Günes Seyfarth stands in front of that place, which is hard to beat in terms of desolation, and goes into raptures. She has apparently blocked out the metal fence in front of her and the stone desert behind it, as well as the desolation and gray dreariness of this spacious square. Instead, Günes Seyfarth sees “a green oasis” and a “jungle explosion” in her mind’s eye; On top of that, children climbing, couples picnicking, a soccer field, urban farming, a cultural meeting place, “and up there,” she says, stretching her index finger to the right, “there’s also a sports garden.”
In short, what is currently a fenced-in brownfield site right next to the Neuperlach Center bus station will, in a few months, become a “lively place where people feel comfortable”. Says Günes Seyfarth, who already has a name for the site: Neuperland. This is how the 43-year-old and her co-partner Michi Kern named the temporary use project on Hanns-Seidel-Platz in Neuperlach, for which they were awarded the contract by the city in November.
Hanns-Seidel-Platz in Neuperlach is hard to beat in terms of desolation.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
Since then there has been a Christmas market in the circus tent, a carnival party and a food truck festival, but now things are about to get started in real life – with the redesign of the 3,000 square meter area and the construction of a community center made of containers, which will, among other things, have a café, event rooms and… to house a start-up store.
In order to present their plans for the area and get suggestions from the citizens, the Neuperland team is inviting people to an information event this Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the “Shaere”, where Günes Seyfarth runs the “Community Kitchen”. Meanwhile, her partner Michi Kern has already set up various temporary cultural uses in Munich – for example in a former concrete factory in Obersendling, the “Sugar Mountain”, or at “Fluffy Clouds” on the grounds of the Georgenschwaige spa in Schwabing.
Despite this experience and the success of the “Community Kitchen” in Neuperlach, there were also skeptical and critical voices in the district about the plans for Hanns-Seidel-Platz. The Ramersdorf-Perlach (BA) district committee has approved an application with a number of suggestions for improvement on how the interim use project planned until the end of 2026 should be “optimized in a way that is suitable for Neuperlach”. Among other things, the BA called for “intensive control and support” of the site and rejected the original idea of a food truck on the site.
“The criticism surprised us a bit,” says Günes Seyfarth – on the one hand. On the other hand, Neuperland is located in a place “that is heavily burdened with historical ballast”. To be more precise, it is above all disappointment, anger and anger that many people in Neuperlach associate with Hanns-Seidel-Platz. Because exactly where the interim use is planned, the cultural and community center that the city promised the district more than half a century ago should have been standing for a long time. But despite all the announcements, we have not yet progressed beyond two interim buildings. And now another temporary solution is to follow in Neuperland, which of course brings back memories of decades of neglect in the neighborhood.
“My hope is that we will develop a positive vibe here in the next two and a half years so that at least a little of this baggage disappears,” says Günes Seyfarth. According to her, the building application for the two-story container building is currently being drawn up, “but it shouldn’t look like containers,” as she emphasizes. If everything goes as planned, the community center could be ready by fall.
It should start earlier in the west of the site, where a sports garden with table tennis tables and basketball hoops as well as opportunities for urban gardening are planned. A fenced soccer field, climbing frames and play equipment will be built in the southern part. There will also be various seating options, an open-air clay oven for grilling and lots of greenery throughout the entire area, announces Günes Seyfarth. “The people in Neuperlach should be able to use this place – in an active or relaxed form.”
However, all of these plans are not set in stone, emphasizes the head of the “Community Kitchen”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/.”We also want to try things out here. And above all: involve people through participation.” A first step towards this should be the information event on Tuesday, for which 70 guests have already registered, says Günes Seyfarth. “I think this shows the great interest of the people in Neuperlach that something is finally happening here.”