Breakdowns and delays are as much a part of many major construction and rehabilitation projects as mortar and screed, but the Gasteig seems particularly drawn to these two uninvited guests. Just a brief reminder of the trouble with the old architects and their copyrights or the embarrassing mistakes in the architectural competition, which ultimately had to be repeated.
So now there are more delays that could build up. If the Gasteig is actually not completely renovated and ready for occupancy until 2030, as is already suspected internally, then there will be a whopping five years to the actually planned opening in 2025.
Gasteig boss Max Wagner was severely scolded for every month of delay, you have to remember that now. He was certainly partly to blame for that. But he undoubtedly drove the redevelopment of the largest cultural center in Europe with a passion and energy that seems lacking now that the coalition has thwarted him.
Why the building department, which has already proven that it can handle major projects, is finding it so difficult to get going, must remain open for the time being. But the fact is that construction costs are exploding. Every month of delay makes the Gasteig more expensive.
If this continues, the city will have to make a new fundamental decision in the coming years: either it stays at the limit of 450 million euros and gets a basic renovation including upgrading the concert hall, which most visitors will hardly notice. Or she goes the extra mile and stands by a new, state-of-the-art Gasteig.
A way out of this cost trap could still be negotiations with the Free State as to whether they would like to use and rent one of the city’s two top concert halls. The finances of the state of Bavaria are not developing any rosier than those in Munich, the construction of a new hall in the Werksviertel would exacerbate the problems of the Söder government.
If they are still not interested in shared use and the city is left to its own devices, Munich will face a luxury problem. The interim on the Isar with a concert hall, library and from summer on with rooms for adult education and music colleges is so well received that it will stay.
The city would then have to use two cultural centers. Therein lurks not only another financial risk, but also an all too human one: If they only minimally renovate the old Gasteig, Philharmoniker, book lovers and adult education students could simply want to stay in the interim on the Isar.