MANNHEIM
Adaptable City
Index
01.
Preface project
02.
Design approach to the site
03.
Critical issues and analysis of the intervetion area
04.
The project: goals and the new urban dimension
05.
The project on regional scale
06.
Evolution and future expansion of the implanted project
01
PREFACE PROJECT
International competition for under 40 architects Team: Cinus Stefano, Lampis Danila, Palmas Andrea
The twelfth edition of Europan has been focused on the theme of the adaptable city. Adaptability is the quality of a space that can be easily modified in harmony with changes to which its use is subject or may be subjected. The selected project area required to focus on the concept of Networked Territories. We have studied a new territorial redevelopment plan able to change the entrance to the City by restoring and linking important and different areas with residential, productive and social destination. The project was developed from the B38 highway redevelopment, transforming this huge shaft in a green line that has allowed the characterization of the new entrance to the city and the connection of various facing networks.
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02 DESIGN APPROACH TO THE SITE
The studied area is located at the north-eastern edge of Mannheim at the interface to the outer city districts of Vogelstang and K채fertal and the city border to the Hessian town of Viernheim. Currently the strong presence of B38 gives an important regional role to this area although there is not recognizable connection between urban structure and the B38. Up to the 60s the district of K채fertal represented the margin of the city and in its proximity it was designed the industrial area, characterizing especially the south area. The military area, the Taylor Barracks and the Benjamin Franklin Village appeared at the same time but with different purpose and therefore without a real need to have links with the city center of Mannheim. In the following decades, due to the need of urban expansion, rises the area of Volgestang rises, a new urban model with an individual character without any functional relation with the context. The city is based on a strong economic base and entire neighborhoods arise in support of the existing industries. The main driving force are the mechanical and chemical industry and the river port. The network connection such roads and railways plays an important role in the economic development of a city. For this reason the industrial settlement are next to them. In the past in the cities where the economy was based on the work force of these industries the residential settlements were close to the industries, in order to have a home-work easy connection. Along the major roads and the main way of communication there is the clear alternation of industrial and residential zones. The current connection network shows how it has not adapted to the evolution of territories during the years. The rail network despite the rise of new urban settlements, decentralizing those that at that time were the outskirts of the city, still have a track that does not connect the entire area. Also the road network assumes a suburb character despite now it is surrounded by new
urban centers. The section of the road in the city is in perfect harmony with all the functions that it should receive: road, rail, cycling, sidewalk The road section changes its appearance and its functions, even if the context that it crosses is almost equal. The same road with the same type of settlement on the margins, changes completely its appearance with the mono function of connectors for cars creating a suburban area.
Evolution lines of the urban fabric.
Areas with different current uses.
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03 CRITICAL ISSUES AND ANALYSIS OF THE INTERVENTION AREA THE ROAD NETWORK The main road network separates the project area in 6 sectors, not properly integrated with the urban system of Mannheim, making these areas rigid and not usable. The secondary road network strengthens and confirms the previous observation, showing that the internal movement of every sector is isolated from the rest of the urban system. In particular it is evident as in areas as Benjamin Franklin, Käfertal (station) and Taylor Barracks the secondary network is absent, while the residential district of Volgestag appears to be well organized. The road system should be designed for a regional scale use, while on a urban scale the car should be replaced by a different and less invasive mobility system. The secondary road system should have the same development, allowing the mobility through others means of transportation such as the bicycle. THE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM Currently the network of the public transportation has a limited development, covering all the areas except the Taylor Barracks, leaving too much space to the car mobility system. The network for obvious reasons does not include the area of the former barracks. Despite the tram line serves almost the entire area, currently it is scarcely used and unattractive. The aim is to enhance a mobility alternative to the car better connected with the system and integrated with the new activities. The network must be enhanced allowing a fast and well-connected movement within the area and the development on track must be adapted in order to avoid “barriers”. THE CYCLING NETWORK The cycling lane is almost absent and not well structured or not entirely connected to the area. The 80% of the network is concentrated in Käfertal, most close to the city center of Mannheim.
One of the goals of the project is build a network for pedestrian and bicycle that provides main axes of connection within the area allowing a mobility on a “human” scale without car. THE GREEN SYSTEM Currently in the entire project area there is a strong presence of nature, due to the presence of the Kafertal forest and the residential complex of Volgerstang, totally immersed in the nature. The green represents an important and fundamental element to the mending and consolidation of the different areas that composing the project area. The study of vegetation and relative placement in the areas and routes of strategic importance allows to increase the quality of public spaces and their design and consolidation in the urban fabric.
Main road network.
Secondary road network.
