Brikettfactory Witznitz

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railway tracks in mining landscape
coal ash
Leipsig Südraum
the history field
the faces of the old industrial buildings from the new factory courtyard, photo: F. Beigel, Apr 1999
industrial court
the Cultural Generator
Cultural Generator section
design model of possible long term future
plan of activity fields
housing field, plan
time drawing (a) of housing field
time drawing (b) of housing field
time drawing (c) of housing field
future housing field
apple orchard
timber frame long house in the horticultural field

Regeneration Design of the Brikettfactory Witznitz, Borna, Germany

Awarded 1st prize in a two stage International Landscape and Urban Realization Design Competition, Oct. 1996.

(activity field constructions completed Spring, 2000)

An architectural landscape of activity fields

This design involves a landscape regeneration strategy for a site of a former open pit coal mining operation in Eastern Germany, as well as a re-use and regeneration strategy for existing large mining related factory buildings, making new connections to the nearby city of Borna, approx 40km south of Leipzig. For both land territories and existing buildings the design provides for initial, interim and long-term uses and activities.

This architectural space in this project is characterized by a specificity regarding the place and the materials and an indeterminacy and openness in terms of programmes. It could attract and accept unforeseeable future activities. The idea of temporality, of change over time, is the underlying principle to this approach. It forms a basis for an acceptance of unknown futures typically absent in conventional master planning. This is a departure from the concept of zoning in urban and landscape design, considering new urban and land use strategies without reference to conventional European city planning.

Metamorphosis from landscape fields to building fields

The scheme tests the ideas of a metamorphosis in time from carpets in the landscape (or a garden of mining), to built carpets, a tapestry of houses, trading buildings and reprogrammed industrial buildings. The following activity fields are proposed:

Black ash paved field

Initially used as sports grounds; transforming in time into a field for new trading companies;

History field

The large field containing several large disused factory buildings wthe large field containing several large disused factory buildings

Horticultural field

Initially with market gardens and orchards, will become a carpet of approx. 100 patio houses built between long garden walls, with the orchards remaining;

Field of allotments

Allowing workshop houses in time to be built within the plot divisions.

The former ash basins at the lake shore

will be cultivated with fields for ecological testing; boating facilities and houses by the lake will be built within these fields.

Selected Publications

Schrumpfende Städte Band 2 Handlungskonzepte
edited by Philipp Oswalt, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, 2005, 'Spezifishe Unbestimmtheit - Brikettfabrik Witznitz, by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, p. 136-141, ISBN 3-7757-1481-2. (English Edition), edited by Philipp Oswalt, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, 2006, 'Specific Indeterminacy: Witznitz Briquette Factory, by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, p. 136-141, ISBN- 10 3-7757-1682-3, ISBN- 13-978-3-7757-1682-6.
Südraum Journal
special issue titled: 'Gluck auf, Witznitz!' documenting the Brikettfabrik, Witznitz project, Leipzig, 'Landschaftsteooiche, Bauteppiche' by Florian Beigel and Philipp Misselwitz, p.53-72, issue 10, 2000, Passage-Verlag Leipzig, ISBN 3-932900-32-4.
the architects' journal
London, 'Common ground on campus', by Jo Lintonbon and Alan Williams, 04.06.98, p. 33-36.
2G International Architecture Review
Landscape Architecture - Strategies for the construction of landscape, Editorial Gustavo Gili, S.A. Barcelona, Spain, issue no. 3,1997, 'Brikettfabrik Witznitz, Leipzig', by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, p. 88-95.
architectural research quarterly
'Brikettfabrik Witznitz: specific indeterminacy - designing for uncertainty', by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, Winter 1996, no. 2 volume 2, p. 18-38, ISSN 1359-1355.
the architects' journal
London, 'Leipzig field of dreams a double winner', by Paul Finch, 28 Nov. 1996, p. 10-11.
MAMA, Magasin For Modern Arkitektur
Stockholm, 'The Making of Territory', by Roger Spetz, Issue No. 14, 1996, p.58-59.
MAMA, Magasin For Modern Arkitektur
Stockholm, 'Borna Witznitz - An architectural landscape of activity fields' Issue No. 14, 1996, p.52-57.
the architects' journal
London, 'A new landscape from the ashes of the past', by Paul Finch, 18 April, 1996, p. 8-9.

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