2023

The article assumes that streets are not only traffic areas, but also places of perception, communication and identity. Meißner Straße, Radebeul's main thoroughfare, is to be architecturally optimised and given a meaning beyond its traffic function. The work does this by greening the façade and by building over it with wooden structures. In some cases, the wooden levels are brought right up to the existing buildings. Combined with the green façades, also on the existing buildings, the result is a self-contained, surprising image. This urban development programme is applied at three locations: around the Moritzburger Strasse intersection, at the Landesbühnen and at Sternplatz (August-Bebel-Strasse / Villa Kolbe intersection). The graphic analysis identifies seven problem areas that are cartographically located on Meißner Strasse or in the wider surroundings, without it being possible to take a closer look at these locations and identify a specific problem at this point. The two locations that are ultimately used for the implementation of the architectural and urban development programme are not included. The weakness of the analysis is then also noticeable in the design and manifests itself in the fact that the proposals sometimes appear arbitrary and merely imposed on the location. The design proposal is basically suitable for repetition along the street. In this way, the meaning of the task set is taken up and realised. The work shows its strength in its visual presentation. While a weak analysis actually only serves to find the jump into the design, the visionary images have the power to open the mind to something new.

Scene Radebeul. A boulevard in five acts

Under a picturesque, metaphorical title, the authors divide the extensive competition area into five "acts" like a play, which are presented correctly and graphically sophisticated in the analysis section: "Eat, work, love - Productive in the urban" begins in the very east of Radebeul, in the neighbourhood of the traditional pharmaceutical site. In the next section, which extends to the Lößnitzbach stream, the "Neue Kulturmayle" will be characterised by Villa Kolbe, Hauptstraße and a new Karl May Square at the planned museum. "The green oasis" extends via the state theatres to the Kötzschenbroda centre, which is interpreted as an "urban centre for all" under the title "Outside the door". This is followed by the final section with Wackerbarth Castle, Zitzschewig and Naundorf, entitled "Endstation Sehnsucht - Auszeit mit Panorama". Analytical maps complement the findings. The work takes an in-depth look at the first of the five "acts" and provides a comprehensive urban planning design for the commercial and industrial area on the border with Dresden. This is primarily a local densification plan that reinforces the existing structure, utilises gaps between buildings and enriches the urban space with a variety of recreational qualities and green spaces. At the same time, it creates creative links to the green space on the other side of Meißner Strasse. The existing traditional use by pharmaceutical companies is not explicitly questioned, but the special feature that this is a pharmaceutical-industrial site is not addressed. The urban development additions therefore remain purely formal.

Meißner Strasse - string of pearls

The analysis divides the course of Meißner Straße into four sections, from the rural but also industrially influenced west via the villas and centre functions of Kötzschenbroda and the centre east to the industrially influenced city exit to Dresden. Historical maps show the starting points of this development. The underlying idea is to close the street space from 18:00 in order to make it possible to experience the "string of pearls" of Meißner Strasse at different locations. This raises questions not only in principle, but also from the fact that this is to take place at a time when the volume of traffic is decreasing but still high, as shown in an information graphic. This traffic will be diverted through the residential neighbourhoods around the Landesbühnen, freeing up Meißner Strasse for cultural events. Grid-shaped tree plantings in front of the Landesbühnen and vine constructions in Zitzschewig penetrate or span the street space, thus masking the barrier effect and creating green spaces that are available in the evenings for people to linger and socialise.

Metamorphosis Radebeul

The subtitle - Water Spectacle Sea of Lights Seasonal Flair - describes the programme that the work is developing for three selected locations on Meißner Strasse. In the east of the city, the star-shaped intersection with August-Bebel-Straße will be transformed into a car-free square that opens up space for the uses in the ground floor zones of the neighbouring buildings. A water fountain will be placed in the centre of the square. The intersection with the main road will be spanned by a network of lanterns and the uniform paving will be provided with light markings to indicate new routes. At the Johannisbergstraße tram stop, a four-season park will be created with a wide selection of large greenery. All three measures interpret the space of Meißner Straße, and the carriageway itself, as an urban space that is to be designed for people to spend time in and visually enhanced. However, the consequences of the closure of Sternplatz to motorised traffic are not addressed.

