METROpolis
München (DE) - Winner
TEAM DATA
Associates: Marta Fernandez Cortes (ES) – urban design and landscape architect, Benedikt Herz (DE), Daniel Grenz (DE), Anna-Maria Grimm (DE) – urban design and architects
info@studiofggh.com / https://www.studiofggh.com
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TEAM PORTRAIT
VIDEO (by the team)
INTERVIEW
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1. How do you define the main issue of your project in relation with the theme “Living Cities Imagining architecture taking care of the milieus”? And in which way do you think your project can contribute to an ecological and/or social evolution?
The term “care” is at the heart of our understanding of a Living City. We see the city as a medium for interaction between different groups of people, as well as a place where people can coexist with nature. Our design responds to this by bringing different uses into dialogue with heterogeneous users and residents (human and non-human) in the district.
2. How did the issues of your design and the questions raised by the site mutation meet?
Europark is currently designed for car traffic: through the dimensions of streets, parking spaces and buildings. We counter this with the scale of people, animals and plants in order to develop the place into a habitat for all living beings: large halls are transformed to urban buildings, storage areas to places to gather and dead asphalt to living greenery.
PROJECT:
We find our role models in various urban situations that we have visited on our travels in recent years, e.g. in the density of Milan‘s modern urban expansions, the mixture of the Polykatoika type in Athens or an understanding of public space as a democratic common ground in Nice.
SITE:
Different actors in urban development come together in the area. We are particularly looking forward to the dialogue with the department of urban planning and the citizens of Munich, which was initiated by the presentation of our design at the Munich “Plantreff” on December 7th, 2023. At the same time, the concerns of the owners and users, not least the requirements of the competition brief, have decisively shaped the project.
REFERENCES:
We have been working together in a comparable form since 2012: first as students in projects at the university and after graduating also in competitions. The four of us are united by our passion for urban design, with Anna, Benedikt and Daniel also focusing on architecture and Marta on landscape architecture.
6. How could this prize help you in your professional career?
Europan is a great opportunity to take part in planning competitions at a young age. We are all the more grateful for the first prize because it helps us by giving us the opportunity to realize a project together, which is also located in an extremely exciting urban development situation in Munich. It is also proof for us that our understanding of the city is shared by many other people.
TEAM IDENTITY
Legal status:
Team name: Studio FFGH
Average age of the associates: 31 years old
Has your team, together or separately, already conceived or implemented some projects and/or won any competition? if so, which ones?
This is our first competition win and we’re looking forward to continue developing our practice.
WORKS:
