On Friday, 5 July 2019, the Europe-wide competition for the neighbourhood and landscape park on the Tegel airport site was decided. The contract was awarded to the Berlin-based office of Weidinger Landschaftsarchitekten.
As part of a Europe-wide competition, the Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing was looking for design concepts for the planned neighbourhood and landscape park to be realised on the airport site after the end of regular operations. The winners of the competition were announced in April 2019 – the Berlin office GM013 and Weidinger Landschaftsarchitekten, also from Berlin.
Both were to continue working on their designs in a subsequent workshop process and then present the revised versions to the jury for a final decision. The decision was unanimously in favour of the design by Weidinger Landschaftsarchitekten. Prof. Jürgen Weidinger explained his office’s design as follows: “We will draw the landscape of the local Tegel city heath, which has developed on the airfield, into the heart of the new Schumacher Quarter. With the theme of the urban heath, we will design the connection for pedestrians and cyclists all the way to Jungfernheide and Lake Tegel and make the landscape an experience. The idea of the heath bridge enables the diverse interplay of ecological qualities, such as biodiversity, bee pasture and species protection, with the leisure facilities that are needed in new parks today. For example, we will create the longest skate (country) track in the city. These offerings for future residents will be embedded in generous tree-lined lawns, flowering ‘heath meadows’ and even lush prairie shrub beds.” The neighbourhood park in Schumacher Quartier is the central public green space for all future residents of the new district. In the adjoining landscape park to the west, offerings are to be created for the residents north of the airport, for the future users of the Urban Tech Republic and for the residents of the Tegel North neighbourhood, which is still to be developed.