MOVE AND CONNECT - MODULAR RADEBEUL

The consideration of different structural features of the city of Radebeul leads to the selection of three "connection points" on Meißner Straße, which are located at the intersection with Zinzendorfstraße / August-Bebel-Straße, on Hauptstraße and at the Landesbühnen theatre. Using combinable, cube-shaped "concept modules", a structure will be created at each of the three locations, bridging Meißner Strasse and piling up at individual points to form multi-storey high points. On Zinzendorfstrasse, the historic Villa Kolbe will be demolished and a large part of its park will be built over with a two- to three-storey structure that will incorporate urban gardening, among other things, and lead across to the small square on the other side of Meißner Strasse in the form of a bridge. The aim is to connect a residential area with a neighbourhood space. On Hauptstrasse, the aim is to connect the centre and the city centre by bridging Meißner Strasse several times. The state theatres will also be connected by a bridge to the undeveloped site opposite, which will be provided with additional structures to accommodate concerts and creative industries.

Meißner Straße - the backbone of Radebeul

The work shows the urban area coherently, but only partially succeeds in working out the complexity of the multi-layered place. (...) The design of the sub-areas, which are proposed at comprehensibly neuralgic points, is rated positively. Here, the work succeeds in using predominantly open space planning methods to achieve a certain signalling effect on individual traffic on the one hand and to generate liveable recreational areas on the other by making some significant structural changes to the street space. At the same time, the traffic accessibility remains proven and is improved for pedestrians. The powerful interventions of the sub-areas, which are well anchored in the respective locations, develop consistently designed places that can provide strong impulses for the city. However, the dimensioning of the green network in the open settlement structure of Zitzschewig is controversial. On the one hand, the work succeeds in generating original places and a pleasant rhythmisation of the streets (...). What is missing is a holistic conceptual approach. (...) (from: minutes of the jury meeting, written assessment of the shortlisted works)

REUNION RADEBEUL

The work is based on the assumption that Radebeul is geographically and socially divided into two parts. As these meet at Meißner Straße, it is the ideal place for a functional and aesthetic connection. To this end, historically significant locations are singled out that are particularly important for the identity of the town and together form a spatial sequence of measures: Altzitzschewig, Schloss Wackerbarth, Gradsteg, Landesbühnen, Weißes Ross, Lutherkirche and Villa Kolbe. The state theatres, White Horse and Villa Kolbe will be dealt with in greater depth. A honeycomb-like, modular timber construction is used in all three sub-areas, which can be designed at ground level or elevated and then used as a pergola, walkable surface or as a bridge over Meißner Strasse. While sports and leisure facilities, including gardening, will be created in this way at the Moritz-Garte-Steg opposite the Landesbühnen, the Villa Kolbe park will focus on theatre, workshops and a café. At the Weißer Ross, opportunities for relaxation and views will be created. The approach is based on the correct observation that the two sides of Meißner Strasse are separated, although this is more likely to be due to traffic than to a social division of the city. Building across the busy road in several places could be seen as a way of overcoming this division. However, these can only be used by pedestrians and cannot really eliminate the really painful separation between Augustusweg and Roseggerstraße at Weißer Ross, for example for cyclists. The attempt to upgrade the areas opposite each other on both sides of Meißner Strasse for leisure and cultural uses is commendable, and this alone is enough to connect them.

The Meißner Straße ____ connects.

