Überlingen lakeside park

In the current social discourse, climate change, biodiversity and the development of ecosystems are defining issues. The concept for the design of the Uferpark in Überlingen takes up this focus and develops a cultural landscape perspective from it. The basis for this is the special spatial situation of the park, which is bordered on its south side by Lake Constance and in the north by the impressive forms of molasse rocks. The resulting narrow layout of the park means that the use of open space and ecological concerns are not seen as opposites, but that the concept relies on the synergies that can be developed through the creative mediation of both aspects. The lakeshore park was realized within the framework of the Überlingen State Garden Show 2021.

SPACE FOR ECOLOGY
The park's remodeled topography translates the structural richness of the molasse rocks into a landscape architectural formal language and thus formulates an initial for a site-specific ecological further development. Instead of the former bank wall, a structurally rich shore topography was created, in which steep and shallower areas alternate. The alternating water zone created in this way promotes the dynamics of the exchange between water and land. The steep banks were planted with various willow species and the terraced shallow banks with accentuating regional black poplars.

SPACE FOR ACTIVATION AND LANDSCAPE DISCOVERY
In terms of urban planning, the riverside park is being developed as an emphatically "green" counterpole to the adjacent open spaces of Überlingen's old town to the southwest. The varied scenography of the park offers space for contemplative and playful appropriation. Thus, the added structural richness of the shallow and steep banks is not only an ecological value, but can also be explored.
The planting concept also aims at the rediscovery of the familiar. To this end, species from the cultivated landscape are combined with representatives of a "classic" park aesthetic, giving the park a special appearance. For example, various shrub plantings in the park take up the motif of the characteristic heat-loving shrubs of the steep banks of Lake Constance and combine their species with various ornamental shrubs. A beach lawn with formerly widespread species of Lake Constance vegetation offers a special field of discovery.

CUT AND FILL
This landscape conversion process could be realized with a largely even balance of uplift and removal. For example, the earth removal gained by remodeling the shoreline was used to model terrain movements in the park. The concrete bank wall was shredded and installed as a base course in the newly created paths, and the ashlars from the former bank reinforcement were reused as stair elements.

DISCOVERY OF THE PRESENT
The ecological diversity gained will determine the park experience and will be influenced in perspective by the types of use and intensity of use itself. Those who spend time on park shores become relevant and responsible parts of the ecosystem themselves. This use can thus contribute to the preservation of the beach grass communities by pushing back the growth of other species and thus promoting the establishment of rare species.
In this way, multi-layered dynamics are initiated that allow the landscape situation of the shore of Lake Constance to be experienced in a constantly new way. In this way, the concept gives the uncontrollable a concrete status as a design tool for the park experience.