The new public railroad embankment strengthens the center
Biel Mett lies between Schüss and Längholz. Mühlestrasse and Orpundstrasse connect the quarter across the track field as an urban planning bracket. The new station fundamentally changes the historically evolved situation: the “blind spot” of the dividing track field is transformed from a rear side into an arrival point for both halves of the quarter, and the rear side becomes a front side south of the tracks. The new public space on the railroad embankment will create a geographically central, shared centrality, an identity-forming arrival point with a high quality of stay and an appropriate, complementary, public-oriented use. This location complements the existing central features of the district, which are located along the urban planning bracket on both sides of the track field with the focal points of Poststrasse-Church-Schoolhouse in the north and Mettstrasse-Migros-Coop-Church in the south. The street spaces as the backbone of the public realm are thus strengthened in the quarter and supplemented at the crucial point by the upgraded west-east connection along the southern bank of the tracks: a new, central “rung” is created here between the spars of the valley-crossing connections, which not least strengthens the important diagonal connection from the two crossings.
A long-term transformation
The Mettstrasse – Orpundstrasse – Bahnufer – Mühlestrasse area will be given a simple urban development framework based on the current parcelling and building fabric and can thus be transformed step by step in order to strengthen the new and old central areas with their connections. The new urban structure arises from the existing spatial and atmospheric characters of the “fields” of the sub-areas, which are reinforced by targeted interventions.
- Towards the railroad embankment
The excess meteoric water from the entire neighborhood is collected in channels and flows along the paths and streets towards the railroad. Along the railroad embankment, it collects in an intermittently wet swale landscape with high retention and seepage capacity. Light-colored, permeable pavements and groups of translucent trees create an urban space with a high quality of stay and passage. They are enriched by corresponding first floor uses. - Three-field farming
Mette, Matte are inscribed in the district as agrarian name relics. Following the logic of historical land use, we propose three (building) and garden fields. They are clearly tailored and each has its own identity. The strategy of the respective open space planning differs accordingly: Rewilding – Community, Green Center – Garden Worlds - Rewilding
“Nature on your doorstep” The spaced areas on both sides of the stilted “Sonniger Hof” building will be rewilded and reshaped: The slightly topographically reshaped, meagre gravel landscape will be sown with a biodiverse, species-rich wildflower meadow. Spaces and focal points in the midst of this great new climate-friendly diversity. Bees, butterflies & co. are also comfortable here (consistent animal aided design - Garden worlds
The green center between the existing buildings will remain a diverse backdrop in the long term. Future viability is secured with a set of rules.
