The aspiration to live and work in urban areas causes a densification of our inner cities. The pressure on the public open spaces is thereby increased: existing open spaces are filled up with residential buildings and so eliminated from the urban fabric. At the same time, as the number of inhabitants increases the pressure on the remaining open spaces raises.

In contrast, new open spaces are being discovered in the city, which for various reasons have not been available for public use and which can now be revaluated - partly by social pressure and partly by changing the framework conditions. This applies in particular to areas on and under infrastructure facilities.

In the dense urban fabric of Stuttgart, the Österreichischer Platz forms a strong traffic-dominated, unattractive and negatively connoted break. At the same time, with its bridge structures and its extensive use as a parking area, it offers potential for a new urban open space. Accordingly, since 2016 different subcultural activities take place, organised and hosted by ‚Verein Stadtlücken’. Meanwhile the public perception of this site is changing.

In this setting, the task was to experimentally design a public open space that could revaluate the particular spatial requirements of the site and connect the existing different city levels.

The Österreichischer Platz was so far a place that was not well known as a public open space. Besides its use as a parking lot, it received nearly no attention. The 'Parasite' - a new coloured open space element - is intended to revitalize the space by contrasting the rough concret bridge. It should fill in gaps and create space. The parasite appears where design of urban space is absent, where there are gaps in perception and use. The parasite depends on its 'hosts’: the buildings and the bridge of the Österreichischer Platz offer a framework in which it can spread. At the same time, the parasite adapts to this framework - becomes massive or narrow, high or low. It acts as a link between the quarters and as an invitation to use the space under the bridge.