A composition of different buildings provides the village with an infrastructural center and frames a multifunctional community space. The new village center was a “centennial project” for the small municipality. In essence, the architectural competition held in 1999 encompassed the same program that was later implemented – town hall, brewery, multi-purpose hall – but was planned for a different site. The award-winning project by Theo Lang/Karl Schwärzler was not well received by local residents; a public review was initiated in order to discuss alternatives. In the meantime, additional lots were purchased, opening the way for broader planning initiatives. Lang? Schwärzler began to collaborate with Hermann Kaufmann, who had also participated in the competition. The planning was revised, while retaining aspects of the competition entry: the location of the town hall as a distinct hub both “on the square” and “along the road”; the exposure and reuse of the structural core of the old brewery and its connection to a new wing that houses a foyer and hall, and whose transparent facade faces the square. Further developments included a new wing that houses offices and a bakery along the north side of the re-routed Bildsteinstraße, the integration of the underground garage with its staircases to the new buildings, as well as plans for a future village hall on the east side. The public square stretches to the foot of the hill in the background; at the front it is screened from the street by the cubic massing of the town hall.
Text: Otto Kapfinger
