In 2018, the City of Leipzig started a collaboration with the Bauhaus University of Weimar. Under the leadership of Professor Steffen de Rudder, students of the degree program master architecture and urbanism got the task to design parts of the Promenadenring of the City of Leipzig new. They looked closer to the northern ring area and developed innovative ideas, about how these parts could be used in the future. For the students was the task: how can the ring be redefined as a spatial idea?
It was not only about reducing traffic lanes to create more space for foot and cycle paths. It was more about the idea to find out what the City of Leipzig needs in the 21st century.
15 students worked one semester on this project. At this time we had two workshops with them and the project advisory board in Leipzig. The final presentation came to an end in January 2019 at the Bauhaus University Weimar. A jury, consisting of Julia Köpper (architectural collective Oktagon, Leipzig), Dr. med. Cyrus Zahiri (Office of Urban Planning and Landscape Planning, Berlin) and Philipp Gleiche (City Planning Office Leipzig, Department Design public space), awarded the three most successful works.
On the 11th of April we opened the exhibition of the three winning designs. Professor de Rudder talked to the audience and explained the task of the project and then he explained the price winning designs in detail. The audience, our project advisory board, was very impressed of the designs and we got a step further in our discussion about how he could and want to use the enlarged inner city of Leipzig in the future.
