Germany
surfacing made of recycled rubber and planting bed
edges made of shiny stainless steel. It is expected
that all the chosen materials will age gracefully.
The walls
An important detail is the terrace wall mentioned
above, which in some respects creates a new city
wall, yet it has little in common with a traditional city
wall. In most sections, the wall height is relatively
low (1.00m) but the width is doubled (2.00m), so
that one can walk upon it or enjoy the sun by lying
on its thick natural stone cladding. The wall can
become a catwalk, a bench or a sunny terrace, in
accordance with the user’s wishes.
The wall is interrupted in some areas by the pathway
systems, which lead to the park’s ‘green fingers’, the
areas that connect the park with the residential quar-
ters. Precisely constructed, acutely-angled volumes
of concrete and cladding can be found here.
The wall is constructed of several parts: the side
walls, which are connected by a kind of transverse
bulkhead, were produced as pre-cast concrete ele-
ments and were installed on site. By using a cast-
ing form with a timber matrix, the surface of the
wall was given a profile. The interior is filled with
gravel. The cladding is made of ‘Gebhartser Syenit’,
an Austrian natural stone, similar to granite, which
displays a high bending and tensile strength.
Several different types of walls coexist alongside
the terrace wall in the landscape park. The neces-
sary height differences in areas around the sunken
garden are dealt with using high retaining walls.
These walls are carefully detailed. While the north
wall of the sunken garden is painted red as a
complementary contrasting colour to the green of
the garden, the wall at the end of the former runway
of the old airport is enhanced in a stonemason-like
fashion. This serves to remind one of the local natu-
ral stone, a conglomerate called ‘Nagelfluh’, which
is sometimes called ‘the concrete of God’. There are
still several elements made of this natural stone on
the former airport site. The old airport building and
the observations platform are now protected as
historic structures within the landscape.
Integrating the former flight observation arena into
the park was not an easy task. For reasons of safety
and historic protection, access had to be prohib-
ited. To avoid the need for a fence, Gilles Vexlard
designed a separating trench densely planted with
willows. The willows are regularly cut flush with the
top of the trench, allowing an unobstructed view of
the observation arena, without allowing access to
the area.
The low seating walls are another type of wall
found in the park. These are inviting and encour-
age visitors to stay. They consist of massive natural
