Non Hotspots – Design studio “Into the Wild”

The design takes up the challenge of qualifying the Volkspark Prenzlauer Berg in view of the increasingly hot climate. In particular, shade, water and air are considered as landscape architectural instruments for creating cool places. As a large part of the park is already densely planted with trees, it is important to safeguard this quality for the future. Dying trees must be replaced by sustainable trees, vital trees must be preserved. Dying trees can continue to be used as deadwood.

As the park was built almost entirely on a mound of rubble, rainwater, which is already increasingly rare in Berlin, seeps away quickly and is hardly available to generate evaporative cooling. As a result, asphalt paths are maintained and the plateaus on the high points are sealed. In this way, rainwater can be collected efficiently and directed to the low point of the park, which invites people to linger by the water in partial shade.

The possibility of cooling off with a gentle breeze at high temperatures has not yet existed in the park. The dense woodland prevents the wind from reaching the exposed areas on the high points and the open area in the east of the park. As the wind blows constantly from the west during the summer months in Berlin, it makes sense to clear a path between the elevations, which would also ventilate the open park area.

The careful clearing of the hilltops makes it possible to create an airy vantage point on the newly designed plateaus, from which important visual relationships can once again be perceived. The spatial design of the plateaus is reminiscent of the shape of mountains of rubble and the characteristic snail-shaped paths used to access them, thus paying homage to the history of the site. While the plateau in the north provides shade as a “mountain grove” with pine trees, the southern “roof terrace” has a canopy that acts as a kind of landmark within the park.