A Quarter for the Future

Würselen is and independent and lively city, both despite and because of its proximity to the larger city of Aachen. The Singer Campus has the potential to strengthen its advatanges. What this means is more space indoors and out, shorter routes, transportation where necessary, more greenery, and, above all, more community.

The Kalkhalde, once a seldom visited and difficult-to-access hill, will become an inner-city park. Singerplatz, located at its feet, is the perfect mediator between the city and its green spaces, a gravitational point between Kalkhaldengasse and the roads of the Kalkhalde. Recreational options for young and old will generate an active green square, ranging from sports, games, and playgrounds to a slide and a stage.

A lookout tower dubbed the Nähmaschine (“sewing machine”) makes the Kalkhalde directly visible from Kaiserstraße and is easily accessible via stairs or elevator. It offers a view as far as Aachen and is the starting point for Würselen’s longest slide.

Community-Oriented Urban Planning

Together with Singerplatz and its offerings, the heart of the campus is formed by the quarter’s new street, featuring a workshop, co-working spaces, a shared kitchen, a neighborhood meeting point, and other non-commercial options in the ground-floor zone. There’s room for neighborly exchange among every age group and every stripe of Würselen residents.

Locally Sensible / Locally Adapted Building Typologies

With only 4 different building and apartment types, but with varying numbers of stories, the new buildings match the size and appearance of Würselen’s small-scale settlement structure.

The repetition and stacking of similar apartment typologies enables economical construction, while subtle differentiation enables different degrees of communal collectivity.

1. One-resident building – The urban townhouse: One house, one resident
2. Multi-resident building – Singles, couples, families in a single building
3. Multi-resident communal buildings – Multiple buildings with shared outdoor spaces
4. Community plus – Innovative residential form: Singles, couples, and families in a single apartment

Classic townhouses are combined with multifamily buildings, row apartments, and innovative cluster apartments (a sort of communal residence for every age and life situation), which helps bring families together with students and seniors.

Thanks to varying kinds of circulation, shared and private spaces on rooptops and in-between zones will facilitate encounters, creating the prerequisites for social cohabitation.

Compact City / Mobility

New residents and new offerings will make Würselen’s city center more active and attractive. Linking housing, utilities, commerce, social options, and green space serves to reduce travel time and, with it, traffic. To increase quality of life, the new neighborhood is mostly free of cars (with the exception of deliveries and disabled access).

The centrally located “mobility hub” makes mobility easy and accessible for all. There are options for ground-floor parking, station-based car sharing, rental bikes, small vehicles, and pushcarts for easy shopping. Parts of the hub can temporarily be converted into a covered, daylight-filled playground or popup market.

Climate-Resilient Planning / Water

The “sponge city” strategy: Keep paving to a minimum. Retain rainwater and make it available for vegetation. Excess water evaporates or slowly seeps away.

The so-called “hem” at the foot of the Kalkhalde serves not only as a bench, stage, and functional park element, but also to retain rainwater from the Kalkhalde and temporarily store it. Along the alleyways and around Singerplatz are troughs and decentrally cultivated plant beds. Temporarily stored water is made experienceable and playful.