Mehringplatz. Berlin
INDIVIDUAL PORTFOLIO Yukai Zhu
ARC6981 Urban Design Project 2 Re-appropriating Modernist Housing
CONTENT
01
02
03
04
PROJECT BACKGROUND
PROJECT METHODOLOGY
POSITION
CONTEXT & ANALYSIS
· Project Site
· Methodologies For Site Investigation
· Appropriate Precedents
· Research Analysis
· Project Timeframe
· Tools Used In The Mapping
· My Proposal
· Group Topic
· Three Models
05
06
07
KEY STAKEHOLDERS
SPATIAL DESIGN STRATEGY
CRITICAL REFLECTION
· Young Family
· Storytelling
· Reflection For Methodology
· Young Foreign Visitor
· Summary Of Group Strategy
· Reflection For Individual Strategy
· How The Strategy Changes
· Final Reflection
· Final Version Of Our Proposal
01
About the Mehringplatz · Emblematic for the changing history of Berlin · Destoryed in The Second World War · A double-ring of housing and commercial buildings
Friedenssäule scan Jwnabd - Kurt Grobecker: Alt-Berlin: vom Hinterhof zur Kaisergalerie. Hoffmann und Campe Verlag, Hamburg 1979. dort angegebene Quelle : Illustrirte Zeitung. Leipzig, Jahrgänge 1844 bis 1880.
BERLIN Berlin is a city which has a complex history. In 18th century, it was a small town and in 1920s it became the largest city in Germany through the industrialization. Then The Second World War (1939-1944) brought large scale destruction to the city and fueled the plans of Albert Speer to transform Berlin in the ‘World Capital Germania’. Now Berlin is one of the ‘hotbeds’ of contemporary exploratory work on the city.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
· Facing lots of social and environmental problems now · One of the 38 designated Ouartiersmanagement area · A designated Regeneration Area
MEHRINGPLATZ
Brief History of Mehringplatz
Group 4
1732-1738 Mehringplatz was first called Rondell.
1732
1940
1953
1989
2001
2014
1923-1929
1944
1962
2004
The north-south U-bahn was constructed.
Completely destoryed during the World War II.
Reconstruction of Mehringplatz with the Hans Scharoun’s winning competition entry.
Became part of a programme which aims to support disadvantaged urban quarters
Project Timeframe Analysis
A wolf beard stencil from Danish artist Don John at Mehringplatz, Berlin.
Feedback 1
Feedback 2
Feedback 3
Reviews
12/02
15/02 - 19/02
23/02
01/03
08/03
15/03
Methodology for site investigation
Fieldtrip & Berlin exploration
Version 1 of mapping and city-scale model
Version 2 of mapping and city-scale model Version 1 of section model
Version 3 of mapping and city-scale model Version 2 of section model Version 1 of detailed model
Group presentation
02
We mark different types of elements on maps which can make it easy to do further analysis. (including social mapping, physical mapping and subjective mapping)
Walking is our basic tool, which can help to situate ourselves and gather the information at the project site. we use different kinds of walking.
Analysis
We use storytelling in our mapping work to link our analysis about the site and our proposals, and it can also show how our design influences people’s life.
Walking Mapping
PROJECT METHODOLOGY
ies For Site olog Su d rve ho t e y M
Taking photos of different kinds of elements (such as CCTV, entrances, posters and interesting places.)
3 X Models
Storytelling Presentation
6 X A2 Maps
Collecting Traces
Movie
Photography Sketch We use photography to record visual information which we think will help to explore our proposals.
Taking Notes
Sketch is a strong tool to record and decribe the activities of people. Especially sometimes when it is inappropriate to take photos of pedestrain.
Movie makes our story about the proposals more readable and attractive.
Writing our impression of Mehringplatz during the investigation and recording kinds of human activities.
Interview Preparation Work Resource Searching
Before the site survey, we do our preparation through resource searching and try to find some information of local transport, culture and inportant places in the city.
Playing the role of a tourist, we might have some receptivity, even speaking with someone in English. In other part of the city, we can investigate how known is Mehringplatz and how the people would reach that place.
Done by Others Done by All of Us
Done by Myself
People throw the shoes on a tree at Mehringplatz for some unknown reasons.
