners play with platforms and levels, with elements such as the Kneipp facility, sun deck and lakeside terrace alternating rhythmically. This sequence is brought to life through the different heights and materials of the individual sections – like pearls strung on a string.

The edge of the slope is provided with a light-colored plinth wall that gives the outdoor area support and guidance. Space-creating trees are lined up along the wall. They provide additional vertical support and separate the open space from the dominant surrounding buildings. A grandstand facing the forest marks the end of the complex and forms a rounded conclusion to the outdoor space planning. Events can also be held here in the open air under the protection of the trees. Bad Segeberg is also known as a healthcare location in the Hamburg metropolitan region, so there are many clinical facilities in the immediate vicinity of the promenade. To get a breath of fresh air, spa guests and visitors previously had to go to the outdoor facilities adjacent to the water’s edge. “Before the redesign, people walked straight past the lake on a plain, asphalted path,” says landscape architect Andreas Werning. Today, visitors can step out onto a viewing platform and so-called water gardens, sit in original seating by the water or take a dip in the Kneipp pool. Werning explains: “The Kneipp pools are designed as a floating element and are a special attraction, as you virtually walk on the surface of the water.”

Together with Callwey Verlag, the German Architecture Museum is organizing the HÄUSER DES JAHRES competition for the 7th time. The closing date for entries is January 31, 2017.

HOUSES OF THE YEAR 2017 competition

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Together with Callwey Verlag, the German Architecture Museum is holding the HÄUSER DES JAHRES competition for the 7th time, with the kind support of InformationsZentrum Beton and Hofquartier. The 50 best detached houses in German-speaking countries are being sought. The house of the year is of the highest architectural quality, is unique and coherent in form, interior design and materials, has been individually designed for its residents and is in keeping with its urban or rural surroundings.

The conditions

The competition is open to architects from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and South Tyrol who are the authors of the submitted projects. The single-family homes must have been completed after January 1, 2014 and not yet published in a book. The closing date for entries is January 31, 2017 and the entry fee is 190 euros incl. VAT per entry.

The prizes

The jury

The submitted works will be judged by an independent jury, which this year includes Peter Cachola Schmal (Director of the DAM), Katharina Matzig (architecture journalist), Guntram Jankowski (architect and winner of the 2016 competition, werk A architektur) and Ulrich Nolting(InformationsZentrum Beton).

The documents

We would be delighted if you would take part in this year’s HOUSES OF THE YEAR 2016 competition with one or more projects!
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The partners

The competition is being held with the kind support of Hofquartier, premium interior design center in Munich-Taufkirchen, which offers individual interior design advice, room planning and sophisticated home design, as well as InformationsZentrum Beton, which develops and coordinates industry-related information and communication with a focus on architecture, building culture and the promotion of young talent. The architecture magazine Baumeister reports on the competition and the winners.