Westfalenforum – Re-think the Urban

Dortmund

The era of inner-city shopping malls and shopping streets is coming to an end. New forms of retail and digital payment methods are making old-style shopping malls obsolete. This creates the opportunity to rediscover the city as a living space and give it back to the people. However, it is by no means possible to simply replace retail with housing.

Urbanity is created through plurality

This includes mixed uses as well as different residential typologies that promote real neighborhoods and generate identification potential for one's own “Kiez”. Sustainability, the lowest possible energy requirements, resource awareness from the limited building site to the selected building materials, mobility, etc. are self-evident aspects of the planning. However, the essential characteristic should be the creation of new places where people like to live.

A - Access

A group of buildings of different types with differentiated heights forms a new neighborhood. It is linked by public paths, alleyways and small squares - for access to the buildings, small-scale retail, eating and drinking or simply for spending time. The quarter is integrated into the overarching network of routes in the city center between the main train station, Westenhellweg and Marktplatz or Hansaplatz.

B - Mixed Use

The use of the buildings and floors will be mixed. Small, adaptable stores, cafés and restaurants will be created on the first floors, which can be extended to the first floor if required. Commercial uses will also dominate the first floor - offices, doctors and the like. The basement brings the buildings together under one floor and forms a continuous storey for parking spaces, technical rooms and other ancillary areas.

C - Sustainability

The use of materials, an efficient energy concept, short distances, the multi-layered linking of individual private and public mobility, social and cultural acceptance and other sustainability aspects are developed from the outset in a multi-professional team and brought together in an overall concept. A key starting point for us is the conceptual integration of an accessible green backdrop. As a structural break, it separates the floors with commercial use from those with residential use. It runs through the buildings, the courtyards, becomes denser at selected edges, recesses or terraces and gathers as a roof garden with bridges connecting all the buildings - a multi-storey park designed for the residents of these buildings.

D - Mobility

The group of buildings on Amiens Square is located in the immediate vicinity of Dortmund's main railway station with a variety of regional and national connections as well as direct access to inner-city public transport with buses and the S-Bahn. We will combine these options with a concept that ensures individual mobility - through an internal sharing system for e-bikes and cars that are available to residents. We expect to be able to at least halve the number of parking spaces required in this way. The remaining parking space requirement will be covered in the basement.

Concrete Glass Hybrid Infrastructure Living Masonry Mixed Office Public Retail Steel Wood

Data

Study

2017

Address

Kampstraße 37 - 39,
Hansastraße 5
44137 Dortmund
Germany

House at MIR

Gelsenkirchen

With its wedge-shaped cubature and variety of uses, the Haus am MIR mediates between the public use of the “Musiktheater im Revier - MIR” and the adjacent residential development to the east of Schalker Strasse. In terms of space and design, the new building frames and accentuates the current, very heterogeneous “non-space” on the east side of the MIR.

The recessed first floor is integrated into the public space through its transparency. This effect is reinforced by a homogeneously designed theater forecourt surface that incorporates the new building. An independent, highly recognizable urban space is created between the different uses.

Concrete Glass Hybrid Infrastructure Mixed Office Public Retail Steel

Data

Completion

1997

Address

Kennedyplatz 14
45881 Gelsenkirchen

Client

Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen

Urban Densification Study Nordhafenquartier

Berlin

The most urgent goal of the urban densification study for the Nordhafen quarter is to develop the site as part of a future living environment in the new Europacity. For us, Europaplatz is an urban campus - a meeting place for residents and everyone who works here.

In addition, the study discusses the overlapping of private and publicly accessible uses, in parts also within the building, as well as the possibilities of resource-saving measures for heating and cooling at this special location.

A new district emerges

The inner-city wasteland, which has so far been largely unused or only rudimentarily used, is set to become a lively district with a direct connection to Berlin's main railway station. Despite good connections to the transport network, the site must nevertheless be understood and thought of as an island, as it is separated from the surrounding districts by various spatial barriers. Extensive railway tracks prevent direct contact with Wedding, while the Spree Canal forms a natural border with Mitte. New bridge connections will counteract this peculiarity, but will not be able to eliminate it. This makes the new district's own urban identity all the more important. The newly created town square as the heart of the new quarter will become an address, the inner open spaces a private garden.

Construction and sustainability

The complexity and multitude of technical systems should be kept to a necessary minimum. To this end, the solid components are activated and circulated with cool night air so that the coolness stored at night naturally compensates for the internal heat loads that arise during the day. Earth ducts and - where possible - evaporative cooling from the Spree canal provide the necessary cold air. Circulation through the building is initiated by a “chimney” (stair tower), which is routed beyond the parapet edge of the building.

Concrete Glass Hybrid Infrastructure Mixed Office Public Retail Steel

Data

Completion

2013

Address

Heidestraße
10557 Berlin
Germany

Client

CA Immo, Berlin

Wettbewerb Cartoon Corridor

Dalian, China

The Cartoon Corridor is an urban framework plan developed in collaboration with Prof. Harald Deilmann (Münster) for the city of Dalian, located on a peninsula in northeastern China.

Dalian – A Continuously Growing City

With its militarily significant port documented as early as the 6th century, the region quickly gained influence as a trading city and continues to grow steadily. To make the identity of the place tangible and to continue integrating it into the evolving urban structure, the Cartoon Corridor redefines the port as a "water city" and expands the area with large spaces for a Maritime University, hotel facilities for university guests and other visitors, as well as exhibition and conference areas.

Due to the expansion of long and primarily monotonous connecting roads to develop the peninsula, there was a need to enhance the quality of stay for pedestrian traffic as well.

Urban Framework Plan

The competition entry utilizes the existing sightlines framed by existing street canyons along Huangpu Rd and develops them with a "Green Band" that accompanies the street layout, calming the area and isolating it from the eight-lane expressway. Thoughtfully placed solitaires are integrated into the emerging "water city" like large stones. This arrangement of various sightlines enhances the pedestrian experience and provides space for the diverse campus area, which stretches across the expressway with long bridges connecting the buildings.

Hotel Infrastructure Mixed Office Public

Data

Competition

2005

Address

Huangpu Rd
116086 Dalian (Ganjingzi District), Liaoning
China

Competition Suspension Railroad Kluse

Wuppertal

The Kluse suspended railroad station in Wuppertal, which was destroyed during World War II, is being rebuilt at its historic location near the Schauspielhaus theater. Since several urban pathways intersect at this point, Petersen Architects placed great emphasis on urban significance and integration in their station design.

The lower distribution level serves as an additional public space during the day, illuminated by the translucent platforms above. These platforms are made of slip-resistant, walkable glass [Litefloor].

The entire structural framework is divided into longitudinal planar structures, which are stiffened by compression pipes both at the platform level and above the tracks, as well as by cable tensioning. Each structural frame consists of a pair of cantilevered external supports, inclined in alignment with the frames of the track carriers. These supports bear the facade and are shaped according to their bending loads. Together with a story-high truss below the distribution level, they form a tensioned structural system.

In front of the single-glazed facade, perforated metal panels are hung at a distance, serving as glare and sun protection. The steel frames of these panels are mounted on sliding mechanisms and can be lowered down to the access level to lock and secure the station, giving the structure a different appearance at night.

Infrastructure Public Steel