Bahnhofsplatz Balingen 2022

Client

City of Balingen

Procedure

  • working stages 2-8 (HOAI)
  • competition, 2017, 1. prize with Yellow Z, Berlin (urban design)

Characteristics

  • 5.400 m²

Collaboration

  • Andreas Lüderitz
  • Philipp Rösner (competition)

Representative entrance to the city

Bahnhofplatz forms the prestigious prelude to the city, Bahnhofstrasse and the city center. In order to create both a representative gesture and a square with new high-quality recreational areas, the square has been reorganized from the ground up. The uses and infrastructural facilities as well as the traffic have been relocated to the north and south sides. This creates an open square in front of the historic station building, giving the ensemble a new spaciousness.

A grove of multi-trunked hop hornbeams has been planted on the northern edge of the square, giving it a spatial edge to the north. To the south, the square is framed by the new two-storey building of the station restaurant. This forms the spatial edge of the station forecourt and is simultaneously an urban hybrid that also represents the head building of the adjacent residential block. This turns the sunny, exposed south-western corner of the square into a restaurant area.

The natural stone slab composite of the square is rotated 90 degrees to the paving of Bahnhofstrasse. In order to emphasize the opening gesture and the compression of the elements towards the edges of the square, strips of large stone paving are inscribed, which are compressed towards the edges of the square.

The design generates a multifunctional square that optimally complements the existing “house of many offerings” and also creates its own offerings, areas for a quiet stay in the shade or for seeing and being seen on the square.

The entrance to the city in the north is via a newly rolled out carpet on the station square. Here there is space for travelers to pass through and for those who have already arrived to linger.