Ideas and impulses wanted for IBA Munich: Spaces of mobility

The International Building Exhibition (IBA) of the Munich Metropolitan Region 2034 is looking for ideas for the mobility of the future. This is the first time that this format of urban and regional development has taken place in Bavaria. And dealing with the topic of “Spaces of Mobility” is also a premiere. Applications are open until October 15, 2024.

In ten years’ time, a major exhibition is to be held in Munich, the IBA 2034. This does not refer to the “Bauma” or any other trade fair. Rather, it is a separate format. To this end, the International Building Exhibition (IBA) Munich Metropolitan Region was founded in November 2023 as a separate limited company with a team of six. Over 60 percent of the shareholders are the City of Munich, the cities of Augsburg and Ingolstadt, the districts of Munich and Freising and the European Metropolitan Region of Munich (EMM) association.

The Munich metropolitan region stretches from Eichstätt to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and from Kaufbeuren to Altötting. It has 6.2 million inhabitants and an area of around 26,000 square kilometers. Munich is already facing up to its mobility challenges with projects such as Model City 2030, new subway lines and a car-free old town. The IBA Munich aims to support this further.

Interested partners such as municipalities, companies, foundations, associations, universities and private individuals from the metropolitan region are invited to submit ideas and impulses on the topic of “Spaces of Mobility”. They could become part of the exhibition in 2034, which will present concrete projects that can be implemented in the short and long term. These could include planned buildings as well as virtual spaces or innovative research and planning projects.

Ideas that become IBA candidates and, in the next step, concrete projects, should “be significantly further developed, advanced and ideally also implemented by the presentation year 2034”, says Managing Director Julianna Günther.

Interested partners can find a list of questions and criteria on the website www.iba-m.de. The first deadline is Tuesday, October 15, 2024, and all ideas submitted by then will be presented at the first “IBA Project Ideas Day” on December 4, probably at the Haus der Architektur.

The ideas submitted should be innovative and visionary. Planned buildings, but also virtual spaces, new research projects or planning processes can take part. The city of Freising, for example, wants to further develop the “Bahnhofsumfeld” district. “The announcement that we want to implement the project with the support of the IBA has already brought us useful contacts with stakeholders who are also willing to invest in the future,” reports Jonas Bellingrodt from the local Office for Urban Planning, Environment and Climate Protection.

It is still possible to contribute ideas to the IBA Munich process after the first deadline in mid-October. However, applicants will then have less time to prepare their presentation until 2034. All the results of the IBA are to be presented to the global public this year.

Julianna Günther, Managing Director of Internationale Bauausstellung Metropolregion München GmbH, said: “Over the next ten years, the IBA will provide a framework for rethinking mobility and its spatial, ecological and social impact on our cities, municipalities and landscapes in a broader and new way with a wide range of stakeholders. With our call for projects, we are now looking for initial ideas for concrete buildings, concepts or programs that provide visionary impetus for mobility spaces in the Munich metropolitan region. […] We are very happy to receive a wide range of ideas – from small ideas that can be implemented quickly to projects that promise long-term solutions to pressing issues in the metropolitan region.”

International Building Exhibitions are a format from urban and regional development that is considered a trademark of national building and planning culture. They have been taking place in Germany for over a century. As fields of experimentation, they bring current issues of planning and building into the focus of discussion, always with high standards.

The IBAs do not follow a standardized format or procedure. In the past, it was mainly architecture that broke new ground here. For example, the Weissenhof Estate presented in Stuttgart in 1927 is considered the result of the first IBA. It presented a prototype for “new living” and still has model status today.

In the meantime, International Building Exhibitions have changed both in their spatial dimension and in their social significance. They are exhibitions of building culture that increasingly incorporate complex social, economic and ecological issues into their work alongside aesthetic and technological aspects.

After the first deadline and the IBA Project Ideas Day, the submitted projects are further developed together with the project sponsors. Together with experts from the fields of architecture, communication and urban development, IBA Munich offers support in the acquisition of funding, communication and networking with other stakeholders. The IBA does not have a budget to realize projects itself.

An international Board of Trustees will then decide together with the IBA Supervisory Board which projects are likely to be awarded “IBA Candidate” status in the fall of 2025. From these, feasible “IBA projects” will then be selected for further funding. The prerequisite for this is that the project ideas provide innovative, surprising and at the same time feasible approaches to solving important future mobility issues. A complete list of the project criteria can be found on the website www.iba-m.de.

Read more: You can find out why the IBA Munich could benefit the entire Free State of Bavaria here.