Bonn station forecourt
As the station forecourt or station area in is Bonn , the area in front of the main station called. This is not a homogeneous space in the narrower sense, but rather contiguous parts of several streets and building areas. A redesign of the area was discussed controversially for a long time. At the beginning of 2017, a fundamental redesign began, in the course of which large parts of the square were built over.
location
The station forecourt has an area of almost 1.5 hectares . It is located on the northern side of the train station and the tracks of the left Rhine route in Bonn-Zentrum between Kaiserplatz in the east and Thomas-Mann-Strasse in the west.
Current development and use
The street Am Hauptbahnhof runs right in front of the entrance to the station and is part of the City-Ring and is a one-way street from east to west. To the north of this street there was a parking lot in the west of the area, followed by the so-called “Bonner Loch”, an access with several stairs to the underground part of the station. At these heights, the station forecourt is bordered to the north by the development known as the Cassius Bastion (completed in 1987/88). To the east of Poststrasse was the south-facing building, which was erected between 1976 and 1978 . The eastern part of the area ultimately consists of Maximilianstrasse, which is also part of the City-Ring, and Bonn's central bus station (ZOB). There are underpasses from Poppelsdorfer Allee in the east (since 1936) and to Herwarthstrasse in the west.
On the street Am Hauptbahnhof there are also rails for the Bonn tram . This means that with Deutsche Bahn , the underground Bonn tram, trams and buses, all public transport stops are on the station forecourt, which is the most important access point for travelers to Bonn city center. As part of the City-Ring and one of the few parking spaces, it is also a bottleneck for car traffic. With the shops in the future Maximilian Center - instead of the southern building that was demolished in 2017 - and the Cassius Bastion, it is already part of the commercial part of the city center.
For a long time, the Bonn hole was considered a problem area, especially a meeting place for the homeless and drug addicts . Since 1992 there has been a joint police and regulatory office of the city of Bonn called "GABI" (joint contact point Bonn city center). Social projects are located in the immediate vicinity. From July 2008 a ban on alcohol consumption was imposed. As a result, the scene has partially shifted to the adjacent bus station and other parts of the city center. Offers of help were also used more frequently.
history
Originally there were houses right up to the station building. The first open spaces were created as a result of destruction in World War II .
Redesign in the 1970s
In the course of the light rail construction, the rest of the historic buildings in front of the train station (including the Kaiserhalle instead of today's ZOB) were demolished and the current layout and development was created according to plans by the architect Friedrich Spengelin . There was criticism of the design of the station area from the beginning of the planning. The most prominent critic at the time was the Bonn art historian Heinrich Lützeler , who wrote in the General-Anzeiger about Bonn's imminent danger of "destroying itself" . The ZOB was provisionally put into operation in December 1972 and fully operational in March 1973.
First renovation plans
There have been several projects over the past few decades to convert the station area. So should the mid-1980s, the "Bonner hole" with the so-called by Oswald Mathias Ungers named Hall Ungers be built.
Controversy in recent years
In 2004 the geographer Heiner Monheim expressed renewed criticism of the lack of connection between the station area and the city center and the traffic routing of the City-Ring in a foreword to a “traffic concept for Bonn city center” by the Bonn environmental associations. As a solution, he proposed to interrupt the city ring in front of the train station and to keep the ring traffic only for public transport.
In the same year, the city planners provided for an investor to build over the entire area in front of the main train station. This development would have stretched from today's central bus station to Thomas-Mann-Straße; no remaining free space or space was planned. Nothing would have changed in the south building, any more than in the traffic management in front of the train station. The ZOB should disappear without replacement. This project failed due to a referendum . It was supported by the Greens and the Bürgerbund and received over 22,000 signatures before the city council abandoned the plans in September 2004.
On April 28, 2005 the council decided to set up a citizens' workshop to redesign the station area. This citizens' workshop for the Bonn train station worked from October 2005 to January 2006 and presented its results in March 2006. Among other things, it called for the maintenance of the central bus station, a general expansion to include upgrading of the open spaces, the renovation of the Bonner Loch, the demolition of the southern development and the erection of new buildings at a greater distance from the station building.
As a result, on November 24, 2005, all parliamentary groups in the Council tabled an urgency motion aimed at implementing smaller, short-term measures and further planning. In January 2006, the traffic light coalition included the revision of the station forecourt in its coalition agreement . From March 17, 2006 to September 2006, a round table of parties, churches, police and social organizations met on the situation of the Bonn hole. In October, the city's main committee approved funds for various immediate measures to improve the situation in front of the main train station.
