In the course of the expansion of the central railroad corridor (RRX), the city of Düsseldorf launched an international and interdisciplinary design competition to obtain forward-looking solutions for the integration of noise protection in complex urban situations. With a processing area of 25 km in length, this is currently the largest art and design competition in Europe. On March 31, 2023, three winning teams were presented with their proposals at Düsseldorf City Hall.
Among them Ingo Vetter, sculptor and professor at the HfK Bremen and his team with the structural engineer Karen Eisenloffel of EiSat Berlin and professor at the BTU Cottbus, the architect Michelle Howard of constructconcept Berlin and professor at the AbK Vienna, the landscape architect /urban designer Marcel Troeger of Studio Erde Berlin and lecturer at the HCU Hamburg, consultation with them the landscape architect Prof. Anna Lundqvist from BTU Cottbus and ecologist Prof.Dr. Ingo Kowarik from TU Berlin, as well as Francisco Mondaca Molina and Gaurav Manoj Kaduskar, urban designers from BTU Cottbus and the illustrator Grit Koalick from Cottbus.
Their proposal, “FERALcatalyst,” envisions using the necessary conversions for noise protection as a catalyst for ecological and, subsequently, social urban redevelopment. A wilding of Düsseldorf with a corridor of biodiversity and cohabitation connecting city and countryside, as well as linking within green spaces and parks. Instead of ready-made solutions, processes are proposed that are summarized in a “FERALplay” and can respond to the diverse urban situations, always with the goal of their ecological improvement and the participation and acceptance of human and non-human urban users.
In the following elaboration and implementation phases, a cooperation with the two other winning teams around the artists Ursula Damm and Ute Reeh is planned. Further information can be found on the homepage of the Art Commission Düsseldorf as well as on the homepage of the City of Düsseldorf.