It's not easy being green
Hans Magnus: “I’m here today to tell you about my decision to come back living in Kaufbeuren after many years.And to think that, not long ago, the destiny of my city was not very clear”.
"The idea was to build a system which could be able to absorb the necessity of the urban and economic development of the city, through the reuse and the safeguard of a big open space, by its conversion into a fruitful territory. This double vision turned into the definition of perimetral urban system and a rural-residential park in the area of the landing field.
A generative green heart surrounded by a ring which houses productive systems, research campus, residences and commercial areas. Its depth is defined through the external off-set of the project boundary given by the competition".
"Urban growth and happy decrease qualified an open system, able to absorb hypothetical variables too".
"The operation imagined an equal distribution of all the sections set outside the given perimeter, in order to balance every taking away or transformation with a new collocation or destination.For what concerns the streets, the thickness of the urban ring was defined with a double vehicular traffic connection, and partially constituted by the already existent streets. This double connection made it possible for the different parts of the new operation, to relate in an organic way. So, it all created also a second weaving of paths, made for soft mobility –pedestrian and vehicular-, but it made the whole area permeable and accessible too".
In the transformation of the area, a fundamental role was played by the recovery made through phytoremediation, able to eliminate heavy metals and glycols, remains of the airport facilities. If we should think about an area that expands towards the takeoff run, that is a band that varies from 40 to 100 meters, it was assigned to essences planted and meant for the recovery, such as: arundo donax, eliantus annus, brassica napus, medicago sativa, tifolium and populus nigra. In 10 years, while the area was assigned to cultivation, a portion of it, set along the linear park, was reclaimed and it became a renewed zone (standing in for the plants) or a consolidated one.
"The area has gradually been transformed in plot of land, where the lots modularity (60x35 meters) regulated the location of the houses, that were distinguished in 4 typologies and that were able to host about 1000 people. The size of each lot was defined through a calculation on the possibility, for the inhabitants, of a self-sustenance. Now, they can cultivate their own plot of land, having the food autonomy guaranteed and preserving the ecosystem of the area. The hydro-subsistence is carried by 15 irrigation systems, which have capacity for 4500 mc: these ponds can collect rainwater and they are an important element for the new landscape of Kaufbeuren".
"In the whole process, they focused on the consideration of the failure: the system would have worked even in critical situations, and would have always guarantee a sustainable balance. The project represents the ultimate configuration that may not be realized because of unpredictable conditions, as it was demonstrated in the last years. But the system was conceived to absorb any possible gap in the urban progression"."In these backdrops, the supporting element that regulates the new operation is the linear park, the only true public space".
"But the final outcome is a new city, with a remarkable level of complexity.
And it is for all of these reasons that I have decided to come back living here, after long years.
Hope you will join me!"
