Adolf Loos, one of the pioneers of modern architecture, put this in a nutshell: “You can’t get away from it,” is Loos’ famous justification for the fact that architecture has always been considered the most public of all arts. But even if it is practically impossible to get along with all those works built into the urban and other landscapes: that does not mean that you can get into them. That is changing in the 27th year of the “Architektouren”, the annual exhibition of the Bavarian Chamber of Architects and its members. This year, on this Saturday and Sunday, the doors of a total of 218 structures that have been completed in the past three years will be open to anyone who is curious throughout Bavaria.
This topicality is a condition for the planners, who can submit their projects themselves for the architecture tours. An independent advisory board decides whether these projects will actually be included in the program and by no means approves all applications. At the same time, the success rate is significantly higher than in a common architectural competition or similar tenders. But the planners have already received the order for the respective new building, the interior, the landscape plan, the district planning or the renovation.
You can usually meet them in person on the architectural tours, and the builders or users of the respective works are often available for a chat. If the Bavarian Chamber of Architects has its way, the talks this year could, among other things, revolve around permanent change. “Architecture transforms” is the motto for 2023, because change is the constant in architecture and for the entire profession. And not just because it usually looks different where it was newly built than before. Whether it looks really good or even better is decided not only by juries and users, but also by the viewers of these most public of all works of art.
The architect tours themselves have also given themselves a new, additional focus this year. “Because a sustainable, socially and nature-friendly life is inconceivable today without the consistent change towards sustainability and resource conservation in planning and building,” explains Chamber President Lydia Haack. That’s why the planners can focus on something this year for the first time, which the chamber calls “Climate Culture Competence” and measures it in the five categories of energy efficiency, climate adaptation, saving space, accessibility and “other aspects of sustainability”. 76 of the 218 projects received separate awards, many of them in two or more categories, for which the chamber issues plaques to be attached to the respective buildings.
In the interests of sustainability, the Chamber of Architects has kept the print run of its printed programs low. But she also has what there is to see and visit on Saturday and Sunday compiled on their website. The database can be searched according to various criteria, including individual locations and their wider surroundings. The SZ presents one project from each of the seven Bavarian districts as an example.
High up in Upper Bavaria
Private residential building in Herrsching am Ammersee by Möbius Architekten.
(Photo: Jasper Müller/Bavarian Chamber of Architects)
Six house numbers are lined up in Herrsching near the Ammersee promenade. There was also little space for the terraced house, which Helma Bock and Holger Möbius from Möbius Architekten could use for their own house with a new building. And where there is supposedly a lack of floor space, a house has to organize itself vertically, with “networked floors, surprising perspectives and an opening to the Ammersee”, as the project description says.
Viewing: June 24 and 25, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., Madeleine-Ruoff-Straße 44, 82211 Herrsching.
Instead of parking in Lower Bavaria
The equipment hall in Frauenau renovated by brunner architects engineers.
(Photo: Johannes Zettel/Bavarian Chamber of Architects)
The building in Frauenau in the Bavarian Forest used to be an old equipment hall belonging to Poschinger’s estate administration. The characteristic quarry stone facade is still there, but planner Robert Brunner from brunner architekten ingenieure had large new openings added to revitalize the building, through which the view from the modern, new apartments opens out into the countryside.
Viewing: 25 June, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Oberfrauenau 27, 94258 Frauenau.
New center in Upper Franconia
Carlsgrün village community center by Kuechereuther architects / urban planners.
(Photo: Felix Meyer/Bavarian Chamber of Architects)
A village needs community, that also applies to the small Carlsgrün, which belongs to Bad Steben in Upper Franconia. For the new village community center in the middle of Carlsgrün, Peter Kuechereuther from Kuechereuther Architekten / Stadtplaner took the example of the twin houses that are typical for the region. The fire brigade is accommodated under the second roof – also indispensable in the village.
Viewing: June 24, 1.30-2 p.m., Siemesweg 1, 95138 Bad Steben, Carlsgrün district.
Look nicer in Swabia
The Alpenstadtmuseum in Sonthofen, designed by Andreas Ferstl.
(Photo: Sebastian Schels/Bavarian Chamber of Architects)
The district of Swabia awarded its own architecture prizes for the first time this year. The Alpenstadtmuseum in Sonthofen, which is also practically brand new, won one of them. Architect Andreas Ferstl connected a newly purchased farmhouse to the old Sonthofen homestead with a new building for the city. New spaces have emerged in the area. The historic situation on the church square was restored, which the jury also appreciated.
Viewing: June 24, 2-4 p.m., Sonnenstraße 187527 Sonthofen.
For a cure in Lower Franconia
Grellmann Kriebel Teichmann & Partner are responsible for the renovation of the spa baths and the former royal lodging house in Bad Kissingen.
(Photo: Gerhard Hagen/Bavarian Chamber of Architects)
Particular caution is required for any intervention in the Unesco world heritage site. The spa architecture of Bad Kissingen has been one of the “Great Spas of Europe” for the past two years as part of the said world heritage, which required a great deal of sensitivity when the state was responsible for the renovation of the former royal lodging house and the spa baths. The office of Grellmann Kriebel Teichmann & Partner has proven it. In the dignified ambience of the Kurhausbad, bathing is no longer used today, but administered.
Viewing: June 25, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., Prinzregentenstraße 6, 97688 Bad Kissingen.
Pause in the Upper Palatinate
Brückner & Brückner Architects designed this wayside chapel in the meadows of the Waldnaab.
(Photo: mju-fotografie/Bavarian Chamber of Architects)
Chapels have long since ceased to be one of the most common building projects, as have sacred buildings in general. Brückner & Brückner Architects were given such a building task in Tirschenreuth by the local Rotary Club and solved it with 325 wooden beams projecting skywards, among other things. The foundation is saturated with kaolin, a raw material used in the Upper Palatinate porcelain industry. The chapel stands in the meadows of the Waldnaab and can only be reached on foot via a field path, even during the architectural tours.
Viewing: 25 June, 2-2.45 p.m. and 3-3.45 p.m., about 30 minutes on foot from the parking lot at Kornbühlstraße 55, 95643 Tirschenreuth.
Second row in Middle Franconia
Juliblau Architects placed this house in the second row in a garden in Erlangen.
(Photo: Carsten Bunnemann/Bavarian Chamber of Architects)
In many Bavarian cities, building land is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. “Re-densification” is standard urban planner repertoire, and when you add the adjective “careful” to that, it might not raise quite as much concern in the older settlements with larger gardens. In Erlangen, Ulrike Höller and Jan Jonas Kunz from Juliblau Architects have carefully re-densified in this way, with an additional residential building in timber frame construction, located in the second row in the garden of an existing property.
Viewing: June 24th, 10am-12pm and 2pm-5pm, guided tours 10.30am, 2pm and 4.30pm, Atzelsberger Steige 3a, 91054 Erlangen.