Outline Concept
“City of solitary objects: The current situation around the wholesale market hall will be transformed and placed into a new context. The city floor plan of the Ostend will be completed along the Sonnemannstrasse by a building group (for ECB uses, i.e. apartments, kindergarten) thus emphasising the entrance situation for ECB.

The wholesale market hall will be freed as a solitary object within the block, and be made visible in its entire length from the street, through gaps between the single building flights. The mass of the hall will be completely incorporated by the ECB pedestal-construction, which stretches out along the Main river.

The thin, vertical steles of the high-rise will protrude from the building, creating a field of tension contrasting with the horizontal forms of the wholesale market hall.

The ensemble of the solitary objects will be framed by landscape elements, furthering the green belt alongside the Ostpark, the Alleenring and the Main river.

Zoning – Onionskinprinciple: The area of the wholesale market hall offers the possibility of connecting high-security demands with urban planning and landscape elements. The operational area will be consolidated into a compact construction along the Main river. The wholesale market hall, placed toward the north, will be filled with public and semi-public areas.

This ECB core will be surrounded by a sunken, easily visible, open space, 15 meters in width. A further layer, the hedge wall, will define the actual area of the ECB and prevent unauthorized penetration into the facility. While green areas in the south and the east create distance, buildings toward the north and west will provide protection.”