With Tegel Airport having been shut down, the state of Berlin now has some valuable, well-connected inner-city areas available for housing. On a total area of approx. 48 ha, the aim is to enhance the eastern airfield and the adjoining areas of the Reinickendorf district to create a new urban district. It is planned to build around 5,000 new flats for 12,000 residents in a mixed-function urban district linked up to green and landscape spaces. The aim is for the new Schumacher district to make a significant contribution to the housing strategy of the state of Berlin. The overall competition area with around 600,000 sqm is arranged around a central park and forms clear-cut edges towards existing urban structures. The outwardly closed, inwardly open block structures with private residential courtyards are divided into separate neighbourhoods by identity-forming district squares. High points house the day nurseries on the ground and 1st floors. Commercial uses are concentrated along the northern and southern edges and in Kurt-Schumacher-Platz. Extending along the northern edge of the district park is a sun-facing promenade with cafés and restaurants that forms an identity-forming centre of the area. The school campus is situated right next to the underground railway stop. A two-storey flat building with public uses links the district up with the planned industrial and research park “Berlin TXL – The Urban Tech Republic” (UTR) and the Tegeler Feld.
