Spinelli FreiRaumLab

In the framework of the Grünzug Nordost development project, the grounds of the former Spinelli Barracks in Mannheim are not only to serve as the location of the Federal Horticultural Show but also provide space for expansion of the district of Käfertal-Süd: Over 4,000 new neighbors will live here in the future: ranging from students and young families through to senior citizens. The Spinelli FreiRaumLab network has adopted an experimental process to find ways of making the existing and future spaces and parkland available to the community and foster new forms of working together. »The transformation space between Käfertal-Süd and the Spinelli conversion site offers a unique urban planning opportunity to develop an outdoor space that is driven by the citizens and is non-commercial, while functioning as a hinge bonding the new-build area and the long-standing locals in the neighborhood through a broad range of offerings and possible usages,« comments Ralf Eisenhauer, Lord Mayor of Mannheim.

The grounds of the Spinelli FreiRaumLab will be bordered by the planned primary school, a new residential quarter, the park for the 2023 Federal Horticultural Show, and a neighborhood consisting of churches, social welfare facilities, and housing. By means of a democratic and participatory process, the parklands will be upgraded and enriched with usages for the various quarters. In the framework of cooperation with the City of Mannheim, IBA Heidelberg has helped develop the process along with different participation formats and the workshop procedure for designing the open spaces. It has also inputted ideas and acts as sparring partner for the broad bottom-up development approach deployed by the Spinelli FreiRaumLab.

In this way, a synergy of existing local institutions and neighborhood interests can arise that by 2023 will have spawned a participative and jointly owned agenda by means of an initial spatial experiment to herald the design of new usages and the new function of a public neighborhood space.