Moselspitze at the sky promenade

Competition for the realisation of the "Moselblick rest area with viewpoint”


SITUATION
Situated on a mountain spur in the Moselle landscape, the surroundings of the new rest area are characterized by adjoining vineyards and rolling hills. Defined by spaciousness and an undisguised horizon an open meadow plateau adjoining the mountain spur forms a contrast to the intensively utilized and finely structured Moselle valley with its constantly changing perspectives. The view from above over the vineyards into the Moselle valley and onto the bridge cultivate extraordinary qualities for local recreation and tourism.

CONCEPT
Rest area, routing, leisure and biotope areas are united to create a common, memorable landscape. The facility is neither exclusively a traffic area, natural space, green area or recreational area but receives its tension by the references and superimpositions. The new tower on the edge of the plateau, the Moselspitze, will be a sign of identity.

The backbone of the gently winding path, which follows the Moselle loops, is the sky promenade along the edge of the plateau. The trail connects directly to the superordinate network of hiking trails and leads to the new bridge lookout and to the Moselspitze.

MOSELSPITZE - LOOKOUT TOWER
Through centuries of wine cultivation, the Moselle landscape, with its steep slopes and its typical, linearly arranged vineyard piles is, landscape-forming and formative. The "Moselspitze" lookout tower with its slender, gridded supporting structure takes this up. Like a winegrower, the visitor symbolically climbs the vineyard between the poles and experiences the strenuous cultivation of the slopes. Thus the resulting winding staircase symbolizes the vine stock as a plant with the grape vines as cabinets. The Cabinets invite the visitor to linger and they will offer information to interested visitors. From the upper pedestal (30m) the visitor experiences a breathtaking view of the surroundings. Inspired by the vineyard piles the supporting structure is made of wood. The path, i.e. the staircase structure between the piles, is made of coloured concrete to resemble the Moselle's soil-slate rock.

REST AREA WITH PICNIC MEADOW
Located directly at the exit of the B50, the parking spaces with restroom facilities and picnic area are arranged on the lower level of the plateau and are therefore accessible completely barrier-free. The same applies to the road network to Moselspitze and the bridge lookout. The lawn between the traffic areas and the sky promenade invites travellers along the B50 as well as passing hikers to take some refreshments. For this purpose, the lawn is equipped with precast concrete elements that serve as a lounger, chair, table or play element.

REFUGE
The refuge offers recreational opportunities for the local population in both summer and winter. For passing hikers an additional covered resting place is offered. The simple and clearly structured floor plan offers a common room including bar and restaurant furniture. The adjoining rooms such as toilets and storerooms are serving and functional. In summer, the shelter can be connected to the outside by opening a large wall sheath. In this way, functions such as campfire and outside or inside seating are integrated. Geographically typical, the refuge is built in solid wood construction. From the outside - in accordance with the typical Moselle quarry stone masonry - a correspondingly structured concrete facing shell is placed upstream. This provides protection from the weather and environmental influences on the outside, as well as cosiness and comfort on the inside.

In collaboration with JUCA architektur + landschaftsarchitektur