Old Kalbach / Bonames airfield Conversion of the former Maurice Rose Airfield heliport

The project opens up multi-layered relationships between real and experienced space. For us, the simultaneity of the spatially concrete development of nature and the dynamic processual experience of landscapes in one place is one of the most exciting observations that can be made at the Old Airfield. The City of Frankfurt still supports numerous events and festivals at the Old Airfield. "Landscape guides" answer questions about nature development and use, and a comprehensive homepage about the park is available online. Various workshops, tower cafés and green classrooms use the preserved airport buildings and initiate active use of the park, while kindergartens and schools use the areas as a nature laboratory.

First prizeGerman Landscape Architecture Award 2005

Jury verdict: The authors interpret the former US Army airport, which was used until 1992, in their own way and create a green space for leisure and recreation as part of the "GrünGürtel" (green belt) of the city of Frankfurt/Main.

In addition to large areas of asphalt that were broken up and disposed of, the vast majority of the former sealed surfaces were fractionated into different clods and grain sizes and left on site at an obviously manageable financial cost. They were integrated into the planning as important design elements. Clod fields, modelled concrete demolition and succession observation fields were created. In an unspectacular way, a wide variety of structures emerge, which will develop and, above all, change in different ways through the appropriation of the population and other influences.

The intensity of design and use decreases continuously from the direct building perimeter to the transitions into the landscape. The authors create through initial measures and simple means a diverse usable landscape space, the development of which one can look forward to.