Design, Visualization & Photography
Design, Visualization & Photography
Wilderness in the heart of the city.
Nature-Park Schoneberger Sudegelande is a nature oasis that has evolved in the heart of the city of Berlin on the former Tempelhof shunting yard. It is characterised by its combination of nature, railway relics and art. The park stretches a length of 1.7km. In order to preserve the biodiversity and the natural evolution in the long term, it was designated as a nature & landscape conservation area in 1999.
Designer: ODIOUS Gruppe, Gruen Berlin
Location: Berlin, Germany
Year: 2018
Tempelhof shunting railyard was built in 1889 and closed in 1952.
After the railyard closed, nature gradually ‘reconquered’ the site.
Valuable dry grasslands, groups of shrubs and a pristine forest grew out of the former railway wasteland, all without human influence.
In the 1970s, plans to reactivate the freight railyard were made public.
By then however, nature lovers had discovered the site’s remarkable biodiversity and formed a citizens’ initiative to campaign for its preservation.
In 1999, large sections of the site were classified as landscape and nature conservation areas and are now home to a wide range of rare and endangered animals and plants.
Visitors exploring the park do so on steel artworks made by the ODIOUS group of sculptors.
Steel is the formative element of the artworks created by ODIOUS.
The longer “Großer Rundweg” is 2.7 kilometres long and leads through the nature conservation section that makes up about one sixth of the park’s area. Visitors move through the area on a slightly raised steel grating walkway to ensure that they interfere as little as possible with nature.
As well as many abstract steel sculptures, ODIOUS also built the 600-metre-long steel walkway that leads through the nature conservation area.
Although it’s been a long time since a train last passed through here, railway era relics keep the site’s history present.
Walkways, treehouses and pipes enclose the landscape and nature conservation areas, providing visitors with both insights and spectacular views.
In the nature conservation area visitors can experience the various development phases of the forest and expansive open spaces.
The species-rich dry grasslands reveal their full splendor in July, when the golden dwarf everlast and rare hawkweed species bloom, followed soon afterwards by bright yellow evening primroses.
ODIOUS, the six-member group of Berlin artists which formed in 1982 at Berlin University of the Arts, has left its traces all over the Natur-Park Südgelände, especially in the "Giardino Segreto".
The monumentality and materials of artworks by ODIOUS tie in with the site’s former industrial function and rusting relics of that period and perfectly correspond with its exuberantly proliferate wild nature, giving the park its unique and fascinating character as an ‘enchanted place’.
The Tälchenweg leads back to the entrance, following the old Saxony-Anhalt regional railway track. It is lower than the rest of the site so it forms a shady sunken path.
At the edge of the Tälchenweg is an old retaining wall that graffiti artists can legally use as a canvas from 3pm Monday to Saturday.