Potsdam’s city centre: thinking ahead Students at TU Braunschweig design a new district on the Havel river
Architecture students at Technische Universität Braunschweig have developed visions and urban development strategies for a vibrant new district as part of Potsdam’s city centre. They took into account the housing, energy and climate crises. Because rising rents in big cities, higher energy and living costs, prolonged heatwaves and flooding are having a real impact on cities and their inhabitants. The students’ designs will be on display in an exhibition at the Soziokreatives (R)Zentrum in Potsdam from 24 February 2025.
The area covered by the plan marks the eastern boundary of Potsdam’s city centre. Located between the Humboldt Bridge, the Havel river and the old city canal, it has great potential for transformation. Image credits: GeoBasis-DE/LGB, Maxar, Microsoft
Last winter semester, students led by Professor Vanessa Miriam Carlow of the ISU Institute for Sustainable Urbanism at TU Braunschweig worked on an area between the old city canal, the Havel river and the Humboldt Bridge in Potsdam. “This is an urban treasure that has not yet been fully realised,” says Professor Carlow. The area forms the eastern boundary of Potsdam’s city centre. Formerly used as a storage yard and tram depot, it is now home to Potsdam’s main fire station and a variety of other uses. “The partly inefficient use of space and the location on the Havel river offer great potential for the transformation of the neighbourhood,” says Carlow.
In their work, the students developed perspectives for the sustainable development and functional consolidation of the district. In particular, they explored how contemporary forms of living and working could be created in this location. But they also looked at issues such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, a socially balanced mix, and sustainable mobility, which, together with local amenities and new open spaces, should provide a high quality of life. Another aim of the work was to show how the new district could be linked with the surrounding neighbourhoods. The students were supported by the ISU team and, for the planning of the open spaces, by the Institute of Landscape Architecture at TU Braunschweig, led by Professor Gabriele G. Kiefer.
The design ‘Neighbourhoods on the Havel’ (Mattis Carstens, Peer Otto Friedrich, Clemes Fruth, Anni Lee Sames) proposes a variety of small-scale buildings along three green axes through the neighbourhood. Image credits: ISU/TU Braunschweig
Meeting places, green axes and neighbourhoods
A total of 19 designs were submitted, eight of which stood out for their high quality and inventiveness. These include:
The design ‘Neighbourhoods on the Havel’ (Mattis Carstens, Peer Otto Friedrich, Clemens Fruth, Anni Lee Sames), for example, proposes to extend existing green spaces along three green axes through the neighbourhood to the Havel. The work ‘Am Havelbogen: A Neighbourhood for All’ (Klaudia Duraj, Zehra Özgen, Leonie Steinert) creates spaces for people to meet and collectively appropriate the area with innovative forms of housing and facilities for creative, cultural and community use. The design ‘Naturally Together’ (Anastasia Claus, Pia Popken, Yazan Saad, Claire Wagner) aims to preserve all existing trees in the area and make them part of everyday life.
Exhibition at the Soziokreatives (R)Zentrum Potsdam
From 24 February to 11 March 2025, all 19 designs, with a focus on the eight above, will be exhibited at the Soziokreatives (R)Zentrum in Potsdam, Dortustraße 46. The exhibition will be open during the opening hours of the (R)Zentrum. Entrance is free.
The opening will take place on 24 February at 6 p.m. in the presence of the students and the team of the ISU Institute for Sustainable Urbanism.