Strasbourg - Kehl, Cour des Douanes - Zollhofareal

Strasbourg/Kehl, France/Germany
2013
 

Customs

The "Cour des Douanes" in Strasbourg and the "Zollhofareal" in Kehl are former customs posts located on the historic French and German border crossing, along the Rhine River. Europe has opened up, customs post have shrunk, a once backyard territory is now open for future developments. It becomes possible to define the terms of a new relation between the two cities, to imagine a European transborder metropolis along the Rhine.

Vision

The project of LIN is at the same time a vision to reunite the two cities/countries around the river and a framework for the urbanization of the site. The project takes on the site’s existing qualities and proposes a new geographical coherence: new developments help reconnecting the dislocated urban fragments already present on the site; at the same time the project is a step towards the construction of a new fluvial landscape expanding until the industrial harbors of Strasbourg and Kehl.

Am Rhein

The urban structure unfolds out of and towards the Rhine, enhancing its physical and symbolic presence. At the same time it absorbs the infrastructural lines of the site in a new urban landscape. The Rhine that once separated the two cities becomes an integrating reality. The project is not thought of as a rigid masterplan. It is more of a matrix open to multiple functions and uses, adapting to the specificities of each found situation.

Neighborhood - ST

New developments should not be autarchic but help create lively neighborhoods. Therefore programs are mixed up: housing, offices, retail, culture, sport and leisure. In Strasbourg, the existing and the new urban fabric merge around a public spine activated with commercial and recreational programs. Between the bridges a mixed-use landscaped building articulates the different topography levels and provides an additional North South connection. Two natures of public space coexist: the strips perpendicular to the Rhine have an urban character, the treatment of the river banks and the spine echo the presence of water.

Neighborhood - K

The built and un-built strips unfolding perpendicular to the river help dissolve the perception of infrastructural borders. In Kehl, they provide the possibility for the city-center to extend in new forms and programs. North of the railway lines former military barracks’ are integrated in a new diverse neighborhood mixing up housing (collective, terrace, town houses), offices, as well as commercial and cultural programs. Along the river, a wide space for promenade incorporates new North South connections and integrates an existing marina.

Bridges & Passages

From riverbank to riverbank, neighborhood to neighborhood, new bridges and passages help to overcome the many borders on the site. Connected with new programs and uses they generate a multitude of singular micro situations.

Fluviality

What if it was all about topography? What if the evidence was geographical? The Rhine, from Basel to Rotterdam? Rivers as places overturning the traditional opposition between city and nature, local and global? Fluviality as a new metropolitan condition, bringing together the natural and the cultural in a non hierarchical way?

Project Data

Program

The competition focused on the transformation of the old French and German customs in Strasbourg and Kehl, "La Cour des Douanes" and "Zollhofareal", located on both sides of the Rhine.

Client: Stadt Kehl and Communauté urbaine de Strasbourg

Status: competition 2012-2013, Competition 1st prize, Since May 2013; further studies

Location: anciennes cours des douanes de Strasbourg (FR), Ancienne Zollhofareal à Kehl (DE)

Surface: 20 hectares

 

Team:

Architects: LIN Architects Urbanists, Finn Geipel, Giulia Andi, David Levain, Bruno Pinto da Cruz, Thomas Untersweg, Fabienne Boudon, Andrea Alessio, Nagma Sharma, Jonas Tratz; Landscape: Bassinet Turquin

Paysage, Paris - Grégoire Bassinet, Rémy Turquin; Lighting & Sustainability: Arup, Berlin; Philosophy: Joseph Hanimann, Paris

 

Customs
KSB-01-ESS-LIN-site_panorama
Image 1/7 KSB-01-ESS-LIN-site_panorama
Vision
KSB-02-ESS-LIN-general_plan
Image 2/7 KSB-02-ESS-LIN-general_plan
Am Rhein
 KSB-04-ESS-LIN-general_perspective
Image 3/7 KSB-04-ESS-LIN-general_perspective
Neighborhood - ST
KSB-05-ESS-LIN-plan_strasbourg
Image 4/7 KSB-05-ESS-LIN-plan_strasbourg
Neighborhood - K
KSB-06-ESS-LIN-plan_kehl
Image 5/7 KSB-06-ESS-LIN-plan_kehl
Bridges & Passages
KSB-07-ESS-LIN-view_from_kehl
Image 6/7 KSB-07-ESS-LIN-view_from_kehl
Fluviality
KSB-08-ESS-LIN-view_from_kehl
Image 7/7 KSB-08-ESS-LIN-view_from_kehl
bild
bild
 
 
Category Ref. Title Year City Country Type Status
Architecture N6N Halle 6 ouest Halle 6 ouest 2019 Nantes France Cultural Realized + 1599
Architecture BGW Bremer Punkt 1-10 Vielfalt in Serie Bremer Punkt 1-10 Vielfalt in Serie 2022 Bremen Germany Housing Realized + 2306
Architecture SCD Cité du Design Cité du Design 2009 Saint-Étienne France Cultural Realized + 2248
Architecture PAQ Housing Building, Quai Henri IV Housing Building, Quai Henri IV 2015 Paris France Housing Realized + 1951
Architecture SNA Alvéole 14 Alvéole 14 2007 Saint- Nazaire France Cultural Realized + 1684
Urbanism PAM Grand Paris Métropole Douce Grand Paris Métropole Douce 2008 Paris France Urban Design Study Completed + 1524
Architecture BT2 Typenhochhaus Typenhochhaus 2017 Berlin Germany Housing Competition 1st Prize + 1290
Architecture PRC Paris, Caserne de Reuilly Paris, Caserne de Reuilly 2019 Paris France Housing Realized + 1459
Architecture BPJ Boulogne Point-du-Jour Boulogne Point-du-Jour 2019 Paris France Housing Realized + 154
Design PAR Permanent Exhibition Space Permanent Exhibition Space 2003 Paris France Exhibition Realized + 1301
Architecture TAC Achillion Coastal Platform Achillion Coastal Platform 1997 Thessaloniki Greece Infrastructure Competition + 1325
Architecture NAC Nîmes Arena Nîmes Arena 1989 Nîmes France Cultural Realized + 1798
Architecture AMF Métafort Multimedia Research Center Métafort Multimedia Research Center 1998 Aubervillers France Cultural Competition + 1510
Architecture LEC National School of Art National School of Art 1994 Limoges France Education Realized + 1440
Architecture OKH Oldenburg House Oldenburg House 2003 Oldenburg Germany Housing Realized + 1395
Urbanism ZAA Atlas Actif des Vallées Stéphanoises Atlas Actif des Vallées Stéphanoises 2008 Saint-Étienne France Research Study Completed + 1400
Art BSY Syn Chron Syn Chron 2005 Berlin Germany Exhibition Realized + 1390
Architecture POL Office Building in Paris Office Building in Paris 2012 Paris France Office Realized + 1420
Urbanism KSB Strasbourg - Kehl, Cour des Douanes - Zollhofareal Strasbourg - Kehl, Cour des Douanes - Zollhofareal 2013 Strasbourg/Kehl France/Germany Urban Design Competition 1st Prize + 1347
Architecture BIN LIN Office Space LIN Office Space 2012 Berlin Germany Office Realized + 1618
Urbanism AMP Aix-en-Provence Marseille Aix-en-Provence Marseille 2015 Aix-Marseille-Provence France Urban Design Study Completed + 1179
Design D+-0 Density ±0 Density ±0 2004 Paris France Exhibition Realized + 1440
Urbanism STA Urban Study for the Development of Sevran Urban Study for the Development of Sevran 2015 Sevran France Urban Design Study Completed + 1359