Urban planning design competition
8. April 2025
Kirchzarten is a municipality bordering Freiburg im Breisgau with a population of around 10,000. In an urban planning competition, an overall concept was to be developed for central areas of the town center. The entry by ASTOC ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS was awarded 2nd prize by the jury.
With its “Ortsmitte II” project, the municipality has been included in the urban development funding program. This funding instrument pursues general objectives such as the creation of living space, climate change adaptation, improvement of the living environment, strengthening the functionality of existing centers and integration in the neighborhoods. Taking these objectives into account, the municipality of Kirchzarten intends to further consider the potential for urban development in its town center. The task of the design competition was to develop an overall concept for the specified redevelopment area. This consisted of the historic town center with local amenities and pedestrian zone, as well as a heterogeneous area with residential buildings, retail and commercial use. The anticipated implementation guidelines were expected to include provisions on urban structure, scale and density, whilst taking full account of current land-use, building and ownership patterns.
“Town outside – village inside” – This somewhat provocative reversal of the town marketing guiding principle describes the very different growth dynamics of Kirchzarten, which are already reflected in the spatial structures of the town. To ensure that the expected structural changes can be managed in a targeted manner, we propose this basic understanding as a fundamental guiding principle. The pedestrian zone is the core of Kirchzarten’s identity and should be revitalized as much as possible, but only changed sensitively. In the second row, but with an immediate effect and in direct spatial connection with the pedestrian zone, complementary growth can then take place in the future. This growth can include both infrastructural and functional, but also spatial and atmospheric components. In this zone, qualified spatial consolidation, supplementation and reshaping can take place. The growth zone is supplied by the support zone, in which the strong spatial growth of the city is taken into account. Infrastructure axes and green corridors link the zones and form a resilient basic structure through targeted open space and architectural additions.