Competition Augsburg Centerville

PLACE

The settlement is a place that recalls a time of becoming, of growth of the city. Very pragmatically, close to the street, a group of identical houses has gathered. The promise of the structured and loosened up city holds here the atmosphere of living in the green, better of living by the meadow. The motif of the new, central Reese Park in the east of the settlement and the planned new urban blocks as arrondissements at the edge of this park create a new urban context.

The structure of the existing housing estate not only refers to the international city model mentioned above. Over many years, it has inscribed a familiar living space in the city. An environment characterised by multi-storey housing along generous open spaces and streets.

EXISTING STRUCTURE

We consider this existing model worthy of preservation and recognise in it a potential for the basis of the further development of the Weltwiese. The existing building stock plays a supporting role here. The clear, space-forming edges of the existing buildings determine the structure, which should be continued.

As the development of Weltwiese progresses, the existing buildings will remain familiar houses, which will be enhanced by lifts or balcony strips as needed.

In the course of the future development of the area, the houses can also be replaced step by step by new buildings. However, the spatial characteristics of the existing settlement will remain noticeable.

SPACE

The system of the wide street, which cuts through the existing settlement in an arc, is understood as a robust urban thesis. By eliminating the continuous car traffic, the wide street can be further developed into a common open space that connects all the houses. This green promenade ends at the entrances to the housing estate and to the south in Reese Park. The existing houses, which are set gable to the promenade, are connected to the south with additional building blocks. This results in residential courtyards open to the promenade. Between these southern courtyards are densely landscaped passages that create the new, now car-free addresses of the rows and accompany the connection of the new quarter to the tramway planned to the south. Vis a vis, i.e. to the north, the existing buildings form the spatial edges of the promenade, just as in the western part of the settlement. Between these buildings there are entrances to the new residential courtyards from small city foyers. They form the public subspaces of the new world meadows in the interior of the new settlement.

Complementing the private residential courtyards and the generous open space continuum of Reese Park, these subspaces create an attractive scale for the neighbourhood's defining, communal open space. The high point of the preserved student dormitory serves as a local reference point that is effective beyond the boundaries of the neighbourhood.

The result is a typologically preserved continuation of the site and an integrated, planned piece of the city.

NEW PLACES

Complementary uses strengthen the neighbourhood. At each of the two entrances there are mobility houses that allow easy parking, renting and changing of vehicles. These building blocks ensure a car-free neighbourhood and create a safe living space on the promenade. Cargo bikes and car sharing vehicles are provided and can be serviced when needed. An integrated youth club at the entrance from Familie-Einstein Straße provides a young impulse. Further along the promenade, there are shops, a café, the kiosk and other offers for daily needs. These enliven the new open space of the settlement and create attractive points of contact for everyday life. On the lower floors of the eight-storey building blocks, doctors' surgeries, offices and other service providers complement the local needs. The day care centre occupies the ground floor of a house and is oriented towards both the residential courtyard and the Weltwiesen. Finally, the day care centre can benefit from its position at the southern entrance to the neighbourhood and the close connection to Reese Park.