immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Aussenraum

  • Binding Prize for Biodiversity 2023 awarded to eco-neighbourhood in Lausanne

    Binding Prize for Biodiversity 2023 awarded to eco-neighbourhood in Lausanne

    The “Pra Roman” site development by the Codha cooperative and the “Sur le Pra” association won the Binding Prize for Biodiversity 2023 because the development takes on the ecological and social networking functions for the neighbourhood and the city in an extremely exemplary manner and the project was approached in a participatory manner from the very beginning. The 2023 prize was announced as part of the annual theme “groundbreaking site developments”.

    Ecologically networked living spaces
    The “Pra Roman” housing estate with twelve apartment buildings on an area of 22,000 square metres is located on the outskirts of Lausanne. The surrounding area was integrated into the planning and construction of the 2020 development in an exemplary manner. For example, the award-winner created alternating humid wildlife corridors with integrated small structures for amphibians and small mammals and to promote wild plants. This awareness of taking responsibility for ecological connectivity in a larger system is central to the promotion of biodiversity in the settlement area.

    Involving residents in planning
    Raising residents’ awareness of biodiversity promotion was an important part of the “Pra Roman” project from the very beginning. Codha, the developer and cooperative for non-profit housing, initiated the association “Sur le Pra” at the beginning of the planning phase and developed a participatory process. Future residents met early on for site tours or nature observations and, with a high degree of design freedom, designed their near-natural outdoor spaces in workshops, which they later realised independently. The building owner supported them financially.

    Vegetable garden enables encounter and sensitisation
    One of these green spaces is the community vegetable garden. Here people exchange ideas and get to know nature as a basis for life. The culture of sustainable living and land use runs like a thread through the entire “Pra Roman” project. The surrounding ecosystems are observed, imitated in their diversity and connected with the settlement area.

    “We are convinced that this excellent example will encourage other real estate developers to think about biodiversity at an early stage and involve many people,” says Peter Lehmann, vice president of the jury for the award.

    Recognition prize goes to the Areal Bach project in St. Gallen
    In addition to the main prize, the Foundation also awards a recognition prize of 25,000 Swiss francs for smaller sites. The Areal Bach, an interim use near the St.Fiden railway station in St.Gallen, receives this prize because it impressively demonstrates the potential of the many fallow areas in the cities. With its perseverance and commitment, the Areal Bach association overcame resistance, seized the opportunity and, together with the population, ecologically upgraded the areas and revitalised them with creative ideas. It has managed to get many stakeholders on board to realise a jointly supported, multifaceted project. A temporary green oasis was created from a non-place, which can lay the foundations for biodiversity and quality of stay for the planning of a future area development.

  • Walo realises environment project in the Westfeld Basel neighbourhood

    Walo realises environment project in the Westfeld Basel neighbourhood

    The Dietiker construction company Walo Bertschinger has completed the work on the landscaping of the new Westfeld neighbourhood in Basel. According to a media release on LinkedIn, this environmental project includes the entire outdoor space, plus a narrow Allmend area along Hegenheimerstrasse and part of the area surrounding the Felix Platter Hospital.

    The surrounding project realised by Walo consists largely of publicly accessible areas. Beyond the site, the works complement the open space and footpath offer to connect and revitalise the neighbourhood. The work includes 23,000 square metres of terrain modelling, 8,000 square metres of paving, a fountain and seven tree troughs made of natural stone, the furnishing and all the work on the 2900-metre-long utility lines.

    The forum now stretches between the newly built Felix Platter Hospital and the new Westfeld building and flows into the neighbourhood square in front of the converted hospital building. There is a “carpet” of natural stone slabs there. In contrast to the stone forum and the neighbourhood square, the neighbourhood garden, which has also been laid out, is mainly green and covered with trees.

    Since 2015, a showcase project for a trend-setting residential building culture has been created around the old hospital, which has now been converted into residential space, according to Walo’s statement. More than 500 cooperative flats have been built on the approximately 35,000-square-metre plot, of which around 400 are on the part of the site earmarked for new buildings and around 130 in the converted hospital building. There is also space for neighbourhood uses, services and small businesses. The building cooperative wohnen&mehr has published a video clip on the project.