The Evangelical-Lutheran parish of the Middle Franconian market town of Altdorf was confronted, as elsewhere, with the increase in urn burials. Together with the landscape architects Martin Völker and Lars Möller and the Eichstätt sculptor Günter Lang, it therefore created three urn islands within the historic grounds, which are united by a common design language. Anyone entering the cemetery through the main entrance […]

The Evangelical-Lutheran parish of the Middle Franconian market town of Altdorf was confronted, as elsewhere, with the increase in urn burials. Together with the landscape architects Martin Völker and Lars Möller and the Eichstätt sculptor Günter Lang, it therefore created three urn islands within the historic grounds, which are united by a common design language.
Anyone entering the cemetery through the main entrance will not notice these places at first glance. Visitors will find a well-kept cemetery with plenty of greenery and numerous beautiful, historic stones. The steel steles that border the new urn islands blend so harmoniously into this greenery that they only catch the eye on closer inspection.

The surrounding steel band with 75-centimetre-high rectangular tubular steles at rhythmic intervals is coated in shades of grey and various shades of green. The entrance to each area is marked with a steel band engraved with a psalm. A font designed by sculptor Günter Lang was specially digitized for this purpose. Lang is the artistic director for the design of the urn steles within the islands. Each design goes through his hands before it is approved by the cemetery administration. All the steles have a uniform base area and height. What Lang is particularly keen on, however, is the use of local STEIN. Some sample steles, made by local stonemasons, are already in place. A granite from the Bavarian Forest has traveled the longest distance, while the other grave markers are made of Franconian sandstone or Jura limestone from the Altmühltal. Günter Lang also wants stones that have something to say. Psalms, sayings and quotations can be engraved around the stele, Lang advises. He does not want to be seen as a censor, but as a mentor who helps to improve existing designs. Around 40 urns are currently available, with a further 20 planned.

Each of the islands has a central seating area within the lawn. Rock pears provide shade and are particularly striking in spring with their white flowers. The islands are not static; if necessary, the steel strip elements can be taken apart and moved or replaced with new ones. This allows the areas to grow as more space becomes available. The modern design is not to everyone’s taste, but, according to Martin Völker, it has also received approval from many sides – from all age groups. Two of the urn spaces have already been taken, and one already has a stele with the owner’s name and date of birth engraved on it. Right next to a bench is a large stele by Günter Lang, a striking yet harmonious combination of steel and stone that serves as a lasting memorial.

The interview with Mr. Thust on the subject of cemetery development and other exciting pictures can be found in STEIN 12/2014!

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Ursula Sowa believes that an IBA Bavaria can shape the necessary regional transformation processes that Bavaria needs.

The G+L in May focuses on planning between the city and the region. Why? Not because of the predicted urban exodus caused by the coronavirus, but because demographic change has a different forecast: Rural areas are shrinking, followed by vacancies and increasing supply problems. The G+L editorial team has learned one thing above all from working on the magazine: that rural areas need more visions! And Ursula Sowa can help with that. The qualified architect and building policy spokesperson for the Green Party would like to see an International Building Exhibition, an IBA Bavaria – Ursula Sowa believes that an IBA Bavaria can shape the necessary regional transformation processes that Bavaria needs.

An International Building Exhibition (IBA) would provide an opportunity to focus on the pressing issues of the future in the Free State of Bavaria. Bavaria’s conurbations are suffering from a lack of housing and major traffic problems. In rural areas, on the other hand, municipalities are struggling with out-migration, vacancies and a lack of connections to larger city centers. Added to this are global trends such as the digital transformation, which are already having a decisive impact on Bavaria as a whole.

There has not yet been an International Building Exhibition in Bavaria. There are now plans to hold an IBA in the Munich metropolitan region under the guiding theme of “Spaces of Mobility”. From 2022, the IBA will invite municipalities and stakeholders in the Munich metropolitan region to take part in a ten-year future process to show how a growing urban region can rethink living, working and traveling together while remaining liveable and on the move.

A start has been made with the planned IBA Munich on the subject of mobility. But the potential of an IBA should benefit the whole of Bavaria and not just be limited to the Munich region. The north of Bavaria – especially Franconia, which, in contrast to the growing south, is struggling with a shrinking population due to emigration and demographic change – must also be connected to such a project. The innovative power of an IBA could counteract the widening gap between northern and southern Bavaria. Spatial developments could be initiated to make the north attractive for immigration, strengthen the location factors in rural regions and thus create a balance throughout Bavaria.

Support from the Free State

For example in Nuremberg: after the city failed to win the title of European Capital of Culture, an IBA could instead provide the necessary innovations beyond the city limits. Nuremberg has a multifaceted architectural heritage that could be the starting point for an IBA. The topics of industrial culture and the city of science would provide exciting impetus for an IBA, as would the question of how Nuremberg can become more climate-friendly and greener. Nuremberg has a lot of potential to transform itself into a modern metropolis and to boldly pursue this path without losing the balance between tradition and the future.

An IBA is not only the right way forward for Munich, but also for Nuremberg and other regions in Bavaria. As a joint project involving several cities and regions – a polycentric network of innovative projects and ideas spanning the whole of Bavaria – the IBA Bayern could bring about sustainable changes within a ten-year timeframe that would have a positive impact on all regions in Bavaria. An IBA Bavaria is a great opportunity for spatial development in Bavaria and an excellent instrument for shaping regional transformation processes.

Even though an IBA thrives on a broad participation process and cannot be imposed by the federal or state governments, support from the Free State would be desirable in order to concretize the ideas and develop a project, organizational and financing structure for the IBA process – so that even more municipalities jump on the IBA bandwagon.

Ursula Sowa is a qualified architect from Bamberg. As the building policy spokesperson for the Bavarian Green Party in the state parliament, she wants to introduce an inter-party motion in the building committee to push ahead with an IBA Bavaria. Anyone who has ideas about the IBA Bavaria is welcome to contact Ursula Sowa: iba@ursula-sowa.de

You can purchase G+L 05 on the subject of “Planning between city and region” here.

Are you interested in the instrument of the International Building Exhibition? You can find out all about the IBA Basel, the first tri-national IBA, in the specialist publication “Gemeinsam Grenzen überschreiten – Au-delà des limites, ensemble”, or find out more about the current IBA Thüringen.