Willy-Brandt-Platz, Krefeld

The new construction of the mobility hub and the redesign of Willy-Brandt-Platz are being taken as an opportunity to develop a lively and urban urban space south of the main railway station of Krefeld: A lively place in the heart of the city characterised by diverse movement, spatially clearly defined and equally consistently greened through.
Despite and especially because of its central location in the centre of Krefeld, the competition area is experienced as an 'open wound, a wasteland' in the urban space: Traffic-heavy and disorderly open spaces, vis-à-vis the incomplete block edge, blind backsides and small-scale residential development. What began with the development south of the station will be continued and completed with clear and comprehensive urban development interventions.
A 'clearly legible' urban space is proposed: bounded in the north by the raised Krefelder Promenade and the southern end of the block edge. The placement of the mobility hub as the western end of Willy-Brandt-Platz and as a functional counterpart to the newly accentuated Bahnhofsentrée creates a lively square space. An elongated flying roof functions as a connecting element and symbol in the centre of the new Willy-Brandt-Platz as an urban, inviting urban space that leads to Kölnerstrasse and Ritterstrasse. Intuitive orientation, everyday uses and diverse mobility play together here: the redesigned square is played with by active open-space ground-floor uses and slender rows of trees at its edges.