Spandauer Havelpromenade

previous state

Originally located at a ford in the river Spree, Berlin grew on the banks of the Spree and Havel rivers and a number of natural and artificial canals. For some time water was one of the props of urban development in the city, but in the industrial era part of their natural relation was lost. Large sectors of river bank were occupied by industrial installations, port facilities and giant warehouses. After the traumatic division of the city, when many boundaries coincided with the water margins, the rivers became practically inaccessible to the people of Berlin. Since reunification and as part of the major transformations of the city, the determination to redesign and recover spaces by the rivers and canals can be seen in a whole range of projects.

aim of the intervention

In Rumelsburg bay and on the banks of Spandau lake, the aim of the urban planning for the Wasserstadt is to restore the lost access to lakes and rivers, fully assuming their public nature. New urban developments are transforming industrial areas into residential and recreational zones in an outstanding landscape environment. In Wasserstadt the projects carried out to plan the free spaces have taken the shape of new parks and riverside walks which aim to revive the Berlin of bridges and river banks, but in particular, as a premise, those new spaces bring the river Havel not only to the new residential areas, but also to the existing districts of Spandau.

The strategy is to structure the whole area through open space and new routes to bring new life to the river banks through that first major impetus. The river Havel avenue on the east bank of Spandau lake has been constructed before the building work to guarantee that essential structural role for the public space.

description

The new riverside avenue leads from the new Wasserstadt bridge to the north and the Spandau lake bridge to the south along a stretch of 500 metres. Split on two levels, it provides different perceptions of the proximity of the water. The upper terrace, in the style of a balcony, recreates riverside scenes from the middle of the last century in German cities such as Dresden, favouring panoramic views and walks, while the lower level beside the water allows direct contact with the river and a number of related activities such as fishing and sailing. The difference in level —they are 2.85 metres apart— is resolved by a linear wall which runs parallel to the avenue and the river and becomes one of the most characteristic elements of the intervention due to a use of colour inspired by the bollards which are often to be found in ports. That colouring seeks complicity between the former use of the place as a dock for oil tankers and its future nature as an avenue by the river with a maritime air.

Half way along the avenue is the square of the new residential area of Haveleck, which goes down to the water by a broad flight of steps which lead out onto a wooden platform which also serves as a public jetty, a small stage and a terrace over the water. The square is flanked by two rows of geometrically planted lime trees which form the axis of symmetry between the northern and southern sections of the promenade and highlight its role as the centre of the immediate surroundings, the future setting for the market and cultural events of various kinds.

assessment

Removing large pieces of heavy industry, often half dismantled, from relatively crucial places for the development of cities has been a frequent and often successful practice. When that removal involves the recovery of a river bank which can be enjoyed by everyone, the intervention takes on the nature of a legitimate restitution. The new promenade on the river Havel in Spandau, where once the colossal fuel tanks of a petrochemical complex reared up, represents the possibility of new itineraries in an environment that was once inaccessible.

The project, which fits splendidly into the setting, as if it had always been there, not only rehabilitates access and the new routes but also creates a space equipped for activities related to the river banks, the foundations of its success and its attraction for the public.

Mònica Oliveres i Guixer, architect