|
|
06.2003
Reese Kaserne, Augsburg (Germany)
Europan 7
International Design Competition
The EUROPAN7 is a biannual European based
architectural competition. The EUROPAN7 theme is Sub-urban challenge, urban
intensity and housing diversity. We have shocen to tackle the City of Augsburg home to some of the largest abandonded US
Military compounds in Germany; now being converted into small
sub-urban neighborhoods.
Augsburg proposes the Reese Kaserne site as the next location for urban
development to take place. URBAN MENTAL MAPS refers to imprinting new
urban conditions onto the vacuum left by the US Military since the 90's
at the Reese Kaserne.
Project statement
If the void of urbanism is the space resulting from a lack of
significant social structures and an increase in sub-urban sprawl then
the urban void is the vacuum of space within the city left to the
disarray of nature's camouflage. The urban void is a blind spot in
one's mental map of the city.
A mental map is an abstract space, however it is the most significant
space we create to maintain order in our lives and movements. A mental
map is an imprinted set of sensory perceptions of the world. We
impregnate our brain constantly with emotional stimulations and use
these impulses to navigate through space and our memories; giving
significance to our existence.
The problem is evident; how are we to put a new Reese Kaserne on the
Augsburg mental map without destroying the particular atmospheres
shaped by the notions of history and resulting from the erosions of
time? How may we create connections to repair the gap and finally
create a true neighborhood center for Kriegshaber? How is such a vast
area of land (40 hectares) to be planned to stimulate growth,
individuality and a sense of community?
Our hypothesis assumes the existence of Reese Kaserne mental maps
depicting a derelict space in the center of Kriegshaber and a
playground for the local "underground" culture. We propose to imprint a
series of new mental maps using modular urban, sub-urban and dwelling
landscapes to overcome the lack of order, interconnection and social
seclusions. The subsequent urban proposal focuses on a post-utopian
urban ecology, binding responsibility to individual expression in a
community environment promoting a new [sub] urban lifestyle; hence
imprinting new urban mental maps.
|
|
|
