Elisengarten

Location: Aachen, Germany
Client: The Municipality of Aachen
Team: Stig L. Andersson, Signe Høyer Frederiksen, Friedemann Rüter, Thomas Kock, Marion Pflugfelder, Simone Maxl, Michelle Nielsen-Dharmaratne
Design phase: 2006
Area: 1,7 ha.

How is a lively recreational park created while maintaining strong ties to the history of the town?

Elisengarten is one of Aachens few green spaces. Today the fencing and the dense peripheral planting around the open lawn make the park appear closed and uninviting. By removing the fence and thinning the planting the park is opened up to the surrounding town and the remaining trees have more space to flourish.

Aachen has developed around hot springs and has a long history as a spa town. It has given the town a strong link with water, and water is therefore an important element in the revitalisation of Elisengarten. Gravel paths meander through the park like water courses in a river delta. In between these are lawns like green sediment deposits. Water springs in the round wells of the garden, and white clouds of condensed water vapour float from water art along chosen paths.

History becomes tangible when the vapour and mists from the water art is mixed with soundscapes from the past. The clattering of horses’ hooves and neighing mixed with distant church bells, croaking frogs, the humming of goldsmiths and the toll man’s rattling of coins. A historic tapestry of sound is formed, which creates images of recollection from the past of Roman thermal baths, enclosed cloister gardens and lively traffic around the Prussian tollbooth. The historic dimension is reinforced by the archaeological finds from the Roman thermal baths that are displayed in one of the newly established wells.