BERLIN TEMPLEHOF

Concept | 2008

The design intent for the competition of the Tempelhof Airfield in Berlin was to create new city habitats in an unused airfield, tying in historic axes and a new urban landscape. City, human, nature, and animals will find space in the landscape and they will have the opportunity to experience the city together. The area for the competition is an undefined urban landscape, over-run with plants and animals; re-defining the space into the urban context of Kreuzberg and Neukölln was a leading design strategy for the Tempelhof airport. The Columbiadamm Street separates the designated districts of what is to be built on the airport grounds. To create this divisional separation, it is helpful to get an idea of what is happening on both sides of the street axis, therefore, the concept revolves around creating ‘Environments’ involving the limits of the given area beyond the involvement of the development phase in relation to the Tempelhof Field and its surrounding districts of Kreuzberg, Neukölln and Tempelhof. The habitats work together to form a cohesive plan, based around different species of plants and environments. In addition to ecological habitats of native plantings or dry grass communities, the social needs of young and old people from different backgrounds and diverse interests are also valuable habitats that need to be maintained or created. Processes of collaboration become sustainable economic strategies to stimulate, not neglect.