Cemetery "Im Sande Redesign of the old cemetery "Im Sande

The old cemetery "Im Sande" was to be opened up as a public open space and redesigned as a park of tranquillity as part of the urban development support programme "Socially Integrative City", taking particular account of its previous use and historical significance.
In addition to redesigning the entrance situation to create a public square area and renovating the historical gravesites, a path system had to be integrated. Graves still occupied with rights of use were integrated into the new concept.

The Park of Silence is located in the settlement centre of Letter, a district of the city of Seelze on the historic village street "Im Sande". About 120 years ago, a cemetery was established here, in the immediate vicinity of the old farming settlement of Letter, which has been taken out of use in recent years. The area is to be opened and redesigned as a green space close to the settlement for citizens.
In principle, the historical elements such as significant burial places and their arrangement, the war memorial and particularly attractive gravestones are included in the planning. The tree and shrub stock and vegetation structure will be retained and refreshed by horticultural care and maintenance measures and replanting. The planning envisages opening up the green space to the street in the sand and creating an attractive vestibule, which on the one hand invites citizens to linger and on the other hand invites them to enter the green space (removal of the cemetery wall, clearing of dense shrub vegetation, redesign of the entrance areas, redesign of an entrance square).
The center of the green space is divided into two subspaces. One subspace has the character of a sparse birch grove. There are some gravestones in the lawn and the graves are levelled. The other part of the area is much darker because of its vegetation of older typical cemetery plants. The graves of the former farmer families, arranged in the same order as the farm buildings, have kept their strict structure and form as far as possible. In addition, the war memorial is located in this area. The areas are connected by a rectangular path system.
The existing trees in the entrance area are framed in organically shaped Corten steel bands. These raised beds were planted with dry and scchattenverträglichen grasses and perennials. Smaller play elements and colorful seating surfaces mounted on the Corten steel bands loosen up the forecourt and create the necessary connecting link between the "Park of Silence" and the movement area of the street "Im Sande".
- Vegetation work (tree and large shrub renovations, lawn seeding, spring geophytes, perennial plantings)
- Steel work (Corten steel edging of raised beds and tree grates)
- Stone work (renovation of gravestones, relocation)
- Path construction work (paving, edging, water-bound path surfaces).