Parkbogen Ost, Leipzig

“The lights of the commuter train were long gone, for a while I had still been able to watch them between the gardens and the houses, the embankment carving up the quarter all the way out of the city.” (Clemens Meyer) 

The former railway track between Leipzig’s urban railway stations Anger-Crottendorf and Sellerhausen lies similarly hidden and elevated above the city. The task is to preserve the quality and the atmosphere of the location and to convert it to a future-safe park space at the same time, qualifying it as an efficient “green infrastructure” element. Arrangement, structure and details of the former railway track will form the inter-scale basis for the future Parkbogen Ost. Pedestrian and cycle paths will receive a differentiated materiality of site concrete and asphalt. Entrances and former platforms are designed with uniform materials as squares with loose tree placements slowing down the multitude of movements. Accessible ramps and short slope stairs will continue the paths in the quarters and integrate the Parkbogen into the urban space. The Parkbogen crosses various spaces of varying atmospheric character. Their inclusion gives rise to an extensive, connecting park for Leipzig’s east.