“The creation of new residential quarters through the conversion of the two barracks is of the greatest importance for the City of Darmstadt,” said Barbara Boczek, Head of the Building Department, at the presentation of the competition results on Monday. The design of “Neues Quartier Ludwigshöhe” is an example of sustainable, integrated urban planning, open space planning, and transportation planning, commented Jürgen Häpp, project manager at AS+P: “The spatial concept advances the historical structure of two independent areas such that they become compact developments. They are connected by the monument-protected central section.”

The central complex serves as an arrival and service center with mobility and quarter man­age­ment, a family center with residential facilities for senior citizens, a nursery, and local amenities. This center also forms part of what is known as the landscape steps, which as a green axis takes up the terraced slope between south Darmstadt and the Odenwald forest and offers diverse leisure-time facilities. Several plazas and shared-space pathways give the two parts of the development structure and, through the diversity of building typologies, offer housing for broad sections of the population. The design by AS+P aims for sustainable development and contemporary mobility and intends to create a vibrant and socially balanced neighborhood with short distances for some 3,100 inhabitants across 34 hectares. A total of 16 architecture firms entered the competition.