Concept
The basic design concept was created by overlaying the images associated with the square, its use and its location. People flow through the built-up urban landscape, each like a water droplet in a river. The skaters have made this flow of people into a game. Quiet, long drawn-out stretches with large radiuses alternate with jumping at obstacles, like the flowing and spraying of water in a river. The location of the square on the Rhine places this image in an appropriate scenic context.

The implementation of this concept in reality is achieved by overlaying the area with a virtual grid which has uniform building areas at the cross-over points. The grid and building areas represent urban elements and are taken from the urban environment. However, to turn this stark grouping on a grid into a spontaneous arrangement that is optimal for this sport, the area had to be reorganised using a particular algorithm. This turned the building areas into structures of different sizes; they rise out of the landscape or sink into it to intersperse the space with green elements, meadows and trees. The basic structures are skate objects made from concrete and stand like stones covered by water in a river of flagstones. The ground combines with the skate objects using a template.
Continue reading The long road to a new square | Cologne Germany | metrobox architekten