Some parts of the Bernese Oberland must absolutely be prevented from anonymous and interchangeable urbanization. The existing sprawl with single-family houses cannot be considered as an acceptable answer in term of urban development. This extraordinary natural place demands something absolutely specific, a large-scale form that is in relationship with the powerful landscape.

A development of the delta can only be successful if private and public interests are reconciled. Our proposal therefore consists of a new residential quarter and a large new public space. Instead of making only the lake shore accessible to everyone, we suggest a park that takes up 30% of the entire property.

The development site is one of 3 identifiable segments of the Kander delta plain including the central river and the alluvial deposits of the delta, the woodland and lake inlet to the north east. The project is to enhance the geography by emphasizing and adding to the strong landscape structure already in place. Certainly it is not the question to imitate forms found in nature, nevertheless the transposition of the geographic delta structure gives rise to the urban and landscape forms. The dimensions, material and texture of the proposed designs shall however plainly reveal the artifice.

At first sight, the park looks like another river bank of the delta. In pragmatic terms the transposed gravel riverbeds become roads and pedestrian pathways, the delta plain with its meadows and alluvia islands becomes a public park consisting of recreation lawns, river and lakeside beaches, the mixed woodland groves becomes the neighborhoods street trees. A riverbed designed to accept a controlled proportion of the seasonal Kander flow brings to life this segment of the delta, nourishing the riparian ecosystem, the wetlands and the meadows.