Weimarer Platz with Pavilion
Thanks to a comprehensive redesign, an attractive, traffic-free, and bright square has been created to the south of Weimarer Strasse, where asphalt car parks, densely overgrown trees, and weed-infested wasteland once lined the street. Now, updated playground equipment, lots of benches, better paths, a pitch for games of boules, and a new pavilion for local residents have made “Weimarer Platz” into an appealing hub at the heart of the “Global Neighbourhood”.
The district’s residents first voiced their ideas for the square and the spaces around it at an intercultural planning workshop held in 2007. Back then, they said that they desperately wanted a place for people to meet and chat, with benches and a café for residents of every cultural background. They were also keen to see the many car parks relocated, the paths improved, and the area given an attractive, contemporary redesign. The Lübeck-based landscape architect Sven Andresen, who with Urte Schlie won the “Global Neighbourhood” urban design concept competition, set to work on this task together with kfs Architekten.
Today the old state of affairs is a distant memory. The car parks have all been moved elsewhere. In their place is an open square paved with concrete slabs inlaid with intarsia depicting the theme of “Homeland”, based on designs by local residents. The space also features a climbing frame in the form of a globe and a windbreak-like wall that screens from the public square the private gardens of the surrounding housing blocks. Now that there is better access from “Rotenhäuser Feld” and a new path leading to Gert-Schwämmle-Weg, the renovated “Weimarer Platz” will both enhance the lives of “Global Neighbourhood” residents and improve routes to other parts of the Reiherstieg district, thus making it a hub in its own right. A new, wider path east to the Veringkanal has been created and the square enlarged, after the demolition of part of a building that stood in the way.
The pavilion stands at the edge of the square, and houses a café and community rooms for the area’s residents. It will also serve as a temporary exhibition gallery and events venue for the Internationale Bauausstellung IBA (International Building Exhibition) Hamburg during summer 2010 and 2013. Large windows and the bright and welcoming interior design make it a popular gathering place for the “Global Neighbourhood” – another of the wishes expressed at the intercultural planning workshop that has been fulfilled. Constructed in August 2010, the pavilion forms part of the complete redesign of “Weimarer Platz”, and provides facilities for various local activities.
The building itself covers 140 square metres of accessible space, with two activity rooms, a kitchen, a foyer, toilets, and an office. Local businesses and young trainees helped with the layout and construction of the pavilion, following a design by the Hamburg-based firm of architects Kunst+Herbert. The building work was sponsored by the companies Eternit, Schüco, LiGo, and Kompetenzteam Glas.
The pavilion business will be guaranteed by SAGA GWG until the end of 2020, and then by Sprinkenhof AG. It is managed by two local enterprises – the Wilhelmsburg Turkish Parents’ Group and Der Hafen: Association for Psychosocial Aid – which tendered for the job and began work in January 2011. Both organisations, which were already active within the district, put on a regular programme of activities for local residents, including help with homework, dance and music groups, a lunch club (every Thursday), neighbourhood get-togethers for coffee, and breakfast clubs (every Monday). The pavilion can also be used for local cultural or educational events, and the rooms can be hired inexpensively for private parties.
Project Milestones
- May 2007: intercultural “Global Neighbourhood” planning workshop
- April 2008: urban planning ideas and design competition for the “Global Neighbourhood”
- Spring 2010: start of pavilion construction
- August 2010: completion of pavilion
- August–October 2010: “weiter sagen – weiter tragen” exhibition
- June–July 2013: Exhibition "The many faces of the 'Reiherstieg-quarter' — An exhibition of the history of migration"
This project is sponsored by the Framework Programme for Integrated Urban Development (Rise).
ADDRESS
Weimarer Straße 79
21107 Hamburg
SPECIFICATIONS
ARCHITECT
Kunst + Herbert Architekten
Henriettenweg 1
20259 Hamburg
www.kunstherbert.de
LANDSCAPE PLANNER
Andresen Landschaftsarchitekten
Glockengießerstraße 62
23552 Lübeck
www.andresen-landschaftsarchitekten.de