Precedent 1 Kreative Raumpionere am Mehringplatz (2011)
Precedent 2 Landscape intervention at MehringPlatz (2014)
Resources: http://www.kreativ-quartier-berlin.de/?q=node/77
Resources: https://www.behance.net/gallery/16700649/Berglin-Landscape-(Mehring-Platz-Berlin-Germany)
03 POSITION
Implementation of a settlement strategy for companies and actors of culture, creative industries and other business on Mehring Platz in Berlin-Kreuzberg Client: GEWOBAG housing association Partners: KUB consulting, KAPOK Berlin Funding: Public funding Project duration: May 2012
Activating the ground floor of inner ring and Introducing business units related to characteristic Mehringplatz.
The ground space of inner ring can also be a nice place of leisure.
Make the outer ring more commercial and attractive for visitors.
In the city of the bike, the idea is to create a topography that counterbalances the flatness of the city. The creation of topography is based on the idea of recreating nature, but in an artificial way. Therefore we use the spectrum of the floral species, to use these colors in the topography.
The space is not only going to be lived at ground level, but also seen from above by the neighbors.
Architect: Alicia GutiĂŠrrez Madrid, Spain
The topography can be seen from the outside of the main square. So that it can invite the citizens to come in and stay.
A flat path is also design to allow bicycle traffic, baby trolleys and wheelchairs.
Precedent 3 Reconstruction of The Citizen Square in Jinhua, Zhejiang, China (2009-2011) The aim of reconstruction is to create a more active and functional public space in the city centre, The new citizen square contains a sunk plaza which can access to the large car garage, a musical fountain, enough open green space and a leisure square with temporary film screen. It was finished in 2011 and soon became one of citizens’ favorite places in Jinhua.
My Proposal According to our precedents and site investigation, I think that the modernist housing in Mehringplatz and the surrounding areas are facing a lot of social and environmental problems. And I suggest some strategies and tactics of Re-appropriation for this area through 3 aspects, including unused spaces, public green spaces and human activities.
My Draft Outdoors amphitheater around the square.
Unused Space Making good use of unused space to activate Mehringplatz, for example, changing the space into bike parking and commercial space.
The sunk plaza is surrounded by stairs and green landscape
Corridor with glass roof and walls provides people a place not only for taking shelter from rain but also for rest and meeting.
Space for taking exercise and children entertainment.
Public Green Space
Activites
Improving the public agreen space to attract more visitors and residents.
Considering about human activities in this area, including residents’ daily activities and the visitors’ activities.
Re-appropriating of the mordenist housing
04
Group Research Analysis My Sketches of Human Activites Old People
Children
CONTEXT & ANALYSIS
Office workers
Time Files
Disabled
Cyclists
Muslim
Tourists
Students
12.30 am Beginning of night buses
Win
Wednesday
Thursday Jumu’ah street market
Quartiersmanagement available for appointments (different times)
b Fe
r
Ma
v
Oct
p
y
g
Se
Oktoberfest
Sommer school vacations
Sum
Kinderkarneval der Kulturen
Apr
Ma n
Friday 7.30 am - 1.30 pm Primary school
No
g
Muslim’s New Year in 2015 and 2016
Spr in
Tuesday
Jan
ter
Counseling hour in Seniortreffpunkt
Jul
6.00 am - 5.00 pm 12.00 pm Kindergarten 2.00 pm Muslim pray Muslim pray
Saturday
Chinese’s New Year in 2015 and 2016
Ju
10.00 am - 8.00 pm Jewish Museum
Monday
c
6.00 pm
before sunshine Muslim pray 6.00 am
Sunday
De
sunset Muslim pray
4.06 am First U-Bahn in Hallescher Tor
n
2h after sunset Muslim pray
Jewish Museum is open everyday
tum
12.00 am
Christian’s Christmas New Year
Au
7.00 am - 10.00 pm Kaiser’s Supermarket
street market
Au
almost all stores close
12.46 am Last U-Bahn in Hallescher Tor
I met an Italian journalist who went to Berlin for the Berlinale Filmfestspiele and he asked me to draw a sketch for him.
