Casanova+Hernandez architects | L069_Radbahn Cultural Network

     

L069_Radbahn Cultural Network

Berlin, Germany

Flexible strategy

Radbahn Cultural Network is an open and flexible strategy focused on developing an innovative cultural infrastructure connected to the new bicycle path planned under the U1 line of Berlin.

The Cultural Network is formed by a series of independent but coordinated interventions forming a Public Space Acupuncture strategy. Each intervention is placed in a strategic location and has a different cultural program, design and activity that reacts directly to its cultural and social context, but that also complements the other interventions to form all together a complex entity capable of producing a large positive impact in the city.

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Radbahn Cultural Network is a multi-scale strategy that responds to three intertwined scales:

City scale

The Radbahn cultural network will reinforce the large impact produced by the bicycle network by adding a cultural and recreational layer to the transportation layer. The network could be considered as a unique and experimental cultural centre with different rooms connected by the Radbahn.

District scale

The socio-cultural analysis presents a series of existing cultural networks that cross the Radbahn. The creation of symbiotic cultural activities in these intersections produce a catalytic effect in the surrounding that reinforces, complements or reactivates the existing cultural and social life of the districts.

Neighbourhood scale

The different interventions located along the Radbahn are open structures that encourage citizen participation, give voice to different social groups, and activate local culture to reinforce the collective identity.

Analysis:

The urban analysis of the neighbourhoods that cross the Radbahn detects different kinds of cultural networks which can be classified in four cultural axes:

1. Culinary Culture: existing markets, supermarkets, grocery shops, restaurants, cafes and bars.

2. Visual Arts: existing street art, art galleries, museums, cultural centres and artist residencies.

3. Performing Arts: existing theatres, cinemas, music schools and concert halls.

4. Book & e-Culture: existing libraries, e-game centres, schools, universities and bookshops.

Potential intervention sites:

The potential intervention sites are selected analysing the intersections between existing cultural networks, Radbahn network and stations of U1 Ubahn.

Meeting points for transport and cultural exchange

The interventions are meeting points for cultural exchange organized in four topics:

1. Culinary Culture

2. Visual Arts

3. Performing Arts

4. Book Culture

The permanent network can be coordinated with temporary events that will dynamize the activities during the whole year.

Identity

The interventions link the history of the place to the personal history of the people.

Cultural network as sharing and exchanging tool

The Cultural Network relates the metro flow of the U-bahn and the bicycle flow underneath, focusing in the stations as

Cultural exchange

Interventions as exchange points not only of different type of transports, but also exchange of culture becoming meeting points of people of different backgrounds, interest and cultures.

Meeting place for activities

Place for activities: art ateliers, cooking lessons, music labs

Program

New functions, sharing activities and meeting points creating a cultural network linked to the Radbahn.

Kiss & bike

Each intervention has a parking for bicycles, seating areas and cultural activity. They work as stations or connection points between the bicycle infrastructure and the different neighbourhoods that cross it.

Meeting points for citizen interaction

The interventions serve as meeting points for the neighbourhoods.

Process:

Flexible strategy & micro-phasing

The acupuncture strategy improves the flexibility of the Radbahn concept by fragmenting the project into small low cost and independent interventions easy to finance, build and implement in many small phases.

Quick start

Traditionally, transportation networks are built first in a single phase and facilities are later added to them, but we could reverse the process starting building the cultural infrastructure first to produce a “call effect” or in combination with the simplest part of bicycle route connected to the city network. The quick start is important to start to move the project and create inertia.

Test interventions

The new bicycle route will require many studies to evaluate the traffic impact that could delay the decision making. Temporary test-interventions in the routes will help to take quicker decisions and in the cultural network the public use of them allowing to learn by doing and improving them.

Nomad and mutating interventions

The interventions are designed as flexible structures capable to be transported to new locations to enlarge the visibility of the network or being transformed after a testing period.

Citizen participation:

Participative strategy: top-down+bottom- up

The acupuncture strategy improves the Radbahn concept adding to the top-down decision making a controlled bottom-up participative process, open to collaboration of public and private institutions with cultural groups and neighbourhood associations.

Design a la carte

“Design a la carte” allows citizens to decide the use of special interventions.

It is a participative process that takes advantage of people’s energy and ideas to physically transform their urban context.

Program a la carte

“Program a la carte” allows citizens to decide the cultural program to be developed in some specific interventions.

Sharing and cultural exchange

The strategy encourages the sharing experience and the cultural exchange in order to take advantage of the multicultural background of some neighbourhoods.

Smart construction:

Linear tubular structure

All the interventions are built with a linear tubular structure that presents different forms and sizes depending on the function of each intervention. This sculptural structure is combined with other prefabricated elements, such as boards for tables and seats, shelves, textile roofs and walls, and exhibition panels.

Light and transportable interventions

The light structural system of the interventions allows their easy prefabrication, transportation and installation in the site or possible transportation to a new site if needed.

Financing & management:

Micro-financing

The strategy helps to finance the Radbahn by making culture an important complement of the project and by fragmenting the project into small interventions, easy to be financed by the cultural industry of Berlin.

Interventions as satellites of nearby cultural institutions

Some interventions could be directly financed and/or managed by near cultural institutions who want to extend their visibility to more visited public spaces. The program of these interventions could be directly managed by the institutions themselves and the content can be directly programmed or created by curators and invited artists.

Culture industry

The strategy and design empower culture as an important element of the project, which could be partially financed by the cultural industry of Berlin.

Interventions as satellites of nearby cultural institutions

Some interventions could be directly financed by cultural institutions who want to extend their visibility to more visited public spaces. The programme of these interventions could be directly managed by the institutions and their spaces and contest could be directly defined by curators or invited artists.

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Radbahn / City of Berlin
Cultural facilities, Recreational
Finalist
Strip 8Km long under the U1 line of Berlin