Volkspark State Capital Kiel Historical park, landscape architecture, restoration, reinterpretation, social green space

The restoration of Kiel's almost 110-year-old Volkspark is an important signal for the districts on Kiel's densely built-up east bank. The cultural monument from the imperial era and the Weimar Republic was carefully restored according to plans by the landscape architects Siller, Kiel, and restructured with a clear design under historical aspects.
Existing conditions could be taken up and made clear again with modern materials of the open space design. The restoration focused on path construction, the historic wading pool and a new playground. The most important measure concerned the backbone of the facility, the promenade path on the heights. Oriented to the natural topography, it runs in a straight line and emphasizes the differences in elevation of the terrain.
Aesthetic events open up through visual relationships. The park opens up from the end points of the long straight path axis to the industrial facilities of the shipyard and to the city centre with the characteristic towers of St. Nicolai Church and the City Hall.
The restored paddling pool and a large playground with state-of-the-art equipment are available to the youngest park visitors. The adjacent perennial hill, rest areas, sunbathing lawn as well as areas for ball games offer all park visitors the opportunity for recreation or sporting activities.

Historical background of the cultural monument

Kiel's eastern shore of the fjord is the traditional location of the shipyards. In the imperial era, from 1871 onwards, Kiel's population also grew enormously with the shipbuilding industry. North of today's Kiel district of Gaarden, the fishing village of Ellerbek was laid down for the expansion of the shipyards. However, an important open area was saved from further development and the "Stadtpark des Ostufers" was created. Since its completion six years later, the shipyard park, which was laid out from 1893 onwards, has served primarily as a place of pleasure and recreation for the shipyard workers.

The hilly, approx. 14-hectare site slopes steeply down to the fjord shore with the shipyards' facilities. A country-style festival and meeting building on the hill in the center of the park with an observation tower, hall, stage, function rooms, bowling alley, terrace and veranda served for a wide variety of events. A water tower with an adjoining kennel for three brown bears, a small pond with ornamental poultry and a two hundred year old "Ellerbeker Fischerhaus" (Ellerbek Fishermen's House) relocated in 1904 as an open-air museum were the special attractions of the park. A lawn tennis court and a youth playground were located at the edge. The curved network of paths, special trees, various woody backdrops and monuments completed the landscaped-style facility, which was oriented towards the then-common type of public city park.

After World War I, shipbuilding fell into crisis and in 1921 the city acquired the shipyard park to ensure its permanent preservation and public use under the changed political and social conditions. The densely built-up working-class districts of Kiel's eastern shore were sparsely endowed with elaborate green spaces. Under the direction of the technical city councillor Willy Hahn (1887-1930), the shipyard park was now turned into a contemporary practical utility park according to social criteria. The youth playground was redesigned into a large, hippodrome-shaped sports field and an air bath with a paddling pool was set up elsewhere for the children. The dilapidated imperial-era meeting house was converted into a modern youth shelter. The landscape sections changed their appearance during the radical redesign in favour of geometric-spatial structures. Parallel to the steep conveyor slope, Hahn laid out a sloping and then rising, linear path structure, which offered a terrace at its center with a view of the paddling pool and sunbathing lawn.


Revitalization of Volkspark

After considerable wartime destruction during World War II, the green space could only be superficially restored. In 1947, the park received its current designation "Volkspark" and the central building was converted into an event house in 1960. Since 1988, the successful "Theater im Werftpark" has been based in this building. As a children's and youth theatre of the Bühnen der Landeshauptstadt Kiel (theatres of the state capital Kiel), it plays especially for young theatre-loving people. A second phase of the revitalization of the Volkspark began around 1990, when an elaborate perennial bed was newly created for the 750th anniversary of the city of Kiel.

Since 1999, the year of the one hundredth anniversary, a careful restoration of the cultural monument began, oriented to historical plans by Willy Hahn. Between 2001 and 2006, the Volkspark could be reconstructed in several construction phases according to plans of the landscape architects Siller, Kiel, with the help of funding from the projects "Social City" and "Urban II".

The main focus of the restoration was on path construction, the historic paddling pool and a new playground. The most important first measure concerned the backbone of the plant, the promenade way on the height parallel to the steep slope. Oriented to the natural topography, it runs in a straight line and emphasizes the period around 1925 with its garden-reforming aspirations. The difference in height from the central terrace above the paddling pool to the end points of the straight axis is overcome by a triple-stepped simple staircase. In this case, the path construction was done with a light textured concrete slab. The straight rigid east-west axis jumps twice. It leads on one side to the site of the former bear kennel with water tower as well as on the other side to a magnificent vantage point on the cityscape. The exposure of further shop windows along the path axis perfects the visual embedding in the pulsating urban space. The natural relief structure of the terrain and the particularly attractive location of the park can thus be clearly experienced again.

Straight hornbeam hedges, which form the lower frame of the view windows, as it were, delimit the path to the steep slope. Here, aesthetic events open up through re-exposed views. At the eastern and western ends of the long linear path axis, the site opens up to the industrial space on the one hand and to the urban space on the other. To the northeast are the industrial facilities of the shipyard, to which many users of the complex have some relationship. To the northwest, the view is guided over the Norway ferry terminal to the city center with the characteristic towers of St. Nicolai Church and the City Hall.

The approximately 250-meter-long linear path axis is suitable - like a stage - on the one hand for promenading, on the other hand the terrace forms a central resting point like a balcony for looking out over the park landscape or for watching the children in the paddling pool and on the playground. The play landscape with its fluid round shapes and a stranded wooden ship inspires the children to play pirate games and other activities associated with water and seafaring. The restoration's alignment with the historic development achieved a clearly noticeable increase in the attractiveness of the overall facility.

The Volkspark's main access path traverses the park from east to west, leading visitors as a matter of course with slight curves and gentle inclines over the naturally undulating terrain. The path with water-bound surface takes up the historical course and provides the park user with an overview and orientation in all areas of the park. The paddling pool, which was reopened in 2006, and the large playground with state-of-the-art equipment are available to the youngest park visitors. The perennial hill, rest areas, sunbathing lawn as well as areas for ball games offer all guests of the park the opportunity for recreation or sporting activities. And also the forecourt as well as the paths around the "Theater im Werftpark" could be reorganized in a simple and functional way.

With these measures a sustainable highlighting of the qualities of the Volkspark in Kiel was achieved. The design measures can be cited as an example of successful redevelopment that is positively assessed and accepted by all strata and ethnic groups of the population. The diverse range of uses, in a modern contemporary design language, offers the residents of the neighbouring districts the necessary green open space. A further development of the park with innovative design elements at the pond and at the edge of the old tree population as well as adjacent path links has been proposed as a design by the landscape architects Siller.