The focus of our work lies in innovative and sustainable landscapes from urban scale to detail. The initiation of program in open space creates the urban. The integration of productive and technical layers into the designed landscapes is how the gestalt is defined. Interdisciplinary work with planners, artists and engineers refines our design and generates custom-fit solutions for urban open spaces. Successful competition entries and first planning commissions enabled Johannes Böttger to found the office jbbug in 2005, since 2012 as urbane gestalt johannes böttger landschaftsarchitekten. In 2016 urbanegestalt PartGmbB brings together the landscape architects with the office of Böttger Architekten and embodies a transdisciplinary group in landscape, architecture and urbanism.
Right now a team of 12 architects and landscape architects works in offices in Cologne and Hamburg. Award winning competition entries and built projects as well as exhibitions and publications make urbanegestalt a nationwide recognized high-profile office at the interface between landscape architecture and urbanism.
Gestaltungspreis der Stiftung Wüstenrot “Baukultur in Deutschland”, Auszeichnungen 2014
urban quality award, silber 2011
Deutscher Städtebaupreis, Auszeichnung 2012,
Deutscher Bauherrenpreis + Sonderpreis bdla, 2012
Kölner Architekturpreis 2014
The competition „Städtebauliche Aufwertung Wohnsiedlung ‘Grünau’“ asked for an upgrading of the existing residential areas from the 1950’s in Düsseldorf Grünau by means of urban renewal, requalification and supplementation.Our competition entry together with Gatermann + Schossig Architects, Cologne, was awarded first prize in September 2016 and is exemplary of our work in the larger urbanistic scale.
The continuum of open spaces of the linear blocks are read as the potential of the place. The many existing trees, only few of them valuable as single plants, together form a distinct character of the housing area with strong residential qualities. These qualities are supported with new plantings, that round up the open spaces. Meandring pathways expand the open spaces. They serve as access to the building and at the same time places for resting, staying and coming together. The pathways make space for play also and new playgrounds for the housing area line up along the pathways. The newly arranged minor roads gather potential for multiple uses as well. Where new buildings are planned related open spaces are developed. Private as well as common gardens and courtyards create high qualitiy residential spaces.
Ingelheim am Rhein consists of several communities; the cemetery of the community of Frei-Weinheim shall be developed as the new central burial ground of the whole city of Ingelheim. As a first stage of construction the central area of the cemetery with a new funeral hall was built, covering about a third of the final area of the newly planned cemetery. Several different burial places were created as well as the interconnecting open spaces and a maintenance depot. Rows of Tilia mark the cemetery in the landscape which is dominated by lower growing fruit trees. By landscapearchitectural means the cemetery formulates an urban edge to rural Frei-Weinheim.
The funeral hall with surroundig walls and courtyards is the new center of the cemetery and defines the access to the area. Walls and groves of different height and density define wide areas of the cemetery. As the burialgrounds lie on a higher level due to the groundwater level close to the river Rhine walls, ramps and staircases connect open spaces on different levels. The wall material (travertin stone) an perennial plantings create atmospheric places. The open spaces in the center of the new cemetery – garden, squares, groves, and courtyards make the cemetery a real public place with many possible uses.
The open spaces of Klagesmarkt and Goseriede in Hannover sum up to a great potential for the inner city: they build a marketplace, boulevard, urban square and park. It was the connection of these single features and their special qualities that needed to be strengthened as well as the spatial arrangements that asked for clarification. As it is mainly the new placement of building blocks that contribute to the reformulation of space, the key of a higher quality of open spaces lies in an intergative view on green open spaces and traffic spaces. The demolition of an existing roundabout gave the opportunity of rearranging Goseriede.
The street-profile and traffic space for cars is reduced, a bicycle-connection installed and generous open spaces for cyclists and pedestrians are developed. A new city square, Gänselieselplatz, with active ground floors and an excellent urban program in the surroundig builings is formed. The relics of an historic chapel become readable and a newly built „Lapidarium“ under the canopy of tall existing trees makes use of the old tombstones to create a very special urban space. The former graveyard of St.Nikolai becomes a park with differentiated surfaces and uses. The Klagesmarkt with its valuable existing trees is preserved, the playground gets a better connection to the park. A major open space axis is created in Hannover that does not only serve as a comfortable connection but offers a rich variety of accessable open spaces in the inner city.
The Ossendorfbad is an attractive modern sportive swimming bath combined with wellness and fitness facilities as well as gastronomic services. There are public and non-public open spaces at the Ossendorfbad. The seperation line between the public and non-public areas follws the facade of the main entrance; south of this line lies the summer entrance of the open air swimming pool. The main part of the public spaces contains the parking spaces. A surface of mastic asphalt highlights the main entrance. The visitor areas consist of the open air swimming pool and surrounding meadows and a sauna garden. They are seperated by a planted pergola which also serves as a noise barrierr and screen to shield off views from the sauna garden. The sauna garden offers generous posiibilities for outdoor relaxation with sun-loungers in gravelbeds and a salina.
In an international planning workshop process from 2009 to 2012 we developed the strategic masterplan for the reuse of Tegel Airport in Berlin after its closure in team with cityförster architecture + urbanism.
The masterplan is the basis for the intended development of the area as a high-profil research and business park with focus on urban technologies. Starting with the exploration of Tegels „Querkräfte“, taking the upcoming emptiness as a generator of freedom and ideas, which allow the spatial reaction to fundamental societal changes, the masterplanning process ended up in robust and flexible planning guidelines, that secure structural, programmatic and aesthetic qualities in an open development process. An integrative energy concept and water management support the sustainable development of the former airport area.
