Scattered throughout the urban fringes of Berlin, an assemblage of garden houses and allotments occupy unwanted gap conditions in the urban field. These are Berlin’s Kleingartens. Emerging from a desire to reconnect the urban youth with nature after rapid industrialisation in the 19th century, Kleingartens have become a staple part of German culture. In the suburban district of Wilmersdorf, Kleingartens were once a dominant aspect of urban living before they were cleared to make way of the A104 Autobahn.
In the hypothetical decommissioning of the A104 Autobahn that has divided Breitenbachplatz for 40 years, “framing fields of berlin” proposes the reintroduction of Kleingartens into once familiar territory. Tapping into the green-fingered disposition of the area, the scheme proposes the introduction of a horticultural institute and associated student accommodation that keys into the nearby “Gartenarbeitschule” [gardening school]. 14 students of the horticultural institute live, work and study within a productive landscape where horticultural creativity is allowed space to flourish. The proposal suggests a reimagining of “garden colonies”- not just as territories of recreation but as places for living-allowing the landscape to frame inhabitance.
The scheme is centred around the concept of “Nachverdichtung”, a method of densifying urban centres by building within gaps in the urban fabric. One half of the motorway is disassembled, and the resulting monolithic concrete slabs are transposed to embed themselves in the spaces left behind. In-between these stones in the landscape, programmes of inhabitance propagate, resulting in a garden colony born from the rubble of the Autobahn.
