Perhaps this story was just too good to be unsullied. It sounded like a city fairy tale, too. Two students dared to play an architectural puzzle on how to do it as a budding academic. And suddenly – through downright peculiar alliances – this utopia, smiled at as the cloud cuckoo land, becomes reality. Coburg receives a globe. In the city of Prince Albert, who made a career in the British royal family, a theater building will commemorate Shakespeare and London – a coronation for the Commune, which, like no other Bavarian, has old ties to the Crown. Wow.
Anders Macht is one of the two ex-students, on the way to work he passes the Globe construction site every day and his feelings are then mixed at best. He and his ex-fellow student Isabell Stengel were invited to the groundbreaking ceremony, but both refused. This may be difficult to explain to outsiders. Because about the Globe, that was her idea. In 2016, their professor had given them the task of thinking a little about an interim venue for the state theater in need of renovation. And once when they were standing on the Schlossplatz, with the history of Coburg in their heads, the thought suddenly sprang up: Why not a circular theater building like the big, well, siblings of the city?
Anders Macht, a former architecture student who, together with fellow student Isabell Stengel, came up with the idea for a Globe Theater in Coburg.
(Photo: private)
And then the groundbreaking ceremony without the two of them? “We didn’t want to be on the photo as mascots,” says Macht, “no show story,” please. In the beginning it was always said that the idea providers would of course have a decisive role in the progress of the project. However, Macht believes that this has never really been achieved. Coarse contact, yes. Both could also look forward to a beautiful design award. But they would have imagined participation differently.
In order to understand this, one has to get into the complex process that made your idea a reality. At first, Stengel and Macht had only been commended for their vision at the college, until the city got wind of it. One was delighted, soon disillusioned: too expensive, too risky, unresolved issues of space. The idea was buried twice, until shortly before Christmas 2017 a city council from the left submitted an urgent application – and afterwards supporters came forward as if from a fairy tale: above all Michael Stoschek, Brose entrepreneur and one of those economic leaders in Bavaria who thinks the left is worse off Days the label “big capital” is pinned on. And yet: The alliance was successful, the Globe was decided – not least because Brose announced that it would take over the planning together with the HUK and the Kaeser company and transfer it to the city after completion. Sounded really good.
That the entrepreneur Michael Stoschek, notorious for polarizing – who is now enjoying national celebrities thanks to Jan Böhmermann’s ZDF satires, albeit involuntarily – had to get involved in strange alliances? “Ideology” has always been alien to him, explained Stoschek in an interview with SZ in 2018, instead he is interested in “pragmatic solutions”. And: He burns for the Globe, “this is my child”.
Some people in Coburg see things differently with their children. But Stoschek can undoubtedly claim part of his fatherhood for himself. It was he who made three million euros for the Globe at three Coburg companies. It was also he who convinced the then finance minister, Markus Söder, of a state grant of ten million euros. A grant, which of course meant that the city had to become the client, not the “Globe GmbH” of the three companies mentioned, as a city spokesman explains. Because the state cannot, of course, give companies any money.
This is what the construction site looked like in mid-September. The topping-out ceremony was recently held there. The house is scheduled to open in autumn 2022.
(Photo: Olaf Przybilla)
A very special construction site: two idea providers, three financially involved companies, the city as the client, the Free State as co-financier, different architects for design and execution – and all of this on a wasteland that is in great need of development, which pedestrians can reach along industrial buildings. And just Michael Stoschek. With the prophecy that there would be a crash, you couldn’t have got rich in betting shops.
The topping-out ceremony was recently held. How satisfied is he, Stoschek, with the construction site? “You can’t be satisfied with that,” he said. The shareholders of Globe GmbH had presented the city with detailed plans for outdoor facilities including lighting, the plans were enthusiastically received in 2018, “the new city tour and the new city council should adhere to this”. What is so contentious? A building in wood colors can be seen on the construction board to this day, instead the city has opted for “a medium and dark gray industrial facade”. The planning of the outdoor area was also handed over to tender, but was ultimately awarded differently, “not good handling of tax money”. So it crashes. What has to change? In the future, the general planner must be involved in the event of changes. And “the initiator”, says Stoschek. So – from his point of view – himself.
Isabell Stengel, former architecture student who, together with fellow student Anders Macht, came up with the idea for a Globe Theater in Coburg.
(Photo: private)
The city is officially brief: Globe GmbH – the three companies, including Michael Stoschek – had been informed several times, both “in writing and orally,” that the city was responsible for the completion of the planning for Globe and outdoor facilities as well as the building owner function have to be “, explains Mayor Dominik Sauerteig – that is what the municipality rules prescribe. There is certainly a lot going on behind the scenes and, as always when it comes to Stoschek, there are two very contrary attitudes. Some say it doesn’t work without trouble, it’s notorious and the fight for a color – which should turn gray for pragmatic reasons – is the classic pars-pro-toto fight for a windmill. The others say that Stoschek is, as is so often the case, disappointed because a good and visionary cause is not being carried out in the way he hoped as an entrepreneur. And as an “initiator”.
Anders Macht finds the word difficult. Just like the massive functional buildings behind the Globe Theater. His colleague Stengel finds the execution even more difficult. Obviously, only the outer shape remains of the idea of a globe, whereas an inner round would be much more important. There, however, as she recognizes it on the plans, the angular should dominate, “classic peep-show”. She hoped for something simple, something light, playful with a round interior. Instead, they now see “Standard”. Sure, you’re out of the building and you might be pleasantly surprised in the end – because when it’s finished, the building, of course, she wants to enter it. At the moment she is “totally disappointed”. The fairy tale, once upon a time.