The Fürstenwalder Gartenfeld, Fürstenwalde

With the “Fürstenwalder Gartenfeld Lange Straße”, a new neighbourhood is being created in the south of the town of Fürstenwalde | Spree. The almost 7-hectare agricultural area to the south of Lange Straße is to become a place for communal, intergenerational living. In addition to educational facilities, the residential building ensemble, embedded in a generous open space, are one of the features of the development project.

The urban space

The key element of the open space concept is the focus on the courtyard community. The emphasis is on the gardens, referring to the previous use of the fields. In each of the three courtyards, there are areas for cultivating crops, recreational areas and play areas. The special role of the community is the pivotal point of the design. The central “Gartenfelder Platz” brings together the functional requirements for the neighbourhood. All residents frequent the square when they enter or cross the neighbourhood. The space thus promotes everyday encounters and contributes to the vibrancy of the neighbourhood. By bundling the public open space uses in the south-east of the site (“play park”), the integration into the urban open space network is successful. Both the adjacent neighbourhoods and the garden associations can access the “play park”, which is equipped with intergenerational play and exercise facilities.

The nature area

The “Fürstenwalder Gartenfeld Lange Straße” is framed by a strip of woodland. As a kind of green buffer around the neighbourhood, it offers habitats for flora and fauna as well as opportunities for environmental education. The open space concept makes a decisive contribution to increasing biodiversity. The current monocultural area will be enriched with colourful gardens, flowering meadows and vital wooded areas. The concept involves collecting, evaporating and infiltrating all rainwater on site. The buildings are equipped with green roofs. In addition, excess water is collected in cisterns and can be used to irrigate the gardens. Near-natural infiltration areas are provided outside the courtyards for the harmless drainage of the paved areas, in order to feed the groundwater with the rainwater that accumulates.