Area development
Böbingen an der Rems
An interwoven and productive community between rural habitus and urban qualities
In the course of tunneling the B29, Böbingen an der Rems will change. This will release a transformative power that should be used to focus on the common good. Accordingly, a vital community is our vision for Böbingen. Such a community is well connected, benefits from transit traffic, and allows pedestrians and cyclists to stroll undisturbed by cars in the core area. The tunneling of the federal highway is the first decisive step. But the change in the main traffic artery must entail a reinterpretation of the other traffic routes. A variety of new activities should stimulate a vivid public life for old and new residents alike. A lively town center, where people are at home and commerce is located, interlinks what has been separated in Böbingen up to now.
North - South connection
The newly created tunnel cover allows for programmatic, infrastructural and natural connections. Our design knits together public functions and spatial density along the main street by creating a new vital axis. This form of internal development focuses the design of the village on its core. Higher density of housing and programming and structurally strengthened edges mark the Hauptstraße as the community's main artery. The culmination of the connection occurs on the tunnel cover. Here, the design envisions a marketplace, framed by three urban accents: the House of Volunteerism, a gallery on the east side, and the "Super Farm-O-Mat" on the west side.
The new agricultural route in the south-west links the Park am alten Bahndamm with Böbingen and the river Rems as a green ribbon. The Rems itself is understood and strengthened as a second ribbon and green backbone. A footbridge along the river forms a walkway that links to the neighborhoods and interweaves existing recreational and sports areas.
"Rurban" Community
In order to protect Böbingen from the damaging effects of urban sprawl, inward-oriented settlement development is needed. Heterogeneous housing types make moving within the community worthwhile. Such a capillary effect mobilizes the spatial potential of the existing stock. The transition from rural surrounding to denser main street with urban qualities is reflected in a networked open space design and in the newly formed neighborhoods.
Spatial sequence on the tunnel cover
As a link between the two ribbons, a new spatial sequence on the tunnel cover stimulates collective and productive activities. Community supported agriculture at the Klotzbach, the picking meadow with the "Super-Farm O-Mat", the village square serving as the new heart of Ober- and Unterböbingen, and the garden fields of the eastern neighborhood tell of a village that interweaves with its cultural landscape and reorients and strengthens itself inwardly. Although the construction of the tunnel underneath the village means a serious intervention in the natural areas, it opens up the possibility of connecting biotopes and making the water tangible: The new town center experiences a direct reference to the Klotzbach through gentle seating steps in extension of the Pflückwiese and the Rems walkway.
Location
Böbingen an der Rems
Realisation period
Februar 2023 – Mai 2023
Client
Gemeinde Böbingen an der Rems
Team
Studio Malta with
Landscape Design: studio erde.