"In a first step, the article analyses the diverse qualities and characteristics of Radebeul's urban space. In doing so, it looks at the coexistence of everyday life and tourism, the public transport connections and the spatial interdependence between the wine terraces and the Elbe area. Strategies for future urban development are developed by analysing pairs of different characteristics and linking them together. These differentiate between intervention principles (creative, social) and intervention spaces (the physical space). (...) The localisation of the various intervention principles along the entire length of Meißner Strasse takes up a great deal of space. (...) The Kötzschenbroda node was identified as an area of specialisation (...) including the revitalisation of the station building, the addition of individual new buildings for communal facilities and housing, the creation of space for urban production and the creation of cultural and event spaces. The street space will be reorganised in favour of the quality of stay and environmental connectivity. (The atmospheric elaboration of the specialisation area could be stronger in direct comparison to other works. Considerations of ecology and the quality of traffic development are made, but remain rather superficial. The depth of the analytical approach is exemplary, the floor plans presented are plausible in the context of an ideas competition. (...) The quality of the work does not lie in the grand gesture, but in a multitude of individual measures, which together result in a coherent and high-quality urban and architectural concept." (from: minutes of the jury meeting, written assessment of the shortlisted works)

RADEBUNT

The work picks out three locations on Meißner Straße and develops them into "centres": at the Johannisbergstraße stop between Altzitzschewig and Schloss Wackerbarth a "Green Centre", around the Luther Church and the Karl May Museum a "Cultural Centre" and around the intersection with the Hauptstraße shopping street an "Urban Centre". What they have in common is the character of interventions, with façade colouring, floor coverings and canopies that incorporate Meißner Strasse, transforming each location into a characteristically bright world of colour. On Johannisbergstraße there are umbrellas reminiscent of sunflowers, on the church a circular ramp and on Hauptstraße a network of lantern strings. The graphics suggest that this is intended to attract social life and entice people to stay. Without going into detail about the locations or deriving the process, the work is limited to creating differences that would generate a recognition value.

"Together Radebeul"

A detailed analysis examines the urban space of Meißner Straße according to various criteria: Identity and supply, visual impressions, traffic and noise, opportunities and shortcomings. This is accompanied by quotes from residents. The analysis sees great diversity along Meißner Strasse and recognises both challenges and design potential. Several project areas are identified under the guiding principle of creating identity-forming places of togetherness: City Entrance West, Wine Centre (with Wackerbarth Castle), Altkötzschenbroda, Pharmapark Business Park, Karl May Centre, Alt-Radebeul Market (on Hauptstraße) and Radebeul East Town Square (on Zinzendorfer Straße). The area to the east and south of the state theatres is being developed in greater depth. A new city park is being created on the Lößnitzbach, whereby the green space on the other side of the Lößnitz railway will be built on with cube houses, which will narrow the existing green space. The green space on the Moritz-Garte-Steg opposite the Landesbühnen will be loosely developed with a meeting centre and a youth centre. In the wooded area between Forststraße and the motorway, a loose development with individual houses on polygonal ground plans is proposed under the title "Waldquartier". Between Meißner Strasse and the railway embankment, on the site formerly known as Pharmapark near the Weintraube S-Bahn station, mainly leisure uses are being established on undeveloped plots under the title "Grüner Bogen" (Green Arch), in continuation of the existing sports and leisure facilities.

Radebeul all along the line

The analysis locates the town of Radebeul between two defining landscape areas: the "Elbe landscape" and the "wine landscape". Meißner Straße is perceived as a divider. According to the established mission statement, it should be reinterpreted as a space in which the identities of the two landscapes meet and become visible. Accordingly, there are two types of interventions that are developed from the characteristics of the two landscapes, both in terms of construction and landscape. The Elbe landscape is characterised by organic forms and water, while the wine landscape is characterised by linear forms and relief. The appealing diagrams and graphics are supplemented by a "reflexive photographic analysis", a kind of linear photomontage and collage of Meißner Strasse. In the concept plan, interventions relating to the Elbe and viticulture are located along the entire course of the street. In reality, the "cycle paths" along the road are currently only protective lanes. The masterplan and detailed urban development plan then take a closer look at the area surrounding the state theatres. The stages will have a "theatre forecourt" with water features on the opposite side of the street, while a "terrace design" towards the Lößnitzbach stream is reminiscent of the nearby vineyards. From Meißner Straße, the theatre forecourt is followed by a green space with an open-air stage, community gardens and a water playground.

