City expansion Viererfeld/Mittelfeld, Bern, 3rd/3rd/6th rank

Category
Selective Urban Design Competition
Client
City of Berne
Architecture
BHSF Architects and Felix Claus Dick van Wageningen Architecten, Amsterdam
Landscape Architecture
Klötzli Friedli, Berne
Structural Engineer
Kissling + Zbinden, Thun
Technical Infrastructure
enerconom, Berne
Also Involved
Büro für Mobilität, Berne; Beatrice Durrer Eggerschwiler, Lucerne; Zeugin Gölker Immobilienstrategien, Zurich; nightnurse (vizualization)
Floor Area incl. basement
200'000 m2
Competition Period
2018
Planning & Execution Period
ab 2019

The development of the Viererfeld and Mittelfeld sites in Berne represent the city’s biggest expansion in the past two decades. Located in a very central position, the two sites have a total area of 16 hectares. In the next years, 200’000 square meters of apartments, stores and public uses will be realised on the site, as well as a large park for the whole city. The competition consisted of three parts: urban design, park, and habitation.

Our project „Paradise City“ centres on the participatory process that has laid the foundation of the project from the beginning, and which is very important for planning processes in Berne. Corresponding to the open design of our proposal we narrate it in the form of a comic. We do not show photorealistic renderings of the finished project. Instead, we offer several possibilities of how the area can develop. Participation is put into the centre of the project, combined with a clear urbanistic framework.

The actual urbanistic project is centered on the idea of interaction between the inhabitants of the development and the rest of the city. To achieve this, a boulevard is proposed between park and settlement, contrary to the initial plan. Other interfaces are proposed as well, such as the Engepromenade alley towards the Aare valley. The idea of the interface is repeated in the park with its many pockets and subareas as well as in the ground floor plans of the individual buildings. The buildings, which are to be realized by different offices and developers, draw their diversity out of the multiple possibilities of combining these different sides.

Urban Design 3rd rank, Park 3rd rank, Habitation 6th rank.