The roller skaters are just a group of dozens who want to get involved and grab a seat in the Paketposthalle, this massive project in the west of Munich. They circle around at the start of the “design camp”, at the end of which it should be a little clearer who will be given a chance to do so in the future when the hall has been completely renovated in 2030.
More than 1,200 ideas for use have been submitted since March as part of the “All for the Hall” campaign. During the “idea voting” that followed, the people of Munich cast around 19,000 votes for their respective favorite ideas. A specialist jury also evaluated the suggestions and is now sending the top ideas to the third phase: the design camp.
For five days, the best ideas for a usage concept are viewed and further developed there. Specifically, it is about the public area of the hall. That will be almost the entire ground-level area under the spectacular concrete roof, 27 meters high and spanning 147 meters. This Monday, the camp in the backstage, i.e. in the immediate vicinity of the parcel post hall, took up its post.
Urban development experts from Urbanista accompany the process. Urban researcher Julian Petrin is its managing director and has experience with such forms of citizen participation. At the opening event in front of the idea generators and experts from the fields of culture, gastronomy, sports and greening, not only he and Gregor Wöltje, one of the heads of the Munich temporary use specialists from “This is Really Happening” (who is currently with Michi Kern and Lissie Kieser just the ” Fat Cat” running in the old Gasteig).
The owner of the hall, Ralf Büschl, also addressed a few words to the camp participants. He tirelessly promotes the project, which he can only finance from his entrepreneurial point of view if he is allowed to build two high-rise buildings on the site next to the hall. Büschl thinks the area around the hall holistically. That’s why he even sees opportunities for ideas that ultimately don’t find a place under the hall roof. “Maybe they can be pictured in the rest of the quarter,” he says, and gets applause for it.
Ralf Büschl, the investor of the Paketposthalle, speaks backstage at the start of the design camp.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
The British artist Morag Myerscough was invited as a speaker who was supposed to set a creative impulse with her outside perspective. The descendant of a clown, who grew up in a gray working-class milieu, has already created expansive, cheerful and colorful works of art all over the world. Very often as large collaborative works with all sorts of social groups. One of her most famous works is the covering of the gate on Hadrian’s Wall. In itself a stone matter from the gray Roman past, which should become a friendly symbol of welcome in their hands instead of defense against enemies.
The artist Morag Myerscough tells about her family history and explains her approach to projects.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
Myerscough’s motto for designing a magical attraction is loosely translated: “Make those close to you happy, then those from far away will come too”. And she advises the participants of the camp: “Rely on what you bring with you in your biographies.” If you love your city, you can’t give it bad advice.
And what the people of Munich would love to have under the roof of the hall is diverse. According to his plans, Ralf Büschl will definitely make it possible for them to experience theater and concerts there in the basement of the hall. There he is planning a large venue that should be suitable for music theater and will therefore have to meet the highest demands on equipment. The stage tower, which is necessary for this and which will only take up a small part of the hall, already stimulates the imagination of the idea generators, who also want to make music and theater under the hall – then with free admission.
Some have suggested that the tower should also be used with a stage on top, others already see a restaurant up there under the hall sky. Bouldering opportunities, dance floors, a studio park, a repair café, youth clubs, a library, exhibition areas and rehearsal rooms all appear on the wish list for the open spaces of the hall. Some also see a flea market or a Nasch market based on the Viennese model. And one of those ideas that is perhaps most strongly influenced by taste these days is a request for a “Rage Room”. This is a place where everyone can really let off steam – without annoying others.
Paketposthalle Designcamp, Backstage, Reitknechtstraße 6, until Friday, July 14, Friday afternoon from 2 p.m. Public final presentation and discussion of the results. A small exhibition explaining the project can be seen throughout the week. Info below www.allefuerdiehalle.de.