Kö - Arch II

The Kö - Bogen - the new city landscape!

In the heart of the city of Düsseldorf, a new, special and distinctive spatial sequence is created. Significant parts of the city center are reunited, also under historical aspects.
With the demolition of the Tausendfüßler, the removal of individual traffic and the (re)invention of a differentiated urban structure, what belongs together is coming together.
Main idea - revitalize urban spaces sustainably!
The goal of our landscape architecture is to activate this significant change in the inner city by forming interesting open spaces with new potentials and to interconnect previously separate areas. Thus, an unmistakable open space network is created with scaled, unique spaces.... next to the banks of the Rhine, the harbour and the old town, a new, special place in the middle of Düsseldorf.

Düsseldorf's new inner city...
With the construction of the subway, visions become reality.
...man as a scale!
The (re)invention of a differentiated urban structure, consisting of scale squares, interconnected in a close network, is the goal of this proposal.
In doing so, the most important buildings in this area of the inner city are placed in a meaningful relationship to each other, so that synergies are created and an exciting pedestrian connection between the urban spaces is created!
While the task in Schadowstraße is rather the spatial strengthening of the already existing pedestrian flows, a new flow is created in the north-south direction and Martin Luther Platz is rediscovered. A new attractiveness and a connection of the most important city elements will be created: Hofgarten, Schauspielhaus, Schadowstraße, confluence of Immermannstraße, and confluence of Berliner Allee. These new flows will be channeled into a new, elongated plaza stretching from the edge of the Hofgarten to the Johanneskirche.

Buildings - Enliven the ground floor!
Create living spaces!
The desire to create a new interconnectedness of streets and squares results in a block structure that emphasizes these new urban activity spaces. The individual building sites are to be understood as an additive system, several construction phases are also possible with the integration of the existing building sites.

New open space - Berliner Platz!
The central element is the newly created Berliner Platz, which, with the elimination of the Tausendfüssler, stretches as a new urban axis from north to south through the inner city. New buildings develop important urban references and create spatial edges.
Medium height buildings are planned between Schadowstraße and Gustaf-Gründgens-Platz. Ground floor and basement offer space for shopping areas, for a mixture of larger and smaller shops that enliven the street fronts. The 1st floor will accommodate office space, as well as additional retail space as needed.
Over this classic commercial base are 6-7 additional residential floors, consisting of multi-story apartments, duplex apartments with open space above the roofs of the commercial uses, and duplexes with a roof terrace. A new underground car park lies beneath the ensemble and each building has direct access. A small section of the subway is built over without load transfer on the subway ceiling.
At the intersection of Schadowstraße and Berliner Platz, an open plaza space is created that can also be used for markets and events, emphasized only by the art concept of the subway. On the Berliner Platz are single-storey pavilions for studios, market traders, Büdchen in a quiet tree grid of trimmed plane trees, the tree species so typical of Düsseldorf!
Two single-storey solitary buildings with public character serve as the beginning and end points of Berliner Platz:
The window to the courtyard (garden) in the north contains a new restaurant with an outstanding view.
The Johannespavillon in the south, serves as a youth meeting place and cafe. This building resumes the historic edge of the square in order to define the space in scale without creating competition with the church. The street layout is also based on the historical situation, alternatively the previous street layout is still possible.

Hofgarten - the past becomes the future!
The Hofgarten, as an outstanding park monument, is given its original face again, i.e. the promenade is created according to the historical design up to the Jägerhof, the Düssel is connected to the Landskrone, pathways are logically supplemented or restored, and the view axis to the Landskrone is created.
An upper and a lower promenade with elongated benches develops along the new development KÖ - Bogen I, the Hofgarten as a stage, what a view!

Kö - end and prelude at the same time!
The Kö receives the important connection to the Hofgarten, which has been desired for decades. A generous staircase and a handicapped-accessible ramp will reconnect the Kö with the Hofgarten. Possible historical traces are blended in as artificial, metallic Corten steel structures on the pavement surface.

Schadowstraße - Shopping is fun again!
The Schadowstraße, which is getting on in years, is being renewed. Rows of trees and a new surface design with concrete block rhythmize the space, benches invite you to linger. Fresh green Gleditsien set accents on the Schadowstraße. A new promenade is created, where pedestrians have priority and shopping is simply fun.

Gustav-Gründgens-Platz... finally!
The Gustav - Gründgens - Platz receives a new surface design in accordance with its importance. White, polished concrete with embedded stainless steel theater quotes that run to the Berliner Platz, creates a new perception of the square. Benches take up the formal language of the theatre and offer moments of lingering. Water fountains as a cheerful play stage and enliven this square additionally. An event area is created, which is now defined by clear spatial edges. The downdrafts on the square are considerably reduced by the new buildings.

Schadowplatz - new spatial edges!
Schadowplatz remains generously paved, also due to the very popular Christmas market, but receives in its center for emphasis an unbound ceiling and new benches in the peripheral areas as well as some new solitary trees.

