Park Fiction, Sat. July 27th & Sun. July 28th, 4 pm – 7 pm:
Following the broad public presentation of the desires in April, the Park Fiction Committee is currently coordinating further planning with authorities, districts and institutions from the district.
The project office and others are designing the further process on behalf of BUKEA and will begin with test uses on the concrete strip on the Elbe in August.
The basis for this is our study of the riverbank strip, which we have summarized in a book. And we’ll be presenting a few copies of it in the park on Saturday and Sunday – or we’ll put it on the table and you can take a look and discuss it with us
ResumÉE
As a result of the investigation, the following requirements for the site can be summarized for further planning:
PRESERVE THE WIDE HORIZON
The expanse of the concrete plateau – in the middle of the city – is a special feature in the densely built-up St. Pauli and should definitely be preserved. Landscaping only appears in the contributions as a beautifully drawn exception.
The participants want a view into the distance, free space for physical movement, flatness, different floor coverings. Streetball, basketball, street soccer – playability, from tartan to smooth concrete. Lanes and tracks for skateboards, wheelchairs – rollability.
LAND-WATER RELATIONSHIP
Islands, cliffs, bays, pontoons: The tidal area directly on the water should be designed and defined differently from the flat expanse of the current concrete plateau, with diversity, slopes, steps, steps for sitting, planting, paths, trails, surprises, platforms and footbridges onto the water, trees, biodiversity and qualities of stay.
The current design, a bushy, asphalt-covered rocky embankment, does not do justice to the central location and has been changed in almost all contributions. The goal remains: Put your feet in the Elbe.
DESIGN STRUCTURE
With astonishing clarity, the contributions already outline the contours of a future design structure in 3 strips:
1. a flat, smooth plateau with play and movement character and width.
2. a differentiated bank that makes the water accessible with qualities of stay and biodiversity.
3. a flood protection wall as noise protection with opportunities for appropriation and recreation. This basic structure is compatible with the Elbe hiking trail, fish market, harbor and flood protection.
TREES SHADE FLOATING MEADOW
Water features for cooling the microclimate, for playing and as a regenerative ecotope. Trees carefully planted to create space (the ones on the shore have established themselves, please keep them). The participants want biodiversity concentrated on the shore, perhaps separated from public traffic “as a floating bee meadow pontoon”.
EVERYONE HATES COBBLESTONES
(INCLUSION)
Due to its relatively high level of artificiality and sealing, the site is suitable for making everything here generally accessible with wheelchairs – wheelchairs, baby carriages, scooters also benefit from this, and the water can drain away easily after flooding.
SELF-MADE FUN
Across the board, the participants suggest uses in which they themselves play an active role.
They don’t want any events, performances, swing grills or Ferris wheels – large parts of the banks of the Elbe are so over-formatted for tourism that the original attractions are destroyed. The riverside strip could interrupt this logic – and be interesting precisely because of it.
The results paint a picture of an active, lively place for urban society. The riverside strip could become a space where people themselves create the pleasure: Small is better than big, “free admission” instead of VIP, lively relationships instead of representation.
FOLLY
The wish production has produced strong designs with potential. Some of them should be implemented with care and a lot of support – also to make it clear that democracy produces diversity, quality and uniqueness.
ÇAY BAHÇESI
While social life is disappearing from the random everyday relationships of cities, the use of public spaces is steadily increasing. Traditional meeting places such as pubs and clubs are struggling, while rent prices are causing tolerance spaces to shrink. Public space acts as a buffer and has to absorb many things, from homelessness to private parties. A riverside strip cannot change all this. But what could a “hospitable” character of public spaces look like? Beyond exclusion and control through privatization, as well as the anonymous washability of state administration and police patrols?
The architectural discourse has been discussing “commons” for years, i.e. urban space as a common good. However, there is little experience in Hamburg of actively shaping public spaces as “commons”. New approaches are urgently needed.
The desiring-production provides clues that could be combined with each other: The term Turkish tea garden (Çay Bahçesi) appears several times, a low-threshold but hospitable place. A (non-profit) kiosk for handing out chairs, balls etc. would keep a positive eye on the park as a point of contact. A display of art in the area could continually shape and renew the space culturally. Together with sports groups and clubs from St. Pauli Bats to FCSP, from Skateboard e.V. to Sit’n’Skate, sporting self-administration could be permanently anchored in the district and beyond.
The Park Fiction Committee is forming a working group on this topic with various stakeholders in the district. The aim here is to develop a new model that could serve as a model for other public spaces in cities.