Couples
Karneval der Kulturen
me
r
Ramadan in 2015 and 2016
Transportation Network Cicle paths Bus lines U-Bahn lines (U1 and U6) 1
Mehringplatz Relevant points for residents Touristic attraction/ Place with city’s historical meaning Transit’s points of interest
Visual & Physical Continuity
Safe Continuity
esc 1 : 50,000 1
Mehringplatz
11 Museum Island
2
Primary school
12 Alexanderplatz
3
Kindergarten
13 Tiergarten
4
Police station
14 Messe berlin
Physical Continuity
CCTV
5
Public swimming pool
15 Tempelhof
Visual Continuity
Road Lamps
6
Omar Mosque
16 Hauptbahnhof
7
Bürgeramt Kreuzberg
17 Westkreuz
8
Ausländerbehörde
18 Ostkreuz
9
Potsdamer Platz
19 ZOB Central Bus Station
10 Brandeburger Tor
Traces
Landscape Layers
Merged layers Overlaying (over the existing)
Mehringplatz towards university
Barriers
Arts Wall
Posters in German, French and Arabic
Inaccessible Thorny Undergrowth
Encouraging children through different activities in the temporary and permanent structures to learn to go Gimnasium (secondary school that prepares to university)
Temporary structures Everyday of discontinuities
Open air cinema
Workshop spaces
Furniture made by participatory processes Amphitheater
Greenhouses
Permanent structures
Bridges, Greenhouses and Flexible spaces
Bridges
Empty Public Space
Broken Fences
Graffiti, Construction Sites and U-bahn Station
Unused Ground Space
Pavement
Continuous walking Pavement guiding continuity
Linear park as flood control Improving flood control facilities considering the climate change
Group Topic
Greenspaces
After our site investigation, we can see both urban structure and suburban structure in this area. And through analyzing the potential of Mehringplatz, we aim to bring it to be an urban place which has more vitality. considering the uses of people from nearby and outside of Mehringplatz. Focusing in the physical shape of the space, the project superposes different layers of landscape, works with different forms of continuities and connections. Two axes are emphasized: North-South (transpassing the river and connecting the center with the city outside the baroque walls) and West-East (through a linear park attached to an existing green spaces’ system).
Our group topic is:
‘Continuities’ and connections in Mehringplatz
Continuity of green areas
Landwehrkanal
Mehringplatz in Karneval der Kulturen Consider the Karneval der Kulturen as an important stakeholder to engage people and attract other possible stakeholders.
Existing buildings
The Continuity of transportation, facilities, time, space, landscape and human activities.
Hassam
Tranportation Network of Mr Hassam’s Family Ausländerbehörde
Reem
Reinickendorfer Str.
Berlin Foreigners Registration Office
Sara Friedrichstr.
Police station
KEY STAKEHOLDERS
10 min
Kindergarten
6 min
Primary school 6 min
05
Stakeholder A Young family with Arabic/ Turkish background
MEHRINGPLATZ Prinzenstr.
5 min
in
Hallesches Tor
13 min
Oberschule
integrated secondary school
13 min
Bürgersamt
Mosque
Public Swimming Pool
m 5
Families with low income, but very attached to the respectively community. Some integration’s problems with other social groups due language, cultural differences and bias. Men use the public space for meetings and casual conversation with other men. Women use the street mainly as circulation path, but have an intricate network within the neighbourhood’s community. Children are the linking point between their former culture and the German traditions.
Warschauer Straße
3 min
citizen centre
Tempelhof Park
Tranportation Network of John Stakeholder B Young foreign visitor
Tegel Airport city’s main intl. airport
8 min 13 m
Friedrichstr.
2 min
± 7 min
3 min
Alexanderplatz Stadtmitte 10 min 5 min
17 min
Hallesches Tor
Resource: https://www.gewobag.de/mehringplatz-zukunftswerkstatt-756.html
Berliner Brückentour
Schönefeld Airport in
The 3 hour bridge tour on the Spree and Landwehr canal
15 min
Tempelhof
m
Staying for the city for some days and not the highest budget to travel, Kreuzberg presents affordable options to stay, eat and go out. It has also many well-known touristic sightseeings and regular celebrations (Karnaval der Kulturen).
13
The Logo of the seminar which is hosted at Mehringplatz by Die Arbeitsgruppen der Zukunftswerkstatt.
