06.12.2024

Viktualienmarkt redevelopment

Building design

Refurbishment

Munich's Viktualienmarkt is getting on in years and needs to be renovated. (Photo: Alisa Anton/Unsplash)

Read on to find out what renovation work is planned for Viktualienmarkt and why Munich residents may soon have to shop in Frauenstraße instead.

In a joint venture with the planning offices pbb balke + kagerer and bauchplan ).(, the architectural firm bogevischs delivered a future concept for the refurbishment of Munich’s Viktualienmarkt. The next phase of the market