Schalke planning workshop on the redesign of the square on Grillostraße

Within the framework of the district programme "Soziale Stadt Schalke", the "Grilloplatz" and its immediate surroundings are being redesigned and developed into a central town square within the district.

For this purpose, a planning workshop was held under the motto "Citizens show planners the place". The aim of the planning workshop was to gain a user-oriented insight into the structures of Grilloplatz and its surroundings. The insights gained were incorporated into the further planning process.

The square on Grillostrasse, which was previously dominated by traffic, is being developed into a wide and open space for recreation, communication and movement. By reducing the cross-section of the streets, the square will be spatially linked to the retail areas of Schalker Straße. With the help of a uniform surface paving across the street space, the adjacent buildings are included in the square and create proximity and transparency.

The central square area
The central square area is determined by the division into three stay and movement areas. A boulevard of large-format pavers provides barrier-free access to the ground floor uses through a slight elevation at the southern edge of the square. In front of the boulevard, a square-shaped plateau forms the centre of the square. At the junction with Kurt-Schuhmacher-Strasse, it turns into the overall surface and breaks through the orthogonal design of the square. A water feature consisting of bubble jets embedded in the ground offers an attraction for visitors of all ages. A staircase with a maximum of three steps leads to the lower level of the square. It offers a few car parking spaces in front of the savings bank building. A diagonally running row of five mighty light columns creates a spatially effective axis, which creates a reference to the retail area on Schalker Straße for the viewer. In addition to an interesting accent lighting, this light axis in conjunction with the existing street lighting allows an accentuated and yet uniform illumination of the square.

The vegetation
In the sense of an open and transparent square design, the paved square area is covered by three large-crowned solitary trees. Hereby an accentuation of the street crossings is intended, so that the inner place surface remains vegetation-free with exception of a centrally placed god tree at the grill bust.

Furnishings
The furnishings remain largely pared down in their design language. A two-sided bench with a batten made of natural hardwood offers the opportunity to rest and stay at the interface to the street space. In its angled form, it refers on the one hand to the nearby water feature, and on the other hand allows a view of the busy city traffic and the neighbouring St. Joseph's Church.
The demarcation of the pedestrian area to the parking area is done by anthracite steel posts, which can be removed if necessary and to open up the square. As with the vegetation, a transparent and open design is the main focus of the design in the central square area. The installation of the bust of Friedrich Grillo, who gave his name to the square, is of particular importance. The listed statue finds its new place in the central square area under the large-volume crown of a tree of the gods.

The use of the square
With a mobile parking lot demarcation, the existing use of the square with a juxtaposition of pedestrian square areas and individual car parking spaces can continue to take place unimpeded, while the entire square area becomes freely usable for events such as district festivals, Christmas markets or similar events.


District of Schalke: The participation process

The central building block for the redesign of Grilloplatz was the implementation of an intensive dialogue with local stakeholders consisting of residents, traders and shop owners. The overriding aim of the participation process was to sustainably develop the square on Grillostraße as the centre of the district, so that a positive influence is exerted on the neighbouring shopping street Schalker Straße and thus to counteract a trading down process.


Methodological approach
In order to gain a user-oriented insight into the structures of Grilloplatz and its surroundings, we chose the form of participation of a planning workshop.
Under the motto: "Citizens show planners the place", a joint site inspection took place first. In small groups of residents, stakeholders and planners, local impressions were gained, discussed directly and written down for further use. Subsequently, the impressions gained were located on site plans, qualitatively evaluated and classified in the categories: "I think that's good", "I think that's bad", "ideas".

The result
After in-depth discussion, the result stated that the central inner-city location of the square was appreciated as a special profile. The lack of amenity quality in the street space, the lack of clarity in the square and the lack of accessibility formed the basis for a newly defined requirements profile agreed within the group.

Further development
The focal points and findings identified in the planning workshop were incorporated into the further planning process and became an integral part of further planning. As a framework planning for the redesign of the Grilloplatz and the adjacent Schalker Straße, the concept for the redesign was presented and discussed with the residents and stakeholders in a further participation meeting.

The role of the landscape architect
Within the planning process, the role of the landscape architect is understood as a provider of ideas and designer coming from outside. The love for the neighbourhood forms the basis for the commitment of the local residents to work for a positive development. In the dialogue of different preferences and wishes, the architect becomes a moderator and mediator. The balancing of design inspiration and citizen-oriented understanding is therefore of particular importance.