Crossing the Line

Königsbrunn, Germany
Competition Entry 2011

Königsbrunn was the “longest one-street-village in Bavaria”. But as it grew into a ‘real’ town, its lack of a ‘real centre’ became more apparent. A competition was held. Our first question was, ‘how do you define a centre in a 7km stretch of identical highway?’ Many of the original characteristics of the one-street village were lost as Königsbrunn grew into a messy agglomeration of detached houses. The linear origin is both Königsbrunn’s problem, and its strength. The heath landscape was one its features that could still be traced; surrounding the town on both sides, it penetrates deep into the urban fabric, stopping just shy of the main road. Our key approach was to stitch this landscape back together, crossing the main road with a band of heathland that engulfs and defines the existing educational and leisure infrastructures. The crossing point then became the obvious location for our new centre. We consolidated the centre’s architectural programme of public amenities and shopping into a single one-story Forum building. A new urban typology emerges by crossing the existing linear settlement with the historic landscape. We have created an ‘Ideal City of Königsbrunn’ on the roof of the forum: a single circulatory spine, linear bands of houses, two public amenities framing the settlement at its edges, the public library and health centre and finally the band of heath crossing the spine.