ASKREN MANOR
Urban Ideas competition for the former military base Askren Manor
Schweinfurt, Germany, 2014
HONORABLE MENTION
We are challenged to act on a former U.S. military base. The area consists of uniform rows of houses that create a monotonous fabric not integrating into the environment.
We propose a mix of different building types and scales – detached houses (size S), row houses (size M) and residential blocks (size L). To reactivate the zone, the housing supply is to be extended and the former military base shall transform into a new open district for various investment types and sizes for the residents of Schweinfurt.
Therefore an adequate number of existing buildings shall be obtained, the urban structure of the remaining buildings is used to introduce a new type of building: a cluster of single-family homes and townhouses, orientated on gardens, which are organized by common entrances.
The arrangement in clusters allows the car to access (temporarily and in cases of emergency) without traversing the entire area. The result is a very pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with parking spaces on three large squares on the border of the area, subterranean garages and utility areas in the ground floor.
The alternative mobility allows the continuity of public space, which becomes an identity-space for the community: Green space with low maintenance houses playgrounds, sports fields and recreational space, with the possibility of temporary appropriations; the neighbors can rent land, whether for festivities, urban gardening or community events.
The proposed intentions for the new urban configuration, the alternative mobility and continuity of public space are represented in a single competition panel, as a folded card, as guidelines for an ecologic, sustainable and democratic development of the former military base “Askren-Manor”.
> Collaboration:
. Laura Salvador González, student of architecture
. Inés García García, student of architecture
. Paula Fernández San Marcos, architect
. Kerstin Pluch, architect