Tuchtinsel - sees land!
The Tuchtinsel is the connecting element between north and south, east and west. In the height it sets new urban accents. Freed from car traffic, new urban spaces are created. Wider pedestrian areas offer new possibilities on the ground floor.
The new buildings along Berliner Platz take up the visual axis of Berliner Allee and Immermannstraße. By breaking it into two structures, the historic development edge of Klosterstraße is restored and the planned new main collector is respected.
In the ground floor areas, smaller cafés or shops are located in a loosened, easily changeable structure. The upper floors contain multi-storey and maisonette apartments. The 40-metre high structure creates the spatial conclusion as a new urban high point and picks up the visual axes Berliner Allee and Immermannstraße.

Johanneskirche - green oasis!
The surroundings of the Johanneskirche will be restructured. Tree avenues and lawns create a new environment of its own for this important church in the middle of the city. The one-storey St. John's Pavilion replicates the historic spatial edge without obstructing the church. The Martin Luther Platz is spatially defined to the southeast with a building structure, but otherwise remains untouched as a monument.

Materiality - less is more!
Trees, benches, lights, surfaces follow a material canon...Anthracite-colored concrete block paving in varying rectangular formats (1.12 x 70, 80 x 50 and 64 x 40), unbound ceiling on the Berliner Platz under the plane trees, furnishing elements and lights in micaceous iron are pleasantly restrained.
The aim is to create the greatest possible homogeneity with a few different materials by placing people in the foreground.
The tram tracks are predominantly planted with grass. At the crossings and along the Berliner Platz, steel brackets and concrete blocks provide the necessary safety and demarcation.

Light - space for highlights!
The light emphasizes priorities and creates scale: Low mounted light sources illuminate the pedestrian areas, higher light sources the traveled axes. While this creates comfortable visual conditions through brilliant, white and low-glare light, the axes of Schadowstraße and Berliner Allee are highlighted in a friendly manner. In this way, they always remain legible even in the visual ensemble of Berliner Platz. The accentuation of the summer foliage of the tree planting does not come from the ground, but as an additional component from the mast luminaires above eye level. Staging by effect without visible cause!

Near the playhouse, banners embedded in the ground condense, glowing softly in the evening. As the viewer approaches, they leisurely change color to an ethereal blue that fades again as the inclined reader moves away - perhaps to take a contemplative seat on one of the underlit benches. In the process, the playhouse becomes its own stage and may be admired. Color is appropriate!

In the midst of Martin Luther Square, St. John's Church has once again found its sheltered place - development space for many views of the gently with light emphasized, moving facade. Light poles pacify the urban space and create the feeling of security and quality of stay.

Majestic and restrained with light emphasized the Corneliusbrunnen sets the end point of the Kö'. This merges into the newly created promenade, which also continues the faceted pedestrian luminaires from the Kö' - but in an upgraded form with new fittings for more brilliance and more glare control. These are mounted on the park side to allow an unobstructed view of the park landscape of the Hofgarten and the Landskrone.

Static concept - using the tube!
While the subway ceiling cannot carry any loads, the new tunnel structures can be designed to carry additional loads and thus serve as a foundation level for the new buildings. In addition to these road transport structures, the underground car park of the Schauspielhaus and the Thyssen high-rise were also taken into account in the planning.

Different structural concepts were developed for the vertical load transfer of the new buildings. For the new building, which cantilevers over the new underground station, a supporting structure with a load-bearing outer wall is proposed. This can be achieved either by a massive perforated façade as a Vierendeel system, which is accompanied by a restriction of the size of the window openings, or as a variant a truss can be integrated into the façade, which allows a reduction of the load-bearing elements and thus a more open façade. In this case, the ceilings of the retail areas are suspended upwards via hanging supports, so that the façade areas can be largely glazed. As a further variant, direct support over the tunnel running above the subway is possible under certain circumstances, so that the above-ground structure can be designed conventionally without an intercepting structure and the car tunnel is designed accordingly.

In areas where there will be minor overlaps between the new buildings and the existing structure, the necessary cantilevers can be achieved via the bulkheads of the apartment partition walls in order to avoid foundations on the existing structure, as this would probably result in extensive reinforcement measures. A few new columns in the area of the curbs will further relieve the load-bearing system.

Parking - more parking space!
Multi-level parking garages are planned under the new buildings. The development of these runs via the current existing but underground newly connected garage access road of Gustav-.Gründgens-Platz. The new parking garage under the Tuchtinsel can be accessed through a tunnel (level -2 in the diagram) directly underneath the planned car tunnel (level -1), above the underground line (level -3). Alternatively, consideration can be given to the extent to which the parking capacity of the adjacent department stores would allow parking to be available for residents of Bay Island. Underground access would offer safe pedestrian access.