STATE-OF-THE-ART SKATE FACILITY IN MUNICH’S OLYMPIC PARK COMPLETE REDEVELOPMENT OF TIME-HONOURED STONEPARK In close collaboration with future users, skatepark planning agency Landskate has produced a design for the outdated skateboarding area in Munich’s Olympic Park. The high-end facility caters to a diverse set of user needs while its components and colour scheme integrate harmoniously into the surrounding Olympic Park scenery.
Location Munich, Germany Client/operator Horticulture Department City of Munich Landscape architects Landskate GmbH DE-Köln www.lndskt.de Design team members Veith Kilberth, Darko Stevanovic, Norbert Szombati Construction company Anker Rampen Author Dirk Vogel Photos Leo Preisinger Official opening July 2019 Construction costs EUR 320,000
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Next year marks skateboarding’s debut as an official Olympic discipline at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. But in Munich’s Olympic Park originally built for the 1972 games, training conditions for skateboarding were anything but Olympics-grade. In 2017, the building commission of Munich’s City Council approved the restoration of seven skateboarding facilities, including Brundageplatz, for an overall budget of EUR 1.8 million. It was crucial to integrate the “new” skate facility within pre-existing design parameters. After all, the sprawling green space commissioned in 1972 by Behnisch Architects for the Munich Olympics is now a protected heritage site. Involving local users Landskate, the Cologne-based skatepark planning agency, was awarded the contract for Stonepark’s redesign. As opposed to the first park design 25 years ago, this time local users were to have their say. For this reason, the City of Munich, the Skateboarding Munich Association and Landskate involved the public at the planning stage. Based on feedback from participants, the most important criteria for the redevelopment pro-
ject soon emerged. Stonepark needed to prove equally suitable for skateboarding and BMX, provide a blend of rounded and angled shapes as well as a low average height of obstacles of around one metre. Obstacles also needed to be arranged in levels based on the degree of difficulty, while BMXers needed taller elements at the far side of the area. And in order to deliver these added functions without overcrowding, the space was extended by 200 m² to a total of 700 m². Design parameters: rounded edges, flowing shapes Based on these fundamental requirements, the experts produced a skatepark design which they presented to the local participant group for several rounds of voting. From an initial polystyrene foam model all the way to 3D-renderings and final implementation, local users were thus involved hands-on in the entire creative process. This approach created a powerful blend of the latest know-how in modern-day skatepark design and current user demands in a coherent overall model. In its final state, the skate and BMX terrain boasts an innovative design language, with a symbiosis of round and organic shapes sb 4/2019