North by Northwest

 It's not easy to recognize the area between Hanauer Straße and Emmy-Noether-Straße as a specific urban quarter. Made up of a wild mix of shanties, used-car lots, tire shops, allotment gardens, rural houses from the 19th century, small-scale businesses, workshops and the garbage collection’s machinery yard, it could rarely be any less prominent and homogenous while a brand-new Lidl outlet is welcoming anyone arriving from the city center.

This strip of land is the centerpiece of a triangular area seemingly coincidentally formed by the old road to Dachau, now the busy Dachauer Straße, Landshuter Allee as part of Mittlerer Ring, running along the former rail line to Landshut and Georg-Brauchle-Ring. Occupying the gap between the Gern and Neuhausen city extensions dating from the 19th century and the suburb of Moosach it is separated from lively Schwabing by the Olympic park. This position makes an increase in importance probable, as Munich’s residential quarters are stretching their limits, though it calls for an increase in urbanity and mixture of program and use, as well. The surroundings are patchy, too. Moosach’s housing projects widely dating from the 1960ies to 70ies lie to the west and north-west, municipal headquarters and an office park to the east, extensive areas of supply and storage to the north-east and Munich’s highest high-rise housing corporate headquarters is embedded in a vast commercial area stretching northward. Even less than the design perimeter itself, the vicinity hardly provides any clear identity, structure or theme. Nevertheless, the proximity of the villa colonies of Gern, the venerable Borstei housing development and Westfriedhof cemetery reminds us that it is not mere outskirts we are looking at.

But probably that double-nature is even contributing to the identificatory potential of the area: A highly heterogenous quasi-peripheral area right around the corner of the city’s most sought-after areas.
Anyway, there is a lot to build upon. The area is situated in between of two subway stops and large companies draw employees from all around town. The connections to motorways and the city center by car are excellent. The area is close to high-quality recreational facilities and parks such as the Olympic park and sports grounds, Dantebad swimming stadium and Nymphenburger Park. The nearby Westfriedhof area may help to put the new quarter on the map.

In search of a programmatical and structural concept for the site and a new urban image, the notion of a strong identity in this rather disperse context may lead the way, something that is able to live up to the extraordinary quality of Borstei or the Olympic park in a very urban sense. Coming up with a leitmotif may help to establish a quarter which recognizably forms a new center for a dense, urban and diverse area and provide the „missing link“ between Moosach and the central quarters.

Design studio in English language.

Studio schedule:

W01 / TU 07.10. / 10.00 / kick off / course room 2239 / 

W01 / FR 10.10. / 13.00-15.00 / visit to the site
Dachauer Straße / Emmy-Noether-Straße / phase 1 - VISION!

W02 / TU 14.10. / 14.00-18.00 / studio review - VISION!

W03 / TU 21.10. / 14.00-18.00 / desk crit

W04 / TU 22.10. / 11.00 / PIN UP 1
phases 1 + 2: VISION, INVENTORY + EVALUATION 

W05 / TU 04.11. / 14.00-18.00 / desk crit

W06 / TU 11.11. / 14.00-18.00 / desk crit

W07 / TU 18.11. / 9.00 / PIN UP 2
phases 3 + 4: CONCEPT + STRUCTURAL MODELS 

W08 / TU 25.11. / 14.00-18.00 / desk crit

W09 / TU 02.12. / 14.00-18.00 / desk crit 

W10 / TU 09.12. / 9.00 / PIN UP 3
phase 5: TEST IT

W11 / TU 16.12. / 14.00-18.00 / desk crit

W12 / 24.12. - 06.1. / christmas break

W14 / WE 07.01. / 14.00-18.00 / desk crit

W15 / TU 13.01. / 9.00 / PIN UP 4
DESIGN REVIEW

W16 / FR 23.01. / 10.00-12.00 / hand in

W17 / WE 28.01. / 9.00 / final presentation during OPEN WEEK