Rheinboulevard, Cologne-Deutz

If you travel into Cologne by train and pass the Hohenzollern Bridge over the Rhine, you will see a spectacular riverside staircase on the right bank of the Rhine. This structure is part of the "Rheinboulevard" project, which will permanently change the Deutz district.

The starting point was a Europe-wide, two-phase planning competition held by the city of Cologne as part of the North Rhine-Westphalian urban development program "Regionale 2010 Köln/Bonn", which PLANORAMA Landschaftsarchitektur won in September 2007.
With the competition, the city of Cologne seized the unique opportunity to connect the right bank of the Rhine, which had previously been pushed out of the urban area and to the edge, with the city center and to take the Rhine, which had previously been regarded as a border, into the center in the future.



A GREAT GIFT

To achieve this, PLANORAMA dared to make a grand gesture: the Rhine was finally to be made accessible along its entire length via a stepped structure in the center of the city. And although the awarding authority had never intended such a structure in the embankment, the design convinced the jury and politicians.

With a total volume of around EUR 24 million, a modern urban structure has now been created on an area of 2 hectares after around 8 years of planning and construction, which provides Cologne residents and their visitors with completely new qualities on the previously inaccessible banks of the Rhine opposite the World Heritage Site with the cathedral and old town.



THE RHEINUFER BECOMES ACCESSIBLE

The core of the design is the 500-metre-long riverside staircase that stretches between Hohenzollern Bridge and Deutzer Bridge. The staircase can accommodate around 10,000 people.

The staircase overcomes a height difference of around 6 meters and is divided into spacious seating steps, which are structured by a middle and a lower widened platform. Running step areas are integrated into the system at three points and enable quick ascent and descent. The linear step structures are interrupted by three "bastions", which extend into the staircase as balcony-like exits of varying lengths. At the northern and southern ends, ramps guarantee barrier-free access to the lower platform level by the water. The actual boulevard, which is 10 meters wide on average, connects to the land side as a direct and fast route for pedestrians and cyclists in a north-south direction.



A MAJOR PROJECT BETWEEN HIGH WATER AND ARCHAEOLOGY

The development of the previously inaccessible bank of the Rhine was a very complex planning task; extensive flood protection requirements had to be taken into account. As the entire structure is located in the flood zone of a 100-year flood event, it can be completely flooded.

The numerous archaeological finds in the construction area, which vividly illustrate around 2,000 years of the city's history and were visibly integrated into the redesign in large numbers, also presented a particular challenge and enrichment. This results in exciting breaks between new and old.



Several public participation processes for interested parties and local residents with joint planning workshops were carried out to communicate the major project. In July 2015, the riverside steps were opened in a ceremony and have since become a highly frequented and popular destination for Cologne residents and visitors to the city. The boulevard was opened at the end of 2016.

First prizeGerman Landscape Architecture Award 2017

Jury verdict: The Rheinboulevard is an outstanding example of how a single landscape architectural gesture can permanently change an entire urban space. A staircase to the Rhine stretches for 500 metres along the Deutz side of the Rhine and completely redefines it: the side of the Rhine facing away from the city becomes a city grandstand with a view of Cologne's city centre. This staging of the river space in combination with a high quality of stay, especially in the evening sun, quickly made the Rhine boulevard a crowd puller and has the potential to become a new landmark of Cologne.

The jury sees the design of the Rhine boulevard as an exemplary awakening of the hitherto dormant urban qualities of the Deutz side of the Rhine. In particular, it praises the courage of this clear and only seemingly simple design. The subtle integration of flood protection and the guarantee of barrier-free access are praised. In addition, the project impresses with its careful and exciting handling of the historical layers from the city's 2000-year history.