ASTOC - Architects and Planners

D-Dusseldorf New Urban Quarters in Dusseldorf

Witnessing how a successful urban planning design can lead to equally successful architecture is a dream for planners used to working on both these levels. For when urban planning decisions reflect holistic and sustainable approaches, good architecture follows almost naturally. The New Urban Quarters in Düsseldorf (“Neue Düsseldorfer Stadtquartiere,” or NDS for short) are being
designed by ASTOC. Although Düsseldorf is a prosperous city, hasty post-war reconstruction during the nineteen-fifties and the city’s high urban density led to a dearth of attractive housing quarters. The shutdown of the former goods station in the district of Derendorf offered an exciting new opportunity. Initially, the railway area was not much more than fallow land in the midst of the inner city’s northern part. Ideas that the client, the company Interboden, contributed to the project, have strongly shaped the site. The task was to convert thirty-five hectares of prime land into a dense urban district, representing the largest and most urban development project of the state capital together with the Medienhafen project. The high densities were balanced by large green areas and an earth wall which also protects the new quarters from the noise of passing trains on the railway lines that were retained.

The “Second Green Ring” is part of a comprehensive urban planning strategy, having the task of offsetting the increased urban density in parts of the city. While the landscape gardener Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe designed the “First Green Ring” leading from the Hofgarten via the Königsallee, the Spee’schen Graben, and the Schwanenspiegel up to the Rhine River, the “Second Green Ring” is being realized since 2004. It starts at the Rheinpark, passes by the Hofgarten, crosses the site of the former goods station as well as the Schlachthof, the Rheinmetall complex and Arnold and Golzheimer Squares, finally meeting the Rheinpark again. The city garden is like a thread that runs through this new urban district, with the Stadtgartenallee functioning as a broad, tree-lined movement axis.

The urban plan is guided by the design of the neighboring quarters dating from the Wilhelminian period. ASTOC won the urban planning competition in 2000. During the execution of the project, the quarter was divided into different building sectors: the 4,500 square meter large “Building Sector 0” complements the existing building stock along Schinkelstrasse, forming the entrance to a new city garden together with “Building Sector 1.” With their architectural planning of “Building Sector 0,” ASTOC were able to gauge how their urban planning concepts functioned in real space.

Five different apartment buildings with a total of 129 free-financed rented apartments were built on top of a shared underground garage. The long, slender shape of the station premises was retained and deep row-type buildings without courtyards were proposed. Every building has its own address and its own architectural expression: the puce-colored clinker facade, for example, starkly contrasts with its white plastered counterpart.

The staircase of the front building which alone houses as many as 63 of all 129 apartments, provides access to up to ten apartments on each floor, providing the opportunity to convert this rather unwanted spatial situation into one generously lit by daylight from a skylight and with a communicative interior.

The architecture is shaped by human scales, and a sense of individuality and flexibility. The goal was to achieve a high degree of small-scale segmentation. Apart from having classic ground plans, the apartments were furnished with roof terraces and patios, while some were built as duplex types and lofts. The underground garage deliberately sticks out slightly above street level, facilitating the inclusion of a mezzanine floor. This not only provides visual privacy and naturally lit and ventilated basement levels but also creates space for raised tenant gardens that are only a few gabions away from the neighboring park designed by the Berlin-based firm Lützow 7.

In this way, new urban quarters are emerging at the site of the former goods station in Derendorf, enabling novel ways of living and working in the heart of Düsseldorf. Excellent infrastructure, a central location, convenient public transport access, and last but not least, the new urban “green ring” have led to the quarters becoming a much sought-after residential and office location within the city.

Photographer: Christa Lachenmaier, Cologne