2nd prize in the competition “Urban Life on Papierbach”, Lot B1

The grounds of the former plow factory in Landsberg am Lech will be transformed into a new quarter at the heart of the town during the next years. With a surface of 5.7 ha the brownfields site is one of Landsberg’s most important development areas. Apart from residential and mixed uses, children’s care facilities including open spaces, and a company offering local daily services, facilities for various cultural purposes are asked for. The background of demographic development as well as good conditions for motorized traffic and excellent pedestrian connections to the town center suggests developing a dense mixture of residential and infrastructure facilities, in the form of an urban quarter with multi-story apartment buildings. (Excerpt from the competition brief)

Our design purposely diverges from the well-known system of perimeter blocks of graded heights and loosely positioned houses with courtyards, in favor of one compact volume with three horizontal layers. It will be the bridgehead of the new Lech-Steg and, at the same time, the signature address for the new quarter. Above a robust base of mineral material, containing solely cultural public spaces, rises a distinctly different, sculptural volume which accommodates artists’ apartments and studios. The slit between plinth and residential levels provides another public space, the “Quartiers-Terrasse”, connected to the square opposite Karl Schrem building by an extensive flight of stairs, and opening towards the east like a balcony on the Lech river and Landsberg’s town center.