The “Urban Construction Site” Is Here to Stay!

Alanus students transform Bonn’s Chlodwigplatz into a lively neighborhood meeting place

Over the past four months, the so-called “Urban Construction Site” has taken shape at Chlodwigplatz in Bonn. As part of their bachelor’s thesis, Julian Krüger and Lorenz Rhiner, architecture students at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Alfter, worked together with local residents to transform the square, which had previously been perceived as a rather inconspicuous thoroughfare, into a lively meeting place in the neighborhood. Seating around the fountain, a table tennis table in the shade of the trees, and raised beds give the space a new quality and invite passersby to linger and continue shaping it.

With their final project, Julian Krüger and Lorenz Rhiner present a concept of urban practice that uses temporary construction as a tool for participatory urban development. “In view of increasingly complex urban transformation processes and the limits of traditional planning procedures, which are often lengthy and disconnected from the everyday lives of city residents, our ‘Urban Construction Site’ is intended to enable direct contact with the space and its users,” Krüger and Rhiner explain as their core objective.

Over a period of four months, the two students tested their concept at Bonn’s Chlodwigplatz as a ‘real-world laboratory’ and, together with local residents, planned, built, and shaped the public space. The project centered on two hypotheses: 1. The city is made by its users – they should help shape their surroundings. 2. Public space is never finished, but always changing – it is ‘in the making.’ The “Urban Construction Site” should not be understood as a completed object, but as a “learning process” in which social, functional, and design assumptions are tested at a 1:1 scale, Krüger and Rhiner explain. It serves as a space for dialogue and opens up new pathways for participation.

For their final project “Urban Construction Site,” Julian Krüger and Lorenz Rhiner have already been awarded the Alanus University departmental prize for the best bachelor’s thesis. They are also currently nominated for the prestigious BDA Masters Prize 2025, which is awarded annually by the Association of German Architects (BDA). The project was supervised by Junior Professor Miriam Hamel and Professor Ragnhild Klußmann.

The two students have now completed their bachelor’s thesis, but the “Urban Construction Site” is intended to remain: every Monday from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., work will continue on site, and all citizens are warmly invited to come by and join in. The continuation of the project is being led by the Mackeviertel Neighborhood Office, which has served as a contact point for residents and a meeting place for initiatives in the district since September 2014.

The project was made possible through funding from the City of Bonn’s discretionary fund, supported by the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building, the urban development funding program of the federal government, the states and municipalities, the Ministry of Regional Identity, Communities, Building and Digitalization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the City of Bonn.

Contact for press inquiries:
+49 (0)2222 9321-1944
presse@alanus.edu

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