grünkern Babenhausen
Type: Urban Planning Strategy Scope: Competition Entry Location: Babenhausen/D Client: Europan 9 / Municipality Babenhausen
Collaborator: metris architekten Team: Stefan Werrer, Thorsten Erl, Andreas Bartels
Size: 70 ha Period: since Jun 2007 Status: Winner 1st prize, ongoing
grünkern is the heart of the southern urban area of Babenhausen.
Three new quarters are oriented towards this leisure landscape with low-maintenance
yet intensive use.
The quarters are seen as opportunity areas. Design interventions aim at stimulating
market driven development.
Primary measures include re-allotment as precondition for privatization as well as enhancement of public spaces for successful marketing.
grünkern is a designed open space situated in the middle of opportunity
areas waiting to be occupied. The respective edges are formed by new housing
typologies derived from the unique character of each quarter.
The historic barracks are foreseen as a mixed-use area. By transforming the
former parade ground into a market place, a new centre for this quarter
is created. The residential area is an opportunity area for homeownership.
Its southern part is designated to aviators who may park their little aircrafts
right in front of their homes. The technical area will be transformed
into a field for innovation attracting green industry startups.
The strategy of urban inversion is based on two radical premises:
rigorous demolition of all existing structures within the limits of the future open space and therefore a complete unsealing of the surfaces on one hand,
and maximum preservation of existing structures outside the perimeter with options for re-use, modernization or retrofitting on the other.
Thus, the strategy of urban inversion creates new public spaces with high spatial qualities to live and linger.
