Storehouse City Münster

designed by scape Landschaftsarchitekten /

Location: Germany / Münster / Type: Cultural Heritage / Squares and Plazas / Built: 2013 /
Show on Google Maps / Published on October 7, 2015

scape Landschaftsarchitekten: The site of the former Army Pension office is very important for the history of the German military in the second World War (1939 – 1945). The largely, central located and today considered as a conservation area was a place for storage, processing and distribution of food and fodder for the garrisons from all over Northwestern Germany during the war. From the huge central bakery building up to 30,000 breads were distributed per day. During the second half of the 20th century, the Storehouse City was the place for the British occupying forces. Nowadays the historical storehouses have been transformed into modern office buildings and a famous location for events and communication.The tasks involved in the redesign of the public space were to consider the Storehouse City as an important place for remembrance and develop a high quality area for the employees and the public.

The concept of the project is achieved by taking the sensible historical context in which the place is immersed in to account. The existing central green area is newly contoured and defined as a central Grassland Sculpture bordered by a continuous steel band. Paths in direction to the storehouses go through the new green center and the grassland sculpture at its borders reach a maximum height of +100 cm and decreases along its course till + 5 cm. This element is marked by rows of cherry trees, that follows the former track rail which used to lead to the Storehouse City. The track rails in front of the storage buildings are fulfilled with grass and are displayed as linear areas accompanied by benches. In addition, benches in the same design but shorter in its length, offer sitting options along the Grassland sculpture and outside the bakery.

A new stone square in front of the former bakery building marks the new center of the complex. This area, which is conceived for events and for an extended outdoor dining, is paved with natural stone in big format and framed with a ground level steel border. The choice of material is made with great awareness of the historical remained basalt surrounding. Since the existing natural stone paving is considered as part of the conservation area, is therefore not changed in the execution of the project. It is only altered near the new grassland sculpture as part of the construction space. In order to conceive a uniform appearance throughout the design of the open space, small stone paving is used as overall floor material. In the area of the historical track rails, the tracks are followed with cherry trees and within the rails, concrete slabs are filled and expanded as a pedestrian and bicycle connection. The historic locomotive is moved and displayed on a concrete platform for better exhibition.

The lighting concept is emphasized on the axial alignment of the area. The historical loading ramps are illuminated as well as the architecture of the buildings in order to emphasis its linearity. The facade of the bakery is specially illuminated, due to its historical relevance and its value within the Storehouse City. Overall the cherry tree rows are illuminated by ground spots.

The Storehouse City is an important memorial area that reflects on the German military history. As well as the architecture, the design of the open space reflects the history and the remembrance of the place. In order to broadness the view to and from the area, an opening through the adjacent vegetation in the north side is developed. Consequently the Storehouse City is clearly visible from the outside. All the site is cited as conservation area and keeps the memory of the nazi past in Germany for its consideration and reflection.

Landscape architecture: scape Landschaftsarchitekten GmbH (Matthias Funk, Hiltrud M. Lintel, Prof. Rainer Sachse)
Project leader: Hiltrud M. Lintel
Co-workers: Judith Heimann, Sven Herrmann, Ariane Wendt, Bernd Nengel, Yingying Zhu
Client: Westfälisch-Lippische Vermögensverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH
Architecture: Schoeps & Schlüter Architekten GmbH, Münster 48147

Area: 3,9 ha
Construction sum: 1,83 Mio. EUR
Competition: 2011 – 1. Prize
Design: 2012
Realization: 2012-2013 (Project finished: 2013 September)

Photography: Gereon Holtschneider, Matthias Funk – scape Landschaftsarchitekten
All drawings by scape Landschaftsarchitekten
Location: An den Speichern 3, 48157 Münster – Germany