The Muslim Academy in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, is the first building for political education under Muslim sponsorship. The competition for the project was won by the team from BHM Planungsgesellschaft and baurmann.dürr Architekten. In this interview, Max Hansen from bhmp explains what architectural language they found for the planning task, what the concept for the open spaces looks like and how the Muslim Academy Heidelberg will fit into the urban context.
The Muslim Academy in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, is the first building for political education under Muslim sponsorship. The competition for the project was won by the team from BHM Planungsgesellschaft and baurmann.dürr Architekten. In this interview, Max Hansen from bhmp explains what architectural language they found for the planning task, what the concept for the open spaces looks like and how the Muslim Academy Heidelberg will fit into the urban context.
Editorial team G+L: In November 2023, you and baurmann.dürr Architekten won the architectural competition for the Muslim Academy Heidelberg. In the competition brief, the task was to find an architectural language that could represent a Muslim identity in Germany without reproducing stereotypes. What answer did you find with your planning partners?
Max Hansen: Language is a perpetual process, as both language and thinking are subject to change. This also applies to architecture and landscape architecture. We therefore decided to develop an ornament that is based on Islamic patterns, but at the same time still allows for interpretation. This ornament forms the dominant façade structure, which creates an impressive interplay of light and shadow inside the building. In the open space, we take up this pattern with the floor covering and continue it. In addition, isolated inlays in the seating and wall elements are reminiscent of the language with which we want to convey openness and identity.
There are no role models for the planning task of the Muslim Academy Heidelberg – a house of political education under Muslim sponsorship – it is a novelty. How did you design the open spaces?
We have worked very hard on the idea of the academy and tried to develop a concept that makes it possible to provide political and social education under religious sponsorship. The open space is designed to be very open and inviting. Groups of trees structure and define the space without obstructing it. They provide views of the surrounding area and mark the entrances to Bahnstadt and the academy. At the same time, the open tree arrangement creates space for events. Beds, seating and a water feature create an inviting and prestigious atmosphere. They reflect the identity of the Muslim Academy and structure the outdoor space.
The Muslim Academy will be built in Heidelberg’s new Bahnstadt district. How will the buildings and open spaces fit into the surroundings and what added value can they offer the city’s population?
The urban planning idea of the promenade strip, which ends at this point, was decisive for the design. The tapered plot dictated the shape of the building. It consists of a closed structure that rests on a transparent first floor. The connection to the surrounding area is very urban on the one hand and very scenic on the other. The promenade band marks this transition, which we have broken through by means of a bastion, thus utilizing the topography in terms of design and responding to the urban planning idea of Bahnstadt. The bastion is also part of one of two squares that form the prelude to the promenade strip and the academy. As the two squares are at different levels, they are spatially linked by the ribbon. The building picks up on this idea and thus enables the interplay between inside and outside. The result is an inviting character that offers the opportunity for social exchange and education. Both the open spaces and the building thus fit in well with the surroundings in terms of design, urban planning and society.
Max Hansen, Dipl.-Ing. (TUM) landscape architect, is team and project leader of the landscape architecture department at bhmp. His focus is on the design and processing of competitions. He regularly writes articles for specialist journals and is a lecturer in open space planning at Nürtingen University.
Read more: The October 2024 issue of G+L is dedicated to places of faith. The magazine is available in our store. Theresa Ramisch gives a first insight into the issue in her editorial.
