Konrad-Adenauer-Platz

Client: Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf

Place: Düsseldorf, Germany
Restricted Competition: 2018

Type: Offices, Landscape

Area: 91,100m2

Budget: Undisclosed

AZPA

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Ivaylo Nachev, Carlos Orihuela, Victoria Recio Dura, Evgenia Krassakopoulou

RSLA Landscape Architects

Our proposal is aimed to provide a comprehensive reorganization of the Konrad-Adenauer Platz which will not only address the reconfiguration of the square itself, but also the proposal of different actions in the adjacent areas spaces which will maximize the potentials of the urban spaces in the neighbourhood.

Our proposal gravitates around a series of proposals that go from the large scale to the smaller detail:

1.Give a proper ending to Immermann Straße, and a relevant connection to the Konrad Adenauer Platz. We propose the demolition of the Immermannhof and the reuse of the site with an alternative building which will allow the continuation of the Immermann Straße until the Konrad Adenauer Platz itself. A new 140m tower will be built to index the Station and Konrad-Adenauer-Platz in the city’s skyline.

2.The new tower will be clad in ceramic material as a scaled-up version of the Station Tower (x3) as a way to integrate a building designed to the scale of the new Dusseldorf with the historical Station. The scale of the tower floorplate (28,1 x37,1m) makes it adequate to both residential and commercial uses

3.Immermannhof will be redeveloped into a 6-storey building with a more compact floorplan to clear the extension of Immermann Straße, while providing the same amount of floorplate. The building will be organized around two atriums, providing a very efficient and flexible floorplate for office use, which can be naturally ventilated and daylit. It will also provide a ground level setback which will create a portico around the building.

4.An alternative public space is proposed along the Worringer Straße, in the site of the existing long-distance bus terminal. The bus layout has been changed in order to reduce asphalt and provide a very generous new public space which will act as a new public plaza in front of the UFA-Palast Düsseldorf and the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus.

5.To avoid unnecessary disturbance to the pedestrians and the commuters, we propose the burying of all long-term parking in front of the new high-rise and the North end of the station, which is accessed only through Worringer Straße. Friedrich-Ebert-Straße is proposed as a new pedestrian axis connecting to the town centre, keeping only delivery access through a turnaround loop.

6.As a unifying element we propose to use a continuous stone pavement throughout all the new public areas, where all traffic will converge into a single surface. The stone pattern has been tessellated in order to project onto the ground the same pitch of the pilasters of the Station’s façade. A substantial green canopy of deciduous trees is proposed to cover certain areas of the space of the plaza to provide shading and environmental comfort.