Baerwaldbrücke
Warschauer Straße 3 min
11 min 7 min
MEHRINGPLATZ
in
3 min
Ostkreuz
m
3 min 7 m in
3
Westkreuz
Potsdamer Platz
Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten
3 min
10
m
in
berlin central station
in
Hauptbahnhof
John
34 min
airport for budget European flights
06
Storytelling According to the feedback from Florian, we follow an order of narrative story to represent our whole design process include position mapping, analysis, proposal and three models. The story centers on our two stakeholders’ daily life in the project site, Mehringplatz. and it also shows the change of their lives after our proposal. In addition, I make a small movie to express the narrative story.
My Drawings of Our Story
SPATIAL DESIGN STRATEGY
The movie
10 Years Have Past
Summary of Group Strategy
Main Group Strategy
The Structure Diagram of Our Working
Our Spatial Design Strategy has several layers, and I will introduce them in 3 models respectively.
Our Group Proposals are made up of two parts, 6 maps and 3 models. The mapping consists of a narrative story which decribes our stakeholders and how our proposals influence their lives and a analysis of our investigation and group strategies. The models show more detailed information about our strategies in 3 different scales.
6 x A2 Sheets Narrative Story
Maps
2 x Postcards
3 x Models
Skateholder 1
Tempodrom Betriebsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG Striking tent-like arena & concert venue in a park setting, with a roof terrace & restaurants.
Skateholder 2
Akademie des Jüdischen Museums
Jüdischen Museums Striking, contemporary building with exhibits tracing German-Jewish history and Holocaust memorial.
1 Guten tag, Berlin !
2
Kindergarten
Transportation network & Important sites
City scale model
Time flies nd lay scap ers e
We are not alone
La
Section model
5 Strategies for 2016
6 Legacy
pl
Continuity of elements ?
es
4
AmerikaGedenkbibliothek
Ex am
Narrative story
3
Galilei-Grundschule
Bicycle Path Pavement
Fo
ot
Linear Park
pa
Key Places
th
Kirchencafé Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche
Detailed model
City Scale Model: The first layer is about the pavement which is highlighted in yellow line, to lead and ease the users of this area to visit Mehringplatz, at the same time we trying to connecting the Mehringplatz to important sites around this area. On the other hand, we connect the existing bike path in the west and east side through this area, which highlighted in green line. Finally, the blue dots show a greeneries intervention following the river, we plan to revitalise the green spaces along the site and create linear park.
Section Model: Our section model shows more detailed information about our our proposals at the site, including our design of the pavement (as the yellow part shows), commercial area and the permanent/temporary structures, such as the foot-bridge in the green space and the amphitheater in the square ( the red part).
How Does It Change City scale model
Detailed Model: Two examples of our spatial design strategy. One is the speed bump and raised crosswalk between Mehringplatz and the Library. The other shows the relationship between commercial area and our permanent structure which is in red.
In the version 1 of city scale model, we want to show the transportation of the whole Berlin and link the Mehringplatz to toher important sites in Berlin, such as the airports, gendarmenmarkt and the Berlin wall.
Feedback: The city scale model doesn’t show enough information about our group stratege, and it looks more like a map than a model.
In the version 2 of city scale model, we use a smaller scale to explain more information about our proposal. And we also use laser printing to make the model more accurate. The yellow line shows our pavement.
Feedback: The professors thinks that our city scale model looks much better this time. the site and main buildings are highlighted. But more information could be described in this model, and for the linear park layer, Beatrice suggests that we could consult the way Desvigne shows the landscape and explore the pavement.
Final Version of Our Proposa
Section model
Final city scale model
In the version 1 of section model, our strategy mainly focuses on three aspects: the pavement, public landscape and the circle square.
Final section model
Feedback: Strengthen the links between the city scale model and the section model (for example, use the same material for the same elements), just focus on the key action of our proposal, do not focus on super details.
Final detailed model
This time we make the section model more abstract, use the same color as the city scale model to describe our elements. and add different kinds of human models in the model to explain how our proposal changes their activities. And we also use the same way to express our detailed model.
Reflection for methodology During this course, we used many different types of methods and tools to gather information
Evaluation of tools used in site investigation
and explore our proposal. Some of them were quite useful but some tools did not come up to the expectations. I will give a brief analysis of our main methods and tools in further detail availability
below. In my opinion, photography is a necessary tool of survey and it has been a crucial role in surveying and documenting cities since the late 19th Century. (Sontag, 1977) We choose photogra-
07 CRITICAL REFLECTION
information quantity
preparation
phy as the one of the most important tools during our site investigation because it can record much information and easy to be checked after coming back from the site, more importantly, it can provide evidence of the current situation of Mehringplatz although sometimes it will mislead the research result because of contingency.
implementation
Interviewing is the most direct way of connecting to people, and hearing them describe their experience in their own words. But because our site is in Germany, and most people there they speak German, Arabic instead of English, so the language becomes a big obstacle. And I found some groups they used another more efficient way for gathering people’s experience, they just used the questionnaires which had already been translated into Germany. I think it maybe work better than interviewing in this case. ‘Storytelling and narrative provides another semantic structure for urban models that applies elements of systems-dynamic method to construct ‘stories’ of the past and possible futures of
photography
mapping
walking
interviewing
taking notes
sketches
communities.’ (Guhathakurta, 2002) I first suggested to use this way to describe our social mapping, because I thought that it can effectively tell the links between Mehringplatz and people’s activities. Then in the feedback of version 1, Florian thought this methods can actually be used in our whole process, it could be used for not only describing the relationship between human and place but also showing the possible results of our spatial strategies concretely. Finally, we found it worked very well and we thought it made our maps and models much more readable and integrally. However, there are also some disadvantages of storytelling, the most obvious one is that sometimes it’s hard to tell all the information briefly and exactly in just several pictures so that we had to use many words to explain . And because I drawn all the pictures of our story, I had to say it was really a time consuming tool.
Reflection for individual strategy
Final Reflection
My individual strategy in this project is mainly about the improvement of the linear park and the
Through this project, I get a much better understanding of urban design and become more
landscape of public green space in Mehringplatz. When I first thought about our gourd topic, I
suited to group working. I really enjoy this course a lot, not only about the fantastic field trip in
asked myself what is the meaning of continuity, and as far as I was concerned, I regarded the
berlin but also those nice culture and people I meet during the studying.
continuity as an essential character of a nice place, which not only provide people a physical and visual continuity but also a continuity of image design experience.
In addition, I am more familiar with those tools and methods of urban design and can use most of them quite well now. I also learnt how to combine my strong points with kinds of tools and
Through our site investigation, I found that the public green space around the Mehringplatz was
make them more useful.
not used well. We saw many empty green space with unkempt lawns, unpaved paths and older infrastructures. And the result of this is that most people do not want to stay in the public
Finally, I want to say thanks to my group members, I love this group that consists of four boys.
space for a rest, they just pass through it quickly. As our group strategy wanted to make Meh-
Because it is easy to communicate with each other in our group, although sometimes we may
ringplatz more active and to bring it to be an urban place which has more vitality, I was thinking
have differences of opinion, we can always find the best way to solve the problems and every-
about make the space a kind of urban park. Urban parks are places in where people can free
one works hard.
themselves from the stresses of urban life, and urban parks can bring together those immigrant populations in the cities. (Olmsted, 2013) So I came up with my individual strategy which focus on attracting people to Mehringplatz and activating human activities in public space by improving the public green space. And according to our group precedents, I also found that most people in Mehringplatz usually
References:
went out by bicycles and we could see many old people with walking sticks and women with
Frederick Law Olmsted, ‘“Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns”’, in The Urban Design Reader, ed.
baby strollers. Because of this, I think the park should have some facilities that can be accessible
by Michael Larice and Elizabeth Macdonald (Oxon: Routledge, 2013), pp. 36–52.
to different group of people. Subhrajit Guhathakurta, ‘Urban Modeling as Storytelling: Using Simulation Models as a Narrative’, However, I also recognize that my strategy has a lot of deficiency, for example, it talks too much
Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 2002, 29 (2002), 895–911 <http://dx.-
about the landscape but ignore the buildings in Mehringplatz, and the landscape construction I
doi.org/10.1068/b12857>.
am thinking about maybe not suitable for local people’s living habit. As a reflection for these disadvantages, I should strength the link between the linear park, landscape and the existing modernist housing in Mehringplatz, we have implemented part of the plan, such as adding a bridge that connect the park to the new commercial area in the inner ring, which is one of our spatial design strategy at Mehringplatz. But I think there are still many aspects of my strategy that can be explored to make it more related to our group proposals and the notion of re-appropriation of modernist housing.
Susan Sontag, On Photography (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1977).
Mehringplatz. Berlin
It’s not the end but... ‘See You Berlin ;)’