Silvia Benedito, assistant professor of landscape architecture, and Alexander Häusler (MArch II ’04) have been commissioned to develop “Stadt Park-Donau,” a 515 acre urban park along the Donau (Danube) riverbank in Ingolstadt, Germany. The design team for the plan included Erik Anderson (MLA ’13), Michael Luegering (MLA ’13) and Carolyn Deuschle (MLA ’14) with David Birge of Benedito and Häusler’s firm OFICINAA.
The commission was awarded as a result of the team’s finalist entry for the international competition organized by Europan 11 and the city of Ingolstadt, dedicated to the theme “resonance between territories and ways of life.”
Stadt Park-Donau seeks to reconnect the city with the river, which had been detached by military, transportation and flood control infrastructure. The plan is based on 4 main principles:
1. Thicker Ecology – the re-naturalization of Donau’s riverbanks
2. Lifestyle & Nature – a civic program dedicated to passive and active recreation and education closer to fluvial biotopes
3. Robust Identity – the strengthening of Ingolstadt’s urban presence at the river edge through the definition of a new skyline and views
4. Growth & Consolidation – the redefining of the river as a new address for city growth and consolidation.
EUROPAN competitions are an attempt to harness the innovation of Europe’s young architecture and urban design professionals to help cities find architectural and urban solutions to transform challenging urban locations. The Europan 11 competition was marked by a strong commitment to very stringent environmental objectives: limiting greenhouse gas emissions, controlling energy consumption, diminishing pollution and managing and preserving non-renewable vital resources such as water.
Read more about Stadt Park-Donau in StattZeitungPlus.