NEW ARCHIPELAGO - an ecological strategy for Berlin periphery

Technical University of Berlin (TUB), Faculty VI Planning – Building – Environment, Berlin, Germany

Project idea

In the 1970s, O.M.Ungers described West Berlin as an archipelago of
different urban realities. The image of the Berlin region today is
different. The city has grown, linked itself, and finds a superordinate
reality. But some urban spaces remain voids that stand empty for a long
time and are finally discovered and exploited by a greedy market.
Examples abound, just as there are still many undiscovered voids. One
could speak today, conversely as Ungers, of an archipelago of voids.
We have discovered some of them in Schöneweide. Many unused,
marked by their history and yet also already included in many planning
visions. With our project, we want to fundamentally criticize these typical
market visions. We want to give a voice to the voids and test new
approaches to them. Decades of mistreatment and misuse of these
spaces are the outgoing motivation for us to show a radical vision in
which free space and ultimately a protected recreational nature in the
middle of the city are the focus. Conventional principles of so-called
sustainability is to be questioned and rethought. Instead of green-
washing and lifestyle-architecture, co-existence is to take place and
manifest itself visually and mentally in this vision.

Project description

The project is elaborated deeply through five steps. The first one is the Urban Concept-reclaiming the voids, where accordingly to the historical, political, social, and environmental development through the last 100 years, we analyzed the area on different scales and came up with conclusions that let us quickly identify the intervention area and the needed interventions, which sooner we called the New Archipelago. The second step is the Urban Design-showing the invisible, where we implemented the outcomes and came up with three necessary typologies: housing, education, research, and a strategy for remediation and recovery for the polluted nature. The typologies create a boundary in the site and end where the landscape starts; the latter meets the river in the middle creating the so-called mirror effect. The third step is the Typology-stop hiding, a map showing both built and landscape structures in an elevated ground plan. The fourth step, similar to the third one, is the Typology-landscape. Based on the research done, we gathered scientific data on different vegetation that helps us densify and seal the polluted soil; the selection was made based on native and growable possibilities according to the environmental conditions in Berlin. Regarding the decision we made that nature should be free and untouched, we integrated only three artificial actions: freeing the river, adding paths over ruins, and reshaping the site to have a simplified remediation process. The fifth or the last step is Typology-structures, where the below-mentioned typologies, housing, education, and research, are elaborated and visualized. The site's program is customized to the demands of Schönewaide identified in the research, but not only. The large-scale analysis results are implemented in the project, making the New Archipelago remarkable for Schönewaide but also an exceptional site throughout the city.

Technical information

This project is research-based and deals with vital problems in the specified site. Therefore the most crucial step was the research, followed by the urban, landscape, and architectural approaches, which were our tools to solve the problem. Living in this century where nature 'belongs to people', we decided to leave nature alone and indirectly give people the opportunity to live and cherish its benefits.

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