City oasis for everyone! Konrad-Adenauer-Platz is centrally located in downtown Langenfeld. The square area, which is partly covered by an underground car park, borders directly on the town hall and is surrounded by different uses such as gastronomy, retail and services. With a concise concrete block paving and custom-made concrete block island elements from METTEN Stein+Design, the Essen office "Förder Landschaftsarchitekten" transformed the inner-city square into an inviting urban space with a high quality of stay. The islands form a green oasis in the city, a "town hall garden" that ensures a better urban climate through water, planting and a small paved area. Preserved plane trees and newly planted maple trees, perennials and green spaces also add “green” to the public city oasis. Konrad-Adenauer-Platz is one of the central places in downtown Langenfeld. It was getting on in years and no longer looked contemporary. With its redesign, the square was restructured, its quality of stay improved and accessibility implemented. In order to improve the quality of the urban space, the city of Langenfeld, together with the planning office "Förder Landschaftsarchitekten", first looked for design ideas that would be shared with the public. Many citizens took the opportunity to let their ideas flow into the redesign of the square. The quality of stay and family friendliness were very important to everyone involved, reports landscape architect Arnaud Greder. Ultimately, the planning office "Förder Landschaftsarchitekten" bundled all the ideas and created an overall concept from them, which is based, among other things, on the redesign goals: improving the quality of stay, reorganizing the square area and accessibility. For the adjoining action and movement areas, including the Umbriano® pavement stone in granite gray and white that opens up the space. Almost 4,000 square meters of space were redesigned with the concrete paving, laid in straight rows measuring 30 x 20 x 10 centimeters and 12.5 x 12.5 x 10 centimeters at the building connections. With Umbriano®, the special CleanTop® surface protection with CF 90 makes it easier to maintain and clean the square: "It was important to us to give this central urban space a new quality of use and to strengthen its inviting components in the long term with a well-kept look," says Arnaud Greder. The manufacturing process developed by METTEN specifically for Umbriano® is unique and protected by international patents. The paved square is repeatedly interrupted by various “islands”. Arranged in the middle of the square are “islands” with seating walls and areas of vegetation or with water elements. In front of the health department, "islands" invite you to linger as play and activity areas. In addition, the islands, as a kind of "town hall garden", contribute to an improvement in the urban climate through water, planting and a small amount of paved area. The “island surrounds” are also custom-made from concrete blocks to match the paving. The basis for this is provided by the ConceptDesign line from METTEN Stein+Design. The block step system also comes from the ConceptDesign line, which compensates for a change in terrain and enables quick access to the square via the adjacent access roads. Equipped with a colour-contrasting concrete inlay warning strip, the staircase also ensures safe use for visually impaired citizens. "With the redesign of Konrad-Adenauer-Platz, we have succeeded in giving Langenfeld's city center a new identity that enriches city life. The new paving, which has a strong surface effect and which contributes to a safe, walkable urban space, makes a significant contribution to this,” summarizes landscape architect Greder. METTEN Stein+Design only uses high-quality sand and natural stone chippings to design its surfaces, which, in combination with the surface treatment, create the special look. The valuable material is used in a very resource-saving manner. Basically, the natural stone chippings are only used in the facing concrete, i.e. in the top layer.