Building development plan for Frankfurt/Main-Ginnheim
Whoever fails to participate in the affairs of the city is not a silent but a bad citizen.
(Perikles)
The aim of the business development plan was to create an attractive residential area, despite conditions being far from perfect. The location was bounded by a suburban railway line and an elevated urban motorway. The area was differentiated diagonally subject to spatial and functional considerations along the boundary line, which crosses a large old water-bearing parcel of land, whilst taking into account the existing topographical conditions (escarpment). This created a green perimeter, distancing the development from the emissions of the motorway and railway track.
The backbone of the development area is the street ‘Auf der Schlosshecke’. The individual houses have been arranged so as to create a pedestrian corridor, with the solitaire buildings placed in such a way as to create spatial tension vis-à-vis the uninterrupted self-contained row of buildings opposite.
The diagonal partition of the development area is at the same time a pedestrian link between established urban districts and the newly created ‘Niddatal’ public park (site of the German Federal Garden Show).