The public transportation system.
Current green system and future expansions.
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04
NETWORKS AND URBAN FRAGMENTS The axis of the entire project is represented by the B38 highway which is surrounded by various urban areas with different intended uses, some of which are the subject of conversion as a former military areas.
URBAN DENSITY_CLUSTER The project area is distinguished by the presence of areas with different characteristics and urban densities. This presence and the relationship between different areas is important for the future planning.
BORDER The current entrance to the city is characterized by a strong presence of the road system that tracks limits of connection between different areas of the project.
NEW NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND LOCAL SCALE PROGRAM The project is developed with a stratigraphic planning at national, regional and local level. It can take advantage of the characteristics and qualities of the different areas making them strategically crucial.
ANCHOR POINTS The project identifies some anchor points of crucial importance for their environmental, social and infrastructure characteristics, that are able to weld and unify the entire urban fabric.
URBAN POTENTIAL The existing urban fabric is characterized by the presence of many historical buildings. Their characteristics and destinations of use are often very different from each other. The objective of the project is to adopt a reading key that can reinterpret the entire area making it functionally homogeneous.
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The B38 corridor, urban green line
Upgrade empty space, new public and shared activities
PROJECT GOALS
The B38 corridor, urban green line
The project is based on the attempt made in the 60s of create a “economic pole� for the city of Mannheim and the idea is to reactivate this potential adding scientific and research facilities in order to create an active system along the B38, gaining importance at a regional level. The intervention on the existing services in Volgestag, in Benjamin Franklin Village and in the military area and the possibility to add new services and facilities leaded to connect through axes and paths, partly based on existing routes that cross the B38 and to establish a link between the two residential areas, even horizontally. The great gate that the B38 creates is due to the fact that in order to reach the center of Mannheim is necessary to use the car. With the possibility to move with other transportation means
Functions estabilished in the Benjamin Franklin Village
Section between Taylor Barracks - B38
Educational Park
scale 1:250
Shared space
since from the Taylor Barracks, the car may have a minor importance and thus the reduction of the importance and strength of the B38. The entire cycle and pedestrian paths and the public transportation network should be improved and rooted in order to “downgrade” the transportation system of the car, reducing its current strengthThis network paths must be developed in close relationship with the green areas, that will connect the different sectors extending to the trees of the forest. Inside the project area the presence of the natural system is very strong. The green system could be used and designed as a unifying element between the six sectors according to species and colors in order to identify the function of a certain area; furthermore the new infrastructural layout may be enhanced with the help of the landscape design .
B38
Within a foreseeable future the conversion of B38 will set up a new city entrance. The converted sites - Benjamin Franklin Village and Taylor Barracks - provide an opportunity to reconceive the development corridor: they will be gradually involved in the urban dynamics and they will be linked by a new public transport system, which will act as a possible catalyst for the development in these unlinked areas. While this makes the B38 corridor a more attractive development area – in term of National, Regional and Local scale – it also fuels a process of centralization in favor of the big, strong and well established central areas of the city.
Shared space
Taylor Barracks area
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The Taylor Barraks area, New Life Music Park
THE NEW URBAN DIMENSION THE B38 CORRIDOR, URBAN GREEN LINE The major road entrance to the city represented by the B38 has been redesigned, with the aim to change its appearance making a large boulevard allowing the integration along the side bands of social functions at the service of residents, workers and visitors. The project studies also possible pedestrian crossings and cycle paths in order to make the entire area suitable for pedestrians, cyclists and especially children, so that they can move totally safe. The design is based on the study of the road section on which the space currently allocated to roadways is appro-
Section between Benjamin Franklin Village - B38 - Volgenstang
ached by two lateral bands which for their size belittle the current function of the road in favor of a pedestrian and bicycle mobility. Thanks also to the opening towards the lateral areas of the new campus and Volgertang, the road is enriched with functions capable of activating the corridor from a urban point of view. THE LINKS OF THE PROJECT AREA The entire project area has been studied for a cycle-pedestrian mobility and developed through the insertion of new paths thus allowing a rapid mobility with maximum safety. The system of services for the citizens currently available
Benjamin Franklin Village
scale 1:250
into the Volgerstang area has been linked with appropriate direct pedestrian and cycle paths, capable of enhancing especially the residential area of the Benjamin Franklin Village, which is currently lacking from the point of view of mobility infrastructures. EXPANSION AND ENHANCEMENT OF THE NEW KAFERTAL RAILWAY JUNCTION The residential area of K채fertal is a suburban area that has not been updated with the pas sing of the years from a functional point of view. For this reason it has been decided to enhance the railway making it a strategic point from which start not only the mobility network with public
The Taylor Barraks area, New Life Music Park
transport but also the entire park system and the area of economic and scientific system of the campus. It is thus given a new impulse to the entire area reactivating new social spaces (such as plazar green areas) that enhance the industrial fabric that currently exists. FUNCTIONS ESTABLISHED IN THE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN VILLAGE The whole area of conversion of Benjamin Franklin village adjacent to the B38 is an affordable scientific system able to give a new impetus not only to the project but to the entire city of Mannheim. It has been designed to accommodate inside a mix of scientific and research functions, together with economic and productive functions. The whole system is supported by a set of community services able to give autonomy to the area but also capable to be a strong attraction for visitors. The project idea is based on a flexibility that allows the area to expand without loosing its main function.
