Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz in Leipzig becomes an island of climate comfort

Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz in Leipzig is a large wasteland that is rarely found in the middle of a major German city these days. But this will change in the next few years with new buildings and newly designed open spaces. Atelier Loidl from Berlin won first prize in the open space competition and is planning a climate comfort island.

On March 8, 2024, the jury chaired by Professor Burkhard Wegener, landscape architect from Cologne, chose the design by Atelier Loidl Berlin. The landscape architecture studio won the open space competition to redesign Leipzig’s Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz in the south of the old town. The square currently consists of an unattractive wasteland. The city already has plans for new buildings in the eastern half of the area. And the ongoing artistic competition for the national monument to freedom and unity, which is to be erected on Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz, also had to be taken into account when designing the open space.

To ensure that all these offers are well integrated, a convincing open space design is also required. Atelier Loidl will probably be responsible for this. Their design for a green climate comfort island was convincing in the non-open, single-phase realization competition.

The competition and subsequent negotiation process took place in Leipzig at the beginning of March 2024. Schubert + Hort Architekten from Dresden oversaw the process. There were 23 applications in total. The following prizes and commendations were awarded by the jury

• Prize:Atelier Loidl Landschaftsarchitekten (Berlin)
• Prize:Planorama Landscape Architecture, Maik Böhmer (Berlin)
• Prize: Därr Landscape Architects (Halle an der Saale)
• Recognition:hoch C Landschaftsarchitekten (Berlin)
• Recognition: Lohaus Carl Köhlmos (Hanover)

In addition to Professor Burkhard Wegener from club L94 Landschaftsarchitekten, who chaired the jury, the jury also included Leipzig’s Mayor of Construction Thomas Dienberg, Mayor of Culture Dr. Skadi Jennicke and representatives of the city council. Interested parties can view all the designs from the open space competition at the Leipzig city office at Burgplatz 1 since March 14, 2024.

The development plan for Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz has been in place since 2023. The designs from the competition were intended to incorporate the planned development, but also propose recreational areas, exercise facilities and landscaped green spaces as well as ideas for dealing with rainwater. The design also provides the framework for the new Freedom and Unity Monument, the competition for which will be decided in October 2024. A representative of Atelier Loidl will sit on the jury.

Atelier Loidl describes the design for a greener square as follows: “As a new kind of urban ecotope with places for animals, plants and people, the future Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz faces up to the climatic changes of our future.” The jury praised this self-confident response to current challenges. Under the title “Ökotopia”, the landscape architects propose spacious play and sports facilities, green recreational areas and urban squares for the public. Tree infiltration basins and floodable swales help with rainwater management.

The design refers to 3.8 hectares of land that are to be planned over. The city of Leipzig asked for a green square that would serve as a pioneering climate comfort island and a municipal pilot project for climate-adapted construction. The handling of rainwater is particularly important here and, according to the tender, should be “primarily considered as a design element”.

The winning design by Atelier Loidl is a proposal for a modern, park-like urban space with unique features. Among other things, the jury was impressed by the high proportion of unsealed surfaces, the “loosely distributed tree structure in the landscape” and the intelligently integrated rainwater management based on the sponge city principle. The proposed structure for the new Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz consists of several amoeba-shaped green areas and a south-western island, on which the new monument may be located.

The aim of the City of Leipzig is to unseal large parts of the square. The new open spaces are to become more ecologically valuable and offer a high quality of stay. At the same time, the competition called for proposals for climate resilience and variable usability. A public participation process showed that the people of Leipzig want more greenery. 52 percent voted for a “planted, flowery, small-scale place” as the new design for the square.

In response to votes from the public, Leuschnerplatz will offer more space for children in future. A skate park and a large playground are to be created in the west. The space in front of the city library will also be car-free and much greener. Until now, this has been a through road for motor vehicles, cutting the city library off from the square. The city had made this a condition of the competition.

A budget of 12 million euros net for cost groups 500 is available for implementation. The next steps for Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz will be clarified after the competition decision for the Freedom and Unity Monument in the fall of 2024.

Next, the City of Leipzig will work with the Berlin office to examine whether the planned interim greening is feasible. This would consist of around 2,000 square meters of temporary planting on Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz. The aim is to plant the first trees and shrubs to the north of the Citytunnel access route as early as fall 2024. This could be done in line with the winning design. There are also discussions about how exactly the “Ökotopia” design will be implemented.

For example, Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz, which for years was simply a parking lot and even a multi-storey parking lot in the 1990s, will once again become part of Leipzig’s vibrant city center. This follows the overarching urban development policy goal of enhancing the design of the urban space between the city center and the southern suburbs and better connecting the built-up areas. The large brownfield area of the square is of strategic importance for this. In addition to the planned apartments, scientific and municipal facilities, offices and retail outlets, the green space will enhance the square. It will also compensate for the massive loss of trees on the west side of Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz as a result of the development.

By the way: a lot is happening in Leipzig. Among other things, the city is trying out superblocks, which are already working well in Barcelona.