The Green U in Stuttgart

The garden and landscape architect Hans Luz, inventor of the "Green U", died in Stuttgart on 9 April 2016 shortly before completing his 90th year.

The Green U is a park landscape that stretches from Schlossplatz in the centre of Stuttgart up to the forests surrounding the city. Existing and new, remaining and almost forgotten - parks, gardens, remnants and spandrels - have been brought together to form a whole, with the individual parts retaining their respective characters and bearing the hallmarks of different eras and people.
This goal has been doggedly pursued since the 1920s and achieved with the help of several garden shows.

Unhindered by roads and traffic, the stroller can walk from the Schlossplatz through the former royal grounds down to the Neckar, through the Rosensteinpark, across the Leibfriedsche Garten and Wartberg to the Höhenpark Killesberg and through the Grüne Fuge and on through the forests that surround the city.
The Green U is not only a green area of considerable extent but also a garden-cultural and garden-historically interesting park landscape, in which urban planning previously separate and divergent parts of the city have been connected.

The Green U comprises the following areas:

► Upper, Middle and Lower Palace Gardens

The former royal grounds were created under Frederick I between 1806-1817 according to the plans of Nikolaus Friedrich von Thouret. They extend from the New Palace in the city centre to Bad Cannstatt and merge into the Rosenstein Park.

Upper and Middle Palace Gardens were redesigned - after heated discussions - for the Federal Garden Show in 1961. A restoration of the historical plants found no majority because of the changed urban situation in the area of the upper plants (among other things new building Landtag, small house, castle garden hotel).
The planning was carried out by the Stuttgart Garden Office; advisor to the state was Walter Rossow.
Focus of the redesign in the Upper Palace Garden were the "Corner Lake", a new geometric rose garden and the newly created Academy Garden.

The Middle Palace Garden, after the dissolution of the central axis, is characterized by extensive meadow areas and the expanded historic lake. The very popular - and lively - park with its sunbathing lawns, water features and play facilities will not be accessible in parts for a longer period of time (keyword Stuttgart 21: preparatory measures for the construction of the new main station, construction logistics).

Over time, the Lower Palace Garden has been increasingly encroached upon on both sides by railway facilities and roads, neglected for decades and avoided by walkers.
For the Federal Garden Show in 1977 - while preserving the historic substance - a careful redesign took place. The park is characterized by the continuous meadow areas; the slightly curved main path has its counterpart in the historic Platanenalle, with which it is connected in many ways.
At the "Schwanenplatz", where the long hose of the facilities meets the Neckar, three lakes were created. Here the "Berger Sprudler" were created: extensive earthworks, in which the track loops, masts and wires of the tram running here on a tunnel are integrated.
Numerous bridges and paths connect the formerly isolated Lower Castle Garden with the adjacent districts and parks.

The planning was carried out by Planning Group 1 - Hans Luz Partner, Max Bächer H.G. Lie, Bernhard Winkler, Dietrich Brunken, Ilse Kaiser, Walter Scheu / lead office Luz, Stuttgart.

► Rosensteinpark

The Rosensteinpark was laid out according to plans by John Papworth (plan with large circular path, 1819) and Oberhof gardener Johann Wilhelm Bosch (further development, from 1823): a classic English landscape garden with generous meadow areas, a mature tree population and interesting view relationships into the landscape.
The Rosenstein Park is considered the most important landscape park in southwest Germany and is a listed building.
Excursus:From 1842, King Wilhelm I had buildings built in the "Moorish style" in the northeastern part of the park. Buildings and gardens are largely preserved and today part of the zoological-botanical garden "Wilhelma".

► Leibfriedscher Garten and Wartberg/Steinberg

Both areas were redesigned for the 1993 International Horticultural Exhibition (IGA). The basic character of each area, the structure of the overgrown Villa Moser in the Leibfriedscher Garten and the Gütle and gardens in the Wartberg were retained.

In the Leibfriedschen Garten, an installation by the artist Hans Dieter Schaal makes the ruins of the Villa Moser "walkable". A viewing hill offers a panoramic view.

At the foot of the Wartberg was created, among other things, the approximately 4500 m² Egelsee with its impressive water features. Through a variety of bubblers, spouts and fountains, the water is constantly in motion and thus receives, in addition to the spatial-formative function together with the water surface, its water ecological and small climatoogical sense. A spatially prominent meadow leading down from the mountain gradually turns into lawn and becomes, as it were, a green walkable sculpture through the constantly changing body of water.
The ascent to Killesberg is accompanied by art stations that invite visitors to rest and which stand out structurally and creatively from the more unchanged parts.
Bridges and footbridges basically rest on the terrain; the underpass to Höhenpark Killesberg cleverly exploits the topography.

The planning was carried out by the planning group Luz, Lohrer, Egenhofer, Schlaich / lead office Luz, Stuttgart.

► Höhenpark Killesberg

The Höhenpark Killesberg was created for the Reichsgartenschau 1939 according to the plans of Hermann Mattern in an abandoned quarry. The park is in large parts under monument protection and is considered today as the only, large and well-preserved example of the horticultural art of the 30s, especially also because of the masterful handling of natural stone and the high quality of the dry stone walls.
The German Garden Show in 1950 was the occasion for makeshift repair and restoration of war damage. With other materials such as steel, glass and concrete, the desired loosening up was achieved. Mattern built light scaffolding into the ruins, a light pergola by the Höhencafé and, at the end of the Valley of Roses, a free-form lake instead of a rectangular water basin. Rolf Gutbrod's milk bar became a "place of pilgrimage" for younger architects.

The exhibition halls in the area of the main entrance developed into the Stuttgart Trade Fair Centre, whose gradual expansion in the following years brought far-reaching changes to Mattern's planning. In 1988, the construction of the (then) New Trade Fair Centre resulted in a completely new situation: the halls were pushed far into the park, the main entrance was moved and led in parts via underground exhibition halls.
In 2008, the trade fair location was abandoned: with the dismantling of the halls, the spacious access to the park, accompanied by water features, also disappeared. With the vacated areas, new challenges arose in this part of the Höhenpark as well as the city quarter as a whole, for which solutions had to be found.

In 2001, the observation tower was inaugurated. Not a tower in the conventional sense, but actually just a 42-metre-high transparent structure with four viewing platforms held up by a cable net construction.
After the observation tower planned for the IGA1993 was surprisingly not built, the Verschönerungsverein Stuttgart e.V. took on the project, acted as the builder and financed the construction partly from its own funds, partly through donations and the "sale" of steps - without major sponsors.

► Grüne Fuge

After the trade fair moved away, the opportunity arose to create a continuous connection between Höhenpark and Feuerbacher Heide. Since 2012, the "Grüne Fuge" (in the area of the former main entrance / exhibition halls) and the adjoining "Park Rote Wand" (previously the site of a multi-storey car park) have connected the Höhenpark with the Feuerbacher Heide and the Kräherwald, which also provides a link to the forest belt that surrounds the city.

Around 50,000 cubic metres of soil were shaped into a new landscape; the "meadow cushions", which are almost one metre high, have the effect of a large green area and are supplemented by extensive tree planting.
The stream that flows through the Grüne Fuge and a near-natural new lake are fed by roof/surface water collected in a cistern.

The new park was planned by the consortium Rainer Schmidt Landschaftsarchitekten Stadtplaner, Munich, Berlin / Pfrommer Roeder Landschaftsarchitekten, Stuttgart.