Danish architects COBE have won a competition to transform Cologne’s old industrial harbour into a lively and sustainable neighbourhood with a huge waterfall and a landmark public pool.

The pool will collect rainwater and waste heat from the district and becomes a new attraction in the city.

For more than a decade city authorities have been discussing how the 35-hectare area should be developed. In February 2016, the City of Cologne and urban development company Moderne Stadt launched an architecture competition for a new masterplan, called Deutzer Hafen.

COBE’s winning project reinterprets the industrial harbour by creating a dense urban building structure, active and climate proofed public spaces and new traffic routes, including a new bicycle bridge over the Rhine River. The pool and waterfall are the most eye-catching additions however.

“We have created a consistent sustainable project that is carefully adapted to the local climate,” said COBE founder Dan Stubbergaard. “Flooding from the Rhine River is a serious problem in Cologne. Therefore, we have been working with a consistent proofing of the whole district by collecting rainwater in a big public pool, which is heated from waste heat from the neighbourhood.

“It solves a serious problem and simultaneously creates a unique attraction for the citizens.”

COBE will collaborate with engineers Transsolar and landscape architects Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl, who are experts in designing water features.

Franz-Josef Höing, Cologne’s director of urban development, said: “The design team is very smartly questioning which of the existing buildings to keep and how to translate the old structures into a new harbour district. All in all their concept visualises a lively, colourful mixed neighbourhood, where the industrial heritage is tangible”,

This project is not the first time that COBE has worked on revitalising an old harbour area. Since 2008 the practice has been upgrading Copenhagen’s North Harbour, and it is also behind the winning proposal to transform the Danish capital’s Paper Island inner harbour.