As one of the “shrinking” cities, Bernburg has to deal with population decrease, demolition of vacant buildings, and loss of its economic power. These problems appeared because the city has difficulties to maintain its competitiveness. As result of that, the city focuses no longer on creating new buildings or enlarging the city size. Instead it intends to strengthen its competitiveness by renewed awareness and revitalization of some of its original values. This “soul” of the city development plan should find itself at every scale, including the redesign of its city park.
From Death to Life
The ‘Alte Bibel’ park, well known as ‘Stadtpark’, has a long history as a cemetery. This should be considered as one of the values of the park. As most of the remnants have “disappeared” over time and remaining ones became targets for graffiti and disregard, this value is not obvious today. Thus the park has lost its original identity as a cemetery while its “new” identity as a city park is not yet well developed. The aim of this design proposal is to engage the original value of the place as a cemetery, and use it as a conceptual idea to bring new ‘life’ to it as a city park. Death, we assume, is the end of life. But we can also say that death is the (new) beginning of it. Death brings to a circle the journey of life or the cycle of growth and decline, and reveals its continuity.
Learning about Life
The idea of the ‘journey of life’ and the ‘cycle of life/nature’ provides an opportunity to design a meaningful learning environment that would stimulate creativity and curiosity. The whole park is designed as ‘journey of life’ where people can encounter places that are designed to symbolize/simulate different stages and experiences in (their) life. As in life, the park offers options how to journey and which opportunities and challenges to choose. Even though the designed journey has a beginning and an end, frequent nodes let the users choose freely where to enter and how to move, enabling them to find/make their own journey. While employing such (life) elements as dead-ends, or (conflict) escape shortcuts the design ensures cyclical continuity and natural flow as a complete system. Sensorial elements bring contrasts and differences in order to stimulate the very basic system of human orientation and learning, our senses to smell, hear, touch, see, taste, and intuit (6th sense).
Life: Journeys through the Park
Three interrelated journey scenarios are proposed for implementation in this park. They each explore a different area of the park but are also connecting and continuing within one big journey.
‘A journey of memories’ moves through the eastern part of the park with strolling paths passing the physical historical memories in the surrounding. These receive new appreciation with a colourful garden along the historical cemetery wall. A central lawn area in this part can be used for performance (art) such as rituals, ceremonies, or temporary/permanent placing of memorial things of the park users’ own lives, allowing park users to participate and feel a sense of ownership.
‘A journey of dreams’ circles in the centre part of the park, the area most visited by the children of Bernburg. Children or childhood are important subjects or objects in our ‘dreams’, and, when dreaming, all our senses are involved. These thoughts are carried into a newly conceptualized and expanded major play area for the young and young at heart, where program, equipment and detailing activate different senses.
‘A journey of changes’ runs along the riverside where each phase in life – childhood, teenage years, adulthood and old age – is symbolized in a linear sequence of places with different program, elements, character and experiences. The most important phase/place of this journey is the existence of a ‘crisis’ characterized by challenge, dynamism and sensuality.
Design Strategies:
Providing a “challenge” and a “secure” environment as sequential experience.
Providing “contrast” to stimulate the senses and recognize difference.
Providing “continuity” to symbolize the circle of life. Cyclic character of nature
- English Title : Alte Bibel - a 21st C. Park for Bernburg - Journey of life
- University : Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, DE
- Project was done for Course Unit : Independent Studio ( Independent Studio )
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- Notes : Instructor: Landscape Architect Anemone Beck Koh anemone@oikosdesign.net
- Academic Year : 2006 / 07
- City : Bernburg
- Project Language : English
- Image Title : Alte Bibel - Journey of life - Student project 1