Green arch Paunsdorf

Architecture Prize of the City of Leipzig 2007, nomination for IULA Award 2007

Grüner Bogen Paunsdorf - 1. BA Terrasse Bürgerpark und ehemaliges Manövergelände

The amorphous landscape around the Heiterblick settlement, consisting of abandoned land formerly used for military purposes, fallow farmland and the Paunsdorfer Wäldchen, requires an orderly structure. The idea of the "Green Arch" was further developed into a promenade ring that encircles the entire settlement and becomes a defining urban and landscape element on Leipzig's periphery.
The terrace Bürgerpark and the former maneuver area are as the first realized construction phase of the Green Arc not only part of the largest Leipzig open space project, but also part of a unique project: The contrasting requirements of recreational provision and nature conservation are combined here exemplary with landscape architectural means and innovative conservation planning of the office poserplan, Bad Gandersheim, under the theme "nature conservation through use" to a model solution.

Grazing of the 37 hectare conversion area with water buffaloes and Przewalski's horses, which remain outdoors on the area all year round, allow the individual biotope types to constantly re-emerge as a result of random spatio-temporal dynamics. Under the windows of the large housing estate, staged by the Bürgerpark terrace and a circular path, the ensemble develops an attraction beyond Paunsdorf.

In the following two years, the second major construction phase creates a park for local residents, the centerpiece of which is a lake that also serves quite practical purposes as a near-natural rainwater retention basin and fishing water.