Priwall promenade, Travemünde – cast stone ahoy

Priwall is an about 3 km long peninsula at the river Trave estuary in the east of Schleswig-Holstein. It is part of Travemünde as an urban district of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. As a wide sandy beach at the northeastern part of the peninsula invites to swim in the Bay of Lübeck, Priwall is highly frequented above all in the summer months.

The new circumferential, experience promenade connects the rather quietly situated waterside of the Priwall peninsula to the bank of Travemünde that is highly frequented by tourists. A private investor was the mainspring of the development: In the area of the harbor with the Passat, a museum ship, providing space for 500 sailing boats, beautiful promenade villas and dune villa were already built in 2012.

Resistant to tidal waves

In spring of 2016, the works began for redesigning the Priwall promenade. Since March 2017, the first construction section with a length of approx. 100 m has already been opened to the public, including a barrier-free access to the ferry terminal and the beach which is connecting the promenade situated about 3 m above sea level to the water directly. A viewpoint as well as a step system with stairs and seating areas allowing for a panoramic view over the Trave and the beach are also included in the project. A special feature: The surface of the bright steps are treated in a sand-blasting process with steel and are designed in the shade of Rinnit Beige medium.

The edges are provided with a tactile walking surface indicator of 8 to 5 cm colored in black that is permanently embedded in concrete using the Rinn Bi-Color technique. Additional technical measures were necessary for the requirements directly on waterfront. Sheet pile walls, for example, had to be prepared for being fixed by means of Halfen channels, so as to withstand the pressure of tidal waves.

Color play in three shades

The promenade is paved with Magnum slabs without bevel in the size of 40x30x12 cm furnished with a natural stone face that is ground and fine-blasted. The color scheme used for the pavement is an interplay of three soft and warm pastel shades, creating a pleasant, maritime atmosphere. By the end of 2019, additional 800 m of promenade were paved using the Magnum slabs, opening up all areas for vacationers and residents in a barrier-free way.

Barrier-free elegance

Promenade and boardwalk are designed as two elongated pathways, leading up to the ferry terminal. Pedestrians and wheelchair users can use a long circular path without hinderance. Even the passenger ferry is suitable for wheelchairs. The center of the promenade is equipped with a box gutter as tactile element for people with visual impairments.

A large extensive flight of stairs with wood decks was built at the harbor basin as a large seating and resting place enabling visitors to spend more time by the water in the sun. The complex as a whole appears straight-lined and perfectly constructed.

Pile construction

The superstructure is based on a concrete substructure as a pile construction. When arranging the building components on the foundation, the task now was to ensure the best possible corrosion protection. For this purpose, threaded sleeves made of stainless steel V4A were provided on the bottom sides of the concrete elements to be installed. By means of V4A threaded rods, the concrete elements were then fixed to the already existing recesses of the substructure using a special grout. A particular advantage of the steps and precast elements made by Rinn is that they are calibrated to height exactly. This accelerated construction and ensured the good result.

Sustainable and worth a prize

All products of Rinn have been manufactured in a carbon neutral manner since 2014. Therefore, it was possible to avoid approx. 400 tons of CO₂ emissions in this construction project alone. Environmental criteria play an ever greater role in construction related decisions. Thanks to the high-quality equipment with benches, two themed playgrounds and the newly built Baltic Sea Aquarium „Ostseestation“ with the boardwalk on the waterfront, the promenade becomes a center of attraction for small ones in search of fun. With the project „experience promenade at the river Trave estuary“ the SWUP planning office was nominated for the German Landscape Architecture Prize 2021 in the second and decisive evaluation viewing.