Reimagining an Urban Center

The city of Bielefeld, Germany has embarked on an ambitious plan to transform the Jahnplatz area, a central, bustling square and piece of ‘connective tissue’ between the old and new parts of the city.

In collaboration with residents, businesses, planners, property developers, and architects, I worked to understand the needs and desires of the community, establish a unifying vision for the function and character of Jahnplatz, and to ground the place in a new aesthetic and experiential identity.

Disciplines

User Research, Domain Research, Business Strategy, Experience Design, Visual Design, Project Management

The Brief

My client for this project was a European property developer with a large, aging commercial property situated in the heart of the Jahnplatz.

In seeking to transform this property into a more modern social and economic hub, the client enlisted me and my colleague, Jean-Marc to 1) Help ensure that their vision reflected the actual needs and character of the community and 2) Refine and communicate this vision in collaboration with numerous stakeholders in the Jahnplatz redevelopment.

Thinking in Systems on Behalf of People

Redevelopment of an established urban area is a wicked design problem. The interests and constraints across many different dimensions and scales is dizzying. Our work in Bielefeld began with secondary research to understand the broad socioeconomic landscape and quickly moved on to primary research (interviews, photographs, video) to discover the character and unmet needs of the Jahnplats’ diverse ‘user’ base.

A lack of healthy food options and the bustling, transitory nature of the space led us to recommend food and gathering as the central themes for our client’s portion of the redevelopment.

A Moment to Connect

Jahnplatz serves as a major transit hub with connections to the U-Bahn (subway) below and busses above ground, as a result, people think of it more as a place to move through rather than a lively, social destination. We sought to change that by creating compelling places to pause that are conducive to human connection, however brief. This led us to research and develop a diverse indoor ‘street’ market concept that was very well received.

Making Lemonade

Because most of this property is underground with quite low ceilings, it needed to be envisioned more as a cozy refuge than as a soaring centerpiece. This idea landed well with residents who appreciated the idea of having a sheltered square-below-the-square, given Bielefeld’s rainy climate. Our design calls for several skylights and wells to establish a connection between the two levels and provide the market with much-needed natural light.

Illustrating the Vision

Initially, we began combining photos and sketches to illustrate our ideas for the redeveloped space. We quickly realized that we needed to make this vision more tangible so we ‘skilled up’ on 3D software enabling us to quickly build and refine our models and provide stakeholders with much more detailed renderings illustrating our recommendations.

Collaborative Leadership

Our work developing a truly human-centered vision for our client’s property put them in a leadership position among the numerous stakeholders working together to reimagine this vital urban center.