SMAQ

With the development of the quarter north of the mediaeval square Neuer Markt in Rostock, Germany the square shall be framed again and complemented by additional program and stand out as a place that is respecting the history of the site while being concisely contemporary.

City plan:
 Starting from the historical urban areas, the proposed urban plan resolves the breaks in the spatial structure. The north side of the Neuer Markt is complemented by four blocks, each of which is made up of several "buildings" and are sized to take up the scale of the medieval structure of Rostock's inner city. They complement the city structure and create a square and space sequence, which makes the historical structures and the topography, which has characterized the development of Rostock since the Middle Ages, tangible and readable. On the scale of the inner city the urban plan reacts with a differentiated building topography and eaves, slightly sloping roofs and prominent gables at the important places.

Program mix:
 The aim is to create a vital inner city location for trade, services and crafts, public administration, educational institutions, culture and gastronomy. The built structures have been developed in such a way that they open up to the public space and formulate addresses. In order to revitalize the inner city outside of business hours, an appropriate share of the space is for housing. In this case, the mix can be realized vertically layered in the buildings or next to each other by "buildings" with different uses. Housing can be developed either in the upper (rooftop) floors or in individual "buildings". The block configuration has a high degree of flexibility so that it can be adapted to the chosen programmatic concept even in a later planning step.

The concept of urban design is a synthesis of contemporaryness and historical consciousness. With the gabled houses on the north side of the Neuer Markt and the south side of the square Am Schilde, the design takes up historic motifs that once characterized the cityscape of Rostock and reinterprets it under today's requirements.
In summary, the proposed planning is based on the historical urban spaces and implements these with few, robust urban-planning principles (square contours, stepping buildings, subdividing of the blocks in "houses", rooflines at a maximum of four floors, landmarks in the form of gabled houses at the important places).

Characteristics
Program: 850 Residential Units
Plot Area: 3,75 ha