The „Mettmannplatz“ in the district of Wedding in Berlin sits in the delta of a vivid residential area, a 12.5 hectar sized industrial area and a shipping canal. On the other river bench, a commercial area and an abandoned construction site make up the current view from the Mettmannplatz.
On the west side of the triangle-shaped plaza lays a train bridge with a tunnel that originally lead both cars and pedestrians along the northern axis, Tegeler Street.
This connection unfortunately was destroyed by the recent construction of a new railway line, the “S21”, which lies under the so-called “overfly” – a high train bridge that, before the S21 construction, allowed movement between its blue and yellow painted pillars.
The new construction project was a necessity for berlin public transport but a catastrophe for the Mettmannplatz, as, like a cut through the heart, it split the site into two more or less unconnected halves. The construction work destroyed the entire grass on the western side and left the eastern side neglected and disconnected and from the “Sprengelkiez”, the residential area on the west. Additionally, the row of old Block buildings north of the site is empty as the pharma giant “Bayer” bought and unrented them in order
to make space for their future project, the “Bayer campus”. In the future, especially when the campus is built, the new Mettmannplatz needs to fulfil plenty of functions that the design CUTT/NG EDGE tries to cover:
The students and employees of the campus need a clear walkway construct that allows both slow strolls and fast passing via bicycle but also opportunities to rest. Therefore, there are plenty of either small and private benches or bigger multifunctional concrete podiums.
