Master`s Thesis ULS · Summer Semester 2023 · Jodok Kroitzsch / Myriam Künzel

Southeast of Heidelberg lies Patrick-Henry-Village (PHV), a significant remnant of the city's military history with a distinct island-like character. The former U.S. military housing estate was built between 1952 and 1955 to accommodate American military personnel stationed in the region and their families. Covering almost 100 hectares, the site differs markedly from its surroundings through its American-style urban structure and road network. Its isolated location between the B535 federal road and the A5 motorway reinforces its character as a self-contained urban enclave. Following the withdrawal of the U.S. military in 2013, the site was transferred to the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks (BImA) and designated as a conversion area—the largest of its kind in Heidelberg. The City of Heidelberg intends to transform the site into the future "Knowledge City of Tomorrow."

The redevelopment of an area of this scale presents considerable spatial, functional, and social challenges. To address this complexity, the Dynamic Masterplan PHV was developed within the framework of the International Building Exhibition Heidelberg (IBA) in collaboration with several urban planning offices. Conceived as a flexible planning framework, the masterplan is designed to respond to the long-term requirements of a project of this magnitude. It proposes a new mixed-use district for 10,000 to 15,000 residents and employees, combining housing, workplaces, public open spaces, and sustainable urban development.

Building upon the results of the IBA and previous design competitions, the thesis further developed the proposed new town centre of Patrick-Henry-Village. Its primary focus was to explore how public open space can balance climate resilience with a high-quality urban environment. At the same time, the project investigated how sponge city principles can contribute to climate-adaptive urban development.

The design envisions the new town centre as an interface between urban density and the surrounding landscape. The urban core deliberately extends into the adjacent green corridors while incorporating their spatial structures into the overall urban concept. The result is a vibrant urban centre that accommodates diverse uses while integrating the ecological and climatic benefits of the sponge city approach into the new neighbourhood.