Redesign competition
In spring 2008, the competition decided by the City Council of Bonn for the redesign of the Bonn train station area was awarded throughout Europe with prize money of 90,000 euros. “The aim is to upgrade the urban development of the approximately 3.2 hectare area between Kaiserplatz and Thomas-Mann-Straße. In addition, the integration of the station area into the urban environment should be improved and the entrance to Bonn city center should be made more attractive. "
The jury announced its decision on March 25, 2009. It put the concept of the architect and city planner Stefan Schmitz from Cologne in first place. The next step is to submit this draft to the City Council. After a council decision, an investor for the 3.2 hectare area is to be found via a Europe-wide tender.
Redesign of the station forecourt
On June 30, 2016, the city council commissioned the city administration to sign a contract with Developer Projektentwicklung GmbH , a company of the Dutch Ten Brinke Group , which is to undertake the redesign of the north-west side of the station. The investor succeeded in concluding purchase agreements with all 38 owners of the southern development. The southern development was demolished in early 2017; In their place, a four-story new building was built by 2019, which houses a shopping arcade in the basement and a department store on the other floors. However, the new building is at a greater distance from the train station than the old building. The Bonner Loch has disappeared and, together with the area northwest of the previous Bonner Loch - collectively referred to as "Nordfeld" - is being built on with three buildings (project name Urban Soul ). A multi-storey car park, a hotel, gastronomy, retail and residential space as well as medical practices are to be built here. To this end, the city sold several properties to the Ten Brinke Group and to the developer . The foundation stone for Urban Soul was laid on April 26, 2018 .
Individual evidence
- ^ City of Bonn: station area ( Memento from December 14, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Karl Gutzmer : Chronicle of the city of Bonn . Chronik-Verlag, Dortmund 1988, ISBN 3-611-00032-9 , p. 275.
- ^ Karl Gutzmer : Chronicle of the city of Bonn . Chronik-Verlag, Dortmund 1988, ISBN 3-611-00032-9 , p. 256.
- ↑ Inauguration of the underpass on Poppelsdorfer Allee and overpass on Reuterstraße , General-Anzeiger , May 2, 1936, p. 6. ( online )
- ^ Scene avoids Bonner Loch , General-Anzeiger Bonn
- ↑ Development and open spaces ( Memento from August 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Bürgerwerkstatt Bonn
- ^ Heinrich Lützeler: "Now Bonn threatens to destroy itself" , in: General-Anzeiger, January 11, 1977
- ↑ Horst Fehre: Bonn on the way to the real capital . In: Address book of the federal capital Bonn , 93rd edition, JF Carthaus, Bonn 1974, pp. XXI – XXVII (here: pp. XXII / XXIV.) ( Online )
- ↑ Chronology ( Memento of April 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ ADFC, Citizens' Initiative for Environmental Protection Bonn, BUND and VCD: All round good (PDF; 1.4 MB)
- ^ Federal city of Bonn: Urgency application, printed matter no. 0513470
- ^ A small success of the citizens ' workshop, rhein: raum, October 25, 2006
- ^ Bonn station area , city of Bonn
- ↑ Competition , City of Bonn
- ↑ City of Bonn: City council gives the green light for Urban Soul and the southern development , press release of the city of Bonn, July 1, 2016
- ↑ The south building will be demolished in January 2017 , General-Anzeiger , June 10, 2016
- ↑ New building gets a different facade , General-Anzeiger, June 29, 2016
- ↑ New “entrance gate” , Kölnische Rundschau / Bonner Rundschau, April 26, 2018
literature
- Heinrich Lützeler : "Now Bonn threatens to destroy itself" . In: General-Anzeiger , January 11, 1977.
- Olga Sonntag : Will Bonn train station lose face on its 100th birthday? An urban and art historical contribution to the current planning discussion about the Bonn train station area . In: Bonner Geschichtsblätter. Yearbook of the Bonner Heimat- und Geschichtsverein 34 , 1982, pp. 173–224.
- Workshop Baukultur Bonn (Ed.): Bahnhofsvorplatz (= architectural guide of the Werkstatt Baukultur Bonn , ISSN 2196-5757 , Volume 7). Edition Critical Edition, Bonn 2017.
Web links
- Information from the city of Bonn
- Citizens' workshop Bonn ( Memento from December 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- Per station forecourt Bonn e. V.
- Bettina Köhl: "Bonn station forecourt: Everything depends on the south superstructure" , General-Anzeiger of April 18, 2009
Coordinates: 50 ° 43 '58.2 " N , 7 ° 5' 49" E