Changing senses on Meißner Strasse

The extensive, detailed and graphically appealing analyses approach Meißner Strasse by means of variations on the title of the work: the street should not just be a thoroughfare and no longer divisive, but should be further developed in a "sensual", "meaningful" and "sensible" way. This is about more than just aesthetic embellishment. The function of the urban spaces through which the state road runs should be further developed, especially with regard to the "social fabric of Radebeul": people should come together here. The "meaningful" level of the community is closely linked to places of identity, some of which exist and some of which need to be improved. Under the heading "Spatial functions and rhythm", Meißner Strasse is broken down into ten action spaces, among which the two "theme magnets" of viticulture and state theatres as well as the two urban centres of Kötzschenbroda and Hauptstrasse stand out. As in the subsequent fields of action and spaces, there is sometimes confusion as to what is still observation and what is already a concept. An in-depth concept is being developed for the area around the historic Weißes Roß inn, which is being restored to its original function, including a beer garden. An amphitheatre with an open-air cinema will be created on the green space between Paradiesstrasse and the narrow-gauge railway. The adjoining green space, landscaped with vines, stretches as far as the state theatres, with a town square in front of it, which will be laid out correspondingly on both sides of Meißner Strasse. A water playground is planned opposite the Weißer Ross and a town square, which in the visualisation merges seamlessly into its counterpart in front of the Weißer Ross. Motorised traffic disappears almost completely; the plan shows an almost complete merging of the roadways with the square. Opposite the green space, to the south of Meißner Strasse, a cultural centre, a student residence and a youth club will be located, forming a "new centre". Along the Moritz-Gart-Steg, the existing green space will only be used extensively and primarily dedicated to fruit growing and horticulture.

URBAN FARMING along Meißner Strasse

The analysis notes two things about Meißner Straße: many "unused", publicly inaccessible and "vacant" areas along the street, as well as extensive agricultural land in the wider urban area. In the west of the city, these are also located directly on Meißner Strasse (although quite a few of these areas are actually private gardens, as well as car parks). Modular pergolas along Meißner Strasse are intended to bring together the two potentials, agriculture and areas along Meißner Strasse. First and foremost, products from local agriculture and urban farming are to be sold here ("sales mode"). However, people can also relax or play on benches in these buildings. The concept is explored in greater depth at four focal points using floor plans and axonometry: West of Wackerbarth, an "agricultural cultivation experience area"; a "leisure activity area" opposite the Kötzschenbroda railway station building, between the tracks and Meißner Straße; here, the modules used are combined to form a crossing of the road; a "leisure space" between the Landesbühnen and the narrow-gauge railway, which extends to the other side of the road by means of a crossing and incorporates all the functions mentioned in the modules used; and finally an "agricultural cultivation and mixed sales area" on the park grounds of Villa Kolbe on Zinzendorfstraße. Visualisations illustrate selected situations.

Lößnitzer Chaussee - green ribbon of identity

The graphically elaborate and appealing analysis lists a dozen problem-solution pairs under the headings of Culture & Identity, Action & Movement and Recreation & Stay. Essentially, it lists shortcomings that need to be remedied. For example, Meißner Strasse lacks a positive characterisation through the city's identity-defining elements, i.e. the well-known tourist landmarks, but also the waters and green spaces that shape the townscape. In addition, the street has neither an attractive design nor use and has too little greenery overall. Public transport leaves a lot to be desired, as do the opportunities for sporting and playful activities. The Meißner Straße is therefore renamed "Lößnitzer Chaussee" as part of the programme, thus naming the most prominent approach, alongside the two other approaches, the "Chausseeterrassen", which line the street in several places, and the start and end points of hiking routes. An end-to-end cross-sectional analysis of the entire Meißner Straße forms the basis for a remodelling that evokes the historical origins of the street with a tree-lined boulevard. Ten cross-section designs were developed to take account of the available space, with motor vehicles and trams sharing the same carriageway in most cases and the cycle path being designed as a two-way cycle lane on one side. Both solutions have the known disadvantages. The area on both sides of Meißner Straße near the Landesbühnen theatre was chosen as the area of specialisation. The three categories mentioned at the beginning are all thematically represented here and are essentially developed in the open spaces and car parks. In terms of building construction, the focus is on a symmetrically arranged ensemble of three new buildings that accommodate retail, catering and a library.

