LOMA – Lokstedter Marktplatz

LOMA – Lokstedter Marktplatz emerged within the framework of a traffic laboratory in Hamburg’s Grelckstraße, where parking spaces were temporarily transformed into experimental public space. Inspired by the existing weekly market, the project aimed to expand the street’s role as a place for encounter, exchange, and everyday urban life.
Rather than installing finished design objects, the project focused on a co-creative building process with local residents. Following earlier street furniture projects in Hamburg’s Rathausquartier, the initiative explored how collective construction can foster a sense of ownership and identification with public space. The overall process design, construction principles, and facilitation of the building workshops were developed and led by me, while the formal design of the furniture was created in collaboration with notablindspot.
All wooden components were pre-cut in advance, allowing participants of different ages and abilities to take part in sanding, painting, and assembling the elements on site. The construction system functioned like a chain of beads: wooden pieces were threaded onto metal rods, enabling an accessible and inclusive building process in which children, adults, elderly participants, and people with disabilities could work together.
Over two weekend workshops, benches, tables, a sandbox, and a table tennis structure were collectively built directly on the future square. The open construction process allowed passersby to observe, join, and shape the project as it unfolded. The completion of the Lokstedter Marktplatz was celebrated with a street festival featuring music, food, and the ceremonial inauguration of the new street furniture.