The New Kafertal railway junction
THE TAYLOR BARRACKS AREA Within the area of the former Taylor Barracks it have been included functions that attract flows not only from the city of Mannheim, but also from the rest of the country. The present buildings converted their intended pourpose to the recording industry, which has also characterized the theme of the entire area. Within it is provided a system of buildings for citizens services such as shops, rehearsal rooms and exhibition spaces. This is supported by a park close to major public transport connections. Kafertal Forest
Shared space
B38
Shared space
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Green
05 THE PROJECT ON REGIONAL SCALE The actual urban plant – Kafertal district, Benjamin Franklin Village, Taylor Barracks and the surrounding green areas are a potential for the new development. The challenge is to create a clear identity in terms of use of the area. The choice of new program needs to be related to the existing situation. The train station, the local retail structure, the business-industrial areas, sport and educational functions can be strengthened or complemented by culture, social and productive-educational programs as a set of programs that supports each other. The cross-links are related to the common uses: the concentration of the activities along them is seen as places for community identities and meeting place. Space that the users identify with their neighborhood or working area or space of learning. To sustain the B38 function as a strong economic and strategic connector for the regional area - but at the same time also as a possible time line for the development as a constant element to hold on to - the project’s aim is to create a first element of development for the kick- start and to encourage the context to develop. In the background to keep connected within all areas, Benjamin Franklin Village and Taylor Barracks will run as competitive clusters which give impulsion for Mannheim at the regional and national scale. The new campus in Benjamin Franklin Village, directly behind B38, will be the kick-start of the future development as a strong project manager and as important identity creator within the Edufactory - a no-conventional working space, a new kind of learning centers – and the Business Incubator - where researchers and young professionals meet to discover their symbiotic interest in developing projects -. To consider Mannheim’s economic structure as one of the most important competency networks for the music and creative businesses in Germany, the conversion of Taylor Barracks will be a new Life Music Park. A new attractive socio-economic center related to the music industry on a regional and national level. At the same time the area will involve local businesses and local community with large and small events related to the world of music and - for its central position between two important green corridors - will be a highly natural and green area.
The new project will maintain the structure and the typology of the officers accommodations working more on the edge and elaborating a spatial process that aims to clarify the arrivals, the orientations and the reach ability from other districts, in addition to returning to these spaces the urban quality and vivacity. Benjamin Franklin will become a new meeting area for the neighborhood, an area rich in vegetation and attractions, in which it will find space lively urban activities (shopping / refreshment / culture / entertainment) such as to create a programmatic mix to small / medium scale combined with the innovative nature of the public space. The idea of a Park Network will complete the industrial policy vision of the municipality to ensure a dynamic business through the creation of multiple networks. This is valid for networks between enterprises, networks among enterprises and the municipalities and networks among enterprises and institutions of knowledge.
06 EVOLUTION AND FUTURE EXPANSION OF THE IMPLANTED PROJECT The redesign of the area that forms the entrance to the city of Mannheim lays the foundations for a new urban land use making it able to blend in with the existing fabric of the city. The entire project is implanted with a flexibility capable of ensuring and maintaining a functional structure under the different points of view, even in anticipation of future expansions. The campus area of the former Benjamin Franklin village is an axis able to expand its functions over time following the same functional logic. Similarly, the network of cycle and pedestrian links rooting the entire area in an autonomous and spontaneous way and in a close relationship with the green system, also allows its expansion towards new residential and functional areas.
The area of the former Taylor Barracks thanks to its strategic location and the functions it contains, it is a highly permeable area able to open up to 360 째 towards the environment that surrounds it, thus allowing a close relationship not only with the current fabric residential area of Volgerstang but also in relation to possible expansions containing residential , economic and social uses.
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EUROPAN 12_Mannheim Team: Cinus Stefano, Lampis Danila, Palmas Andrea