A series of site-specific interventions takes advantage of the riverine microclimates, creating shaded, cool, and comfortable spaces for resting, gathering, exercising, and experiencing the river’s unique atmospheres. These interventions combine improvements to pathways, river terraces, overlooks, entry markers, and public amenities with custom-designed landscape furniture, including benches, shading and cooling structures, lighting, water fountains, bicycle racks, and seating areas.

The furniture’s distinctive design language draws inspiration from the trunks of large floodplain trees and river pebbles, recalling the Danube’s historical landscapes of alluvial forests, mature trees, and shifting riverbanks. A recurring golden-yellow color palette, combined with tinted concrete, wood, metal, Jura stone, and gravel, establishes a recognizable identity along the route.

Developed as a flexible catalogue of elements, the furniture and landscape interventions adapt to different sites and uses, combining minimal physical intervention with maximum utility, comfort, and beauty. Together, they transform the pathway into a sequence of inviting public spaces that celebrate the river’s ecological character and microclimatic qualities, bringing residents into closer contact with the Danube and supporting their well-being.

Client and Institutional Partners: Stadt Ingolstadt – Stadtplanungsamt, Stadtentwicklung und Baurecht; Verkehrsmanagement und Geoinformation (VMG); Statistik und Stadtforschung; Umweltamt; Wasserwirtschaftsamt Ingolstadt; Stadtarchiv Ingolstadt; Stadtbücherei Ingolstadt; Europäisches Donau Museum; Bundeswehr Ingolstadt; Bund Naturschutz Ingolstadt.

Team: Silvia Benedito & Alexander Häusler (partners) Larissa Belcic, Emily Schlickman, Pia Faust, Marcus Eichermüller, Marissa Angell, Hope Strode, Gabriella Solange Rodriguez-Berrios

Photos: Jann Averwerser