Won: Living in the Park on the Rhine, Cologne-Porz
1st prize for ASTOC Architects and Planners in collaboration with Lorber Paul Architects and Club L94 Landscape Architects.
Vivawest is planning the construction of 101 apartments in the Porz district of Cologne. In a qualification procedure carried out for this purpose, the design prepared jointly by ASTOC Architects and Planners, Lorber Paul Architekten and Club L 94 Landschaftsarchitekten was convincing. The jury voted unanimously in favor of our contribution.
The approximately one-hectare site, within sight of the Rhine, was formerly part of the hospital park and is characterized by its old and dense tree population, including two special, old yews that are protected as natural monuments, as well as many other formative trees that will be preserved.
In order to take account of these diverse site conditions - to integrate the new quarter into the existing buildings, to take advantage of the favorable location to the Rhine and, last but not least, to respect and preserve as many old trees as possible - a development concept was designed that consists of two buildings.
The form of the buildings creates an open character and an optimal permeability, which integrates the surrounding greenery into the development and achieves an interesting creation of space with the neighboring existing buildings. The two buildings are almost identical and are each composed of three modules, each with a staircase core. They form a central open space in interaction with the neighborhood and with the integration of the tree monuments. With their slender end faces and bent long sides, the two new buildings ideally mediate between the elongated, bent existing rows from the 1980s to the south and the point-shaped climatic settlement to the east. The row facing the street shields the area from traffic noise, while at the same time opening up the ensemble to the hospital park.