The bridge at the crossroads

The long street without distinctive features, the lack of public spaces and the missing connection to the sights are seen as problems. The green surroundings directly on Meißner Strasse are seen as a positive aspect. In terms of the programme, it is concluded that the local identity should be strengthened, unused open spaces should be used and the green surroundings should be impaired as little as possible. Meißner Strasse should be experienced like a melody that is played. Three areas will be focussed on for this purpose. The section of motorway at the city exit to Dresden is to become an "urban bridge", with the space under the bridge and the wasteland in front of it earmarked for young sporting uses. Between the Landesbühnen theatre and the Lößnitz stadium, various areas will be connected by a long, curved bridge, where green spaces as well as playgrounds and sports fields will be created in the open spaces. To the east of Cossebauder Strasse in the west of Radebeul, two planted green bridges span the railway tracks and Meißner Strasse, thereby connecting existing green spaces.

The wasteland between Meißner Straße and the railway embankment, opposite the villa at number 178, is largely owned by the city. In the preliminary draft for the 1st FNP update of 2022, a sports field can be seen in the southern half by the railway and a commercial area in the northern half on Meißner Straße. However, it is possible to dispense with both of these pieces of information in an ideas competition. The aim of the competition is to develop an idea for the whole of Meißner Strasse and then to show it in depth, even in several places. The overall idea then overrides the restrictions that could be identified at the respective location.

Such questions are justified, however, because it is up to each individual to decide to what extent they accept specifications as part of their idea or, on the contrary, ignore them. Finding your own balance in this respect is part of the quality of a work. A competition idea does not have to be based on the assumption that the city will then realise it. Ideas can also be taken up by private individuals, for example, or become established on the market in other ways, or find their way into urban land-use planning or informal planning. We cannot provide an overall view of the properties in municipal ownership. However, this would not be important information for the reasons mentioned. If a strong idea emerges that contradicts a definition in the urban land use plan, then it still remains a strong idea.

The division into areas is a method of analysis that can be carried out in various ways. The "inner picture" of the city on p. 12 of the competition brief should be carefully noted, as it reflects the basic structure of the city. See also p. 22 "What to consider". In an ideas competition, however, it would ultimately be possible to take note of all this and then propose something that works independently of such a structure. You have to imagine that there would be a high hurdle to overcome, and you have to ask yourself whether the idea can achieve this. If so, then fine.

Demand is so high, especially for housing, that the city could plan and build on all open spaces in a short space of time. This would predominantly be in line with a tendency towards urban flight from Dresden, which does not make sense from a regional planning perspective. The open spaces should also be preserved for other reasons, e.g. there are horticultural businesses there that should be retained as part of the economy. Climatic considerations also play a role. However, this does not mean that undeveloped land and brownfield sites in the local context should generally not be built on. Commercial rather than residential development is currently the bigger issue. It is also interesting to look at the expanding chip industry in Dresden.

Radebeul is not only a place to live, but also a place to work. There are around 14,000 households and around 13,000 jobs in Radebeul. There is a balanced ratio to the commuter magnet Dresden, whereby the commuter balance used to be on the Radebeul side, today it is on the Dresden side: https://www.dresden.de/media/pdf/statistik/Statistik_4210_Pendler_Umland.pdf

In the area between the Elbe and the vineyards, the Meißner Straße is a main road with no alternative, especially for heavy goods traffic. There will always have to be a large proportion of traffic on this road. However, the forecast is that traffic will at least not increase in some sections.

Meißner Strasse is being renovated in stages. Due to its population of > 30 thousand, the city of Radebeul itself is responsible for the construction work and must carry out this project in stages. The section between Gleisschleife (Schillerstraße) and Eduard-Bilz-Straße is next in line.

At 46 years old, rising. Nevertheless, places for young people are definitely an issue in Radebeul.

Ideas can also be about considering a long time horizon of perhaps 30 years and gradual development. This could always take the next step when the opportunity presents itself, when demolition, sale, construction or redevelopment is taking place in the critical locations.