Together with the Dutch architecture office MVRDV and the landscape architecture office LOLA, Studio AAD won first place in the competition for the Innovation Park in Heilbronn.

About five years ago, the state of Baden-Württemberg developed an AI economic strategy, within which the idea of an Innovation Park for Artificial Intelligence emerged. The goal is to create a hotspot for developing innovative AI products for the future. International companies and start-ups are expected to establish themselves here and test applications for artificial intelligence. The chosen location is in the northwest of the city of Heilbronn, in the Steinäcker area. Currently, the site is still used for agricultural purposes, but in the coming years, the Heilbronn AI Park is set to become a hub for developing innovative AI products.

As an ecological consulting partner, Studio AAD made a significant contribution to the project through its design expertise and biological knowledge. The investigation area’s data was analyzed by the Animal-Aided Design Studio, resulting in the selection of 31 target species for the competition phase. Various designs were developed through a participatory process. For instance, the forest edge was reimagined in the Parametric Forest EDGE + to make it more attractive to three different target species. In the Parametric Orchard +, the needs of eight different species were considered, and tree and green structures were designed accordingly.