On July 20, 2017, the Thomas Wimmer municipal vocational school center for construction and arts and crafts on Luisenstraße in Munich opened its stonemasonry and woodcarving workshops to the public, explicitly targeting classes from general education schools. The opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of the professions presented was met with great interest. Hartmut Hintner, design teacher for stonemasons and stone sculptors, […]

On July 20, 2017, the Thomas Wimmer municipal vocational school center for construction and arts and crafts on Luisenstraße in Munich opened its stonemasonry and woodcarving workshops to the public, explicitly targeting classes from general education schools. The opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of the professions presented was met with great interest.

Hartmut Hintner, design teacher for stonemasons and stone sculptors, stood in the middle of his audience and explained the contributions to this year’s summer exhibition. A guided tour to inform any future pupils about the training opportunities for wood sculptors, goldsmiths, stonemasons and stone carvers at the school complex on Luisenstraße. After the general part, the classes were divided into smaller groups and were allowed to try out their skills in a total of five work areas. In addition to the established stone carving and wood carving stations, this time there was also calligraphy, lettering, a printing workshop and the opportunity to discover bronze chasing. Hartmut Hintner: “Our students show interested visitors how we work here. Visitors can also try out for themselves how to work stone or carve wood. Our aim is to highlight career opportunities and raise our profile.” This is why Headmaster Hans Seger wrote to grammar schools, secondary schools and middle schools in Munich and the surrounding area and invited their graduating classes and refugee classes to the open workshop day. The concept was well received, with many acceptances. Hintner was delighted: “Many young people from the surrounding schools also came along, as did our alumni, of course.”

In the printing workshop, which was set up for the first time, Barbara Quintus and her colleagues had come up with a program that even inexperienced people could manage. “The aim here is to achieve beautiful results with little effort,” she explained. This was achieved, for example, by pulling a thread soaked in paint out from between two sheets of paper that were pressed together using a pressure plate. The popularity confirmed Quintus’ approach – the printing workshop was very well received.

At the stone carving station, visitors were able to carve lettering and try out various hand tools on a block of shell limestone. Here, however, the visitors to the open workshop were somewhat more passive: there seemed to be a great deal of reverence for the material. Many preferred to watch sculptor Dana Knop as she engraved letters into the Jura limestone slab blow by blow, while the hammer blows typical of stone carving rang out.

The most exciting competition results of the last two weeks and everything you need to know about them – from landscape architect Heike Vossen. February 2/2

Interested in the latest competition results in landscape architecture, but hardly have time to look at them properly? In the G+L competition overview, Heike Vossen provides monthly updates on the most exciting competition results.

With the “Lengerich Line”, Franz Reschke Landschaftsarchitektur won over the jury in the competition to realize the redesigned city centre. The trough and guiding strip forms the spatial and design backbone of the city center, along which the five squares are connected. The outermost squares also form the representative entrances. The line leads through the pedestrian zone and signals priority for pedestrians. The planners differentiate between the linear movement space of the street and the squares as green recreational areas, the “green breaks”: a uniform, calm paving carpet in rows defines the pedestrian zone as a unit. The individual squares – by changing to the non-directional arrangement – stand out like fitting pieces in the urban fabric. “Green inlays” of perennial plantings form the back of each square; multi-stemmed trees and fountains fitted into the squares accentuate the areas as places to linger and slow down movement.

Open space planning MediTech in Oldenburg, 1st prize chora blau landscape architecture, Hanover

chora blau impressed the jury with the idea of “guiding currents”, which divide the open space of the MediTech quarter into varied areas and create exciting spatial sequences. With this analogy, which is derived from the various currents in the human body, the planners have succeeded in developing an address-forming and atmospherically dense open space. Towards the neighborhood square, the streams open up into spacious recreational areas and green islands. Striking paving channels and cut edges accentuate the guidelines; however, the format and surface of the paving clearly delineate the areas of the district center, district axis and secondary axes. The quarter axis offers the employees of the MediTech Quarter activity areas for play and sport, including a boulder wall for climbing and giant swings. In the secondary axes, quiet recreational areas are created along larger planted areas. The slightly lowered paved surfaces temporarily collect rainwater, while an overflow leads to the neighboring planted islands.

Bahnhofplatz Süd in Karlsruhe, 1st rank bauchplan ).(, Munich, with berchtoldkrass space&options and dwd Ingenieure

The district development of the station area in the south of Karlsruhe’s main station calls for a redesigned south portal. bauchplan’s “climate watch” proclaims a sustainable square design for the southern station square – and derives the approach from the complementary juxtaposition of the north and south station squares, both functionally and atmospherically. The new square in the south connects the flow of movement of different road users and addresses the microclimatic and acoustic challenges in terms of content and design: It is a place of identification for the young modern quarter, but its southern orientation favors heat accumulation and the flanks of the high-rise buildings create whirlwind zones. The design defines the square as a sustainable multifunctional prelude that offers a high quality of stay as an urban climate-friendly oasis. A textile spans the portal on the south façade of the track as a striking element and opens up at the entrances. The perforated concrete covering allows water absorption and delayed evaporation. Clouds of mist and a water field generate cooling in microclimatic hotspots, while trees slow down the whirlwinds and shade the square.