Skate Plaza Märkisches Viertel Berlin

Open space planning for a skate park in in-situ concrete construction and a town square in the Märkisches Viertel in Berlin Reinickendorf as part of the funding programme "Stadtumbau West", participation of young people in the planning process, organisation and implementation of workshops, public relations work

The district office of Reinickendorf was able to realize a new skate plaza at the Senftenberger Ring in the Märkisches Viertel with funds from the support program 'Stadtumbau West'. The facility was ceremoniously opened in April 2013 by the district councillor Mr. Martin Lambert. Afterwards, the Berlin riders could prove their skills in a contest. Approximately 250 people attended the inauguration ceremony, including active riders from well-known Berlin skate clubs, representatives of the district office and the area representative STERN GmbH, as well as residents from the Märkisches Viertel.

Until now, local skaters have used the stairway facility on the forecourt of the nearby Fontane Haus, which houses the district library, the citizens' office and numerous cultural offerings, among other things. This often led to noise and use conflicts with the employees and visitors of the house, so that an alternative location should be developed for the young people in the Märkisches Viertel.

With a view to the existing skate infrastructure in the Reinickendorf district and in the state of Berlin, the aim was to develop an independent, urban and contemporary facility together with the local skaters, which would be equally interesting for beginners and advanced skaters.

For this purpose, the future users were involved in the planning in a total of three workshops in order to develop ideas together and to offer the future users the opportunity to get to know the development process of their park from planning to realization.
In the workshops, under the direction of the office Stefan Wallmann Landschaftsarchitekten, the advantages and disadvantages of individual elements were discussed intensively on the basis of an initial plan for the design of the skate park and wishes and ideas were worked out together. During the last workshop, four different skate park designers presented different designs, which were voted on by the local skaters. The skaters have decided by majority for the ideas of the company Anker ramps from Kiel, which then became the basis of further planning by the office Stefan Wallmann landscape architects.

The special feature of the implemented design is the construction of the skate facility in cast-in-place concrete construction. The individual skate elements were formed on site, poured in concrete and smoothed by machine and by hand. The design of the facility could thus be adapted to the special conditions of the site as well as the wishes of the future users.
The new skate plaza was to serve as a replacement for the forecourt in front of the Fontane House and also offer some elements of the old plaza. Since the forecourt was also in the process of being redesigned, some large-format stone slabs could be reused and integrated into the new skate plaza. The shape of a stair handrail was also recreated and the grid of the stone slabs of the forecourt was incorporated as an engraving in one of the concrete levels. This and the participation of the young people in the planning process contributed greatly to the fact that the new location enjoys great popularity and is actively used.