Neutorplatz, Bocholt

A new inner-city retail trade development with underground car parking

The object "Neutorplatz" is in the city centre of Bocholt, within the former fortified walls, now a street called Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring.

Here the new development forms an end to the Neustrasse by creating a public space. Two 5-storey "towers" mark the transition from the “Wallring” to the “Neutorplatz”. A 4-storey building block produces the connection to the pedestrian precinct, and encloses the elliptically formed square which opens on its northern side to the city centre. A rotunda marks the development’s conclusion on the southern bank of the river Aa. A further building component on the northern river bank continues the development, connecting it with the existing buildings in the Neustrasse.

Retail trade takes up the ground floor and part of the 1st floor. The wide store frontages stand out from the smaller windows of the upper floors which accommodate primarily offices. The facades use the brick clinker architecture traditional in Bocholt, and are complemented with modern elements which generate a diverse arrangement.
The Neutorplatz development has succeeded in extending the pedestrian precinct with attractive retail trade areas, and in letting it flow into a public square which puts an attractive final point to the city centre of Bocholt at the end of the Neustrasse.

In addition the planning was awarded with a laudatory mention of "Urban planning cultural initiative" in the 2001 competition for exemplary commercial architecture. The quality of the ensemble was emphasized, together with the neighbouring developments completed at almost the same time