It could become a role model for how to prepare old buildings for a new use with respect for history: With this extremely appreciative conclusion, the urban design commission published the conversion plans for the barrel hall and the Jutierhalle in the creative quarter on Dachauer Straße/corner of Schwere late Tuesday afternoon -Reiter-Straße honored. Representing the architects from the Bez und Kock office in Stuttgart, who were unable to attend due to health reasons, two representatives of the municipal building department had previously presented to the commission how the two listed industrial halls, completed in 1926, are to be filled with new life in the future.
The 100 meter long and 20 meter wide barrel hall, formerly used by the public utility company as a pipe store, is to house two event halls for performances by the independent theater scene and for pop concerts, the larger of which can accommodate up to 1000 visitors. In addition, presentation and production areas as well as gastronomy are planned. The Jutierhalle directly opposite, which has a similarly large floor area, is to become a center for studios and creative workspaces. For this purpose, around 60 wooden room modules of 20 square meters each are to be installed on two floors, which can be used flexibly. The most important goal of the planning, said Detlev Langer from the building department, is “to let the industrial effect of the halls continue to have an impact in all its power”. The start of construction has been pushed back by a year to 2023, with the planned completion date of 2026.
The Jutierhalle, which has a floor area similar to that of the barrel hall, is to become a center for studios and creative workspaces.
(Photo: Bez + Kock Architects)
Because of their location in the middle of the creative district, but also because of their size and effect, the two halls are the heart of the entire construction project, which is of historical importance for the city. Because the land is owned by the public sector, new, consistently affordable living space for more than 2000 people can also be created in this fairly central location – on the border between Maxvorstadt and Neuhausen. In addition, large new areas for trade and science are to be developed and the milieu of creative workers already resident there will be preserved.
The plans for the two halls are “an excellent example of how old and new can be combined,” said deputy city home caretaker Hanns Michael Küpper at the meeting of the city design commission, which advises the city on construction projects of particular importance, and thus in this case contacted the owner directly. Otherwise it is mostly about projects of private investors. “It will be a place with a very high identification value,” continued Küpper, he could be exemplary “not only as a contribution to monument protection, but also for resource-saving construction”. Peter Brückner, architect from Tirschenreuth, campaigned for flexibility in the pending official inspections: “The worst thing is when the halls are covered with fire protection and in the end there is no dignity left in the historic building.” One should “not ignore security issues, of course, but rethink them,” said Brückner. “With projects like this, you can’t stick to all the DIN standards in the world, there is no DIN standard for the judging hall.” If there were “new ways” here, this could also become a model for future conversions of buildings.
But there were also critical questions from the commission. Piero Bruno, an architect from Berlin, wanted to know how the preservation of the historical substance could go hand in hand with the necessary noise protection. Because the specification is that the neighboring future residential areas must not be disturbed by 100 decibel loud concerts in the barrel hall. That, according to Bruno, is not feasible with the partially glazed roof. Robert Wimmer from the building department replied that a ceiling with a sophisticated soundproofing concept was being installed over the large event hall – with the result that the glass elements in the roof would not be visible from below, but in the other parts of the barrel hall they would be.
The Freising landscape architect Doris Grabner criticized the fact that an approach zone was primarily planned between the halls. “What forces you to seal so much and not open the area anymore?” If water can seep away there, it also has a positive effect on the microclimate. Detlev Langer from the building department pointed out “that it’s not just small trucks or ten-ton trucks from Edeka that go there, it’s also about 40-ton trucks, we have to reckon with the largest trucks”. An objection that did not convince Grabner: “Even a heavy-duty area does not automatically have to be fully sealed.” If you plan it differently, this area would also be “perhaps even more exciting”.