Berliner Platz – Osnabruck, Germany

Around the square Berliner Platz a vibrant service-oriented city district shall be created, which strengthens the east-west backbone of the city of Osnabruck in conjunction with the newly designed square Neumarkt and which formulates an inviting entrance to the city on the east. Therefore three interlocking and spatially contiguous urban areas are formulated:

Berliner Platz
The existing interface between Wittekindstrasse and Ring is accentuated by a group of three higher buildings, recognizable in the urban fabric, and marking Berliner Platz.
The square of ​​the Berliner Platz has the character of a vibrant, human-scale transition and passage space, which gives the building the city’s main newspaper (NOZ) the required presence. With the new uses, such as a hotel and services, the Berliner Platz becomes the spatial and functional link between the city center and the Wittekind Quarter.

Wittekind Quarter
The Wittekind district is permeable quarter with mixed use that connects today’s separate areas on both sides of the street Wittekindstrasse. In front of the historical Hanover railroad station the new heart of the neighborhood is formulated. The so called Wittekind square is designed as a shared space, crossing Wittekindstrasse and binding the two adjacent sub-areas together. Green areas communicate across Wittekindstrasse with each other.
The character of the quarter is significantly influenced by the old Hanover railroad station. The spatial boundaries open to the historic monument and give the Wittekind square a dual nature, so that it also acts as an entry into town coming from Alte Poststrasse.

City Entree Wittekind Square
The design and dimensioning of the Wittekind square gives a clear and positive signal as the opener of the core city to those traveling into town. The Hanover railroad station together with its structural counterpart of a necessary parking garage on the other side of the road formulates a gate-like entrance to the city.
The Wittekind square makes the high gable roof part of the Hanover railroad station visible and allows a line of sight to the Neumarkt. The city entrance is the eastern pole of the urban east-west space sequence reaching to university in the west.

 

Urban, traffic and open space planning related call in for expert opinions: Recommendation
Client: City of Osnabruck, Germany
Team SMAQ: Sabine Müller, Andreas Quednau, Irene Frassoldati, Lorenzo Ciccu

in collaboration with Man Made Land (landscape), SHP (traffic), Adrian Calitz (visualization)

projects, urbanism
16/07/2015