The Multihalle in Mannheim, designed by Carlfried Mutschler, Joachim Langner and Frei Otto, was built for the 1975 Federal Garden Show and is now under threat of demolition.
Manfred Sack described it as an “adventure for the eyes”. He even gave his enthusiastic review, which appeared in “Die Zeit” in June 1975, the title “The Miracle of Mannheim”. He was referring to the Mannheim Multihalle, according to Sack the “most complicated simple roof in the world”. Today it is threatened with demolition. Carlfried Mutschler, Joachim Langner and Frei Otto planned the world’s largest wooden lattice shell construction to date for the 1975 Federal Garden Show. All that is currently left of this wonder, which was declared a listed building in 1998, is a dilapidated roof skin that covers an area of 7,400 square meters, but whose stability can no longer be guaranteed. The light-colored PVC foil that has covered the roof since 1981 against Frei Otto’s resistance is filthy, mossy and moldy. Condensation has damaged the wood of the edge beams. Temporary wooden posts anchored in concrete wedges provide additional support for the roof. When a concept for a general renovation costing 11.6 million euros was presented to the Mannheim local council in June 2016, it decided to demolish the building, but left a loophole open: If a significant amount of money was raised by the end of 2017 through external grants or crowdfunding and a permanent use that would finance the operating costs was secured, then a refurbishment could also be discussed.
It is now legitimate to ask why the city has not come up with a viable idea for the use of this building in its 40 years of existence. Although, as its representatives credibly assure us, it has spent considerable sums on its upkeep. Nevertheless, the city itself – with Lord Mayor Peter Kurz at the helm – founded an association in cooperation with the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects to save the miracle. An agency was commissioned to develop a fundraising concept. The fact that Mayor Kurz attended an interdisciplinary workshop on April 1, 2017 to develop ideas for its use was not an April Fool’s joke, but a genuine interest. It seems that the demolition is anything but a done deal. It requires approval under monument law, although the State Office for Monument Protection has deemed the building to be a “cultural monument of particular importance” since Frei Otto was awarded the Pritzker Prize.
Utilization concepts for the Multihalle Mannheim
The main problem is the air conditioning of the hall, which is up to 20 meters high and only makes up a small part of the area covered by the roof. Because there is a complete lack of insulation and storage capacity, any permanent use that requires air conditioning will fail due to the operating costs. The ideas presented at the end of the workshop made one thing clear above all: you have to decide whether to look for a use that suits the hall. Or whether the hall should be converted for a use to be found. One suggestion took up an old concern of Frei Otto’s: pneumatic constructions of different sizes that offer air-conditioned rooms under the roof. Another offered a complete event program for the next three years – from a film festival to a church congress.
A third proposal wanted to build a center for trend sports and demolish all vertical walls. A fourth declared the Multihalle to be part of a “digital-industrial innovation loop”, wanted to convert the hall into a meeting center and raise the necessary funds by selling municipal land, on which buildings with a gross floor area of 50,000 square meters would be built. Admittedly, none of these ideas generated a fascinating image that could captivate different milieus and release energy. Maybe you can’t expect that from a workshop, maybe you don’t even need it. After all, the construction is captivating enough. But the clock is ticking, next up is a symposium with specialist engineers and a conference for the international trade press. The star guest is an architect who, like Frei Otto, received the Pritzker Prize for his creative use of unconventional materials: Shigeru Ban.
Photos: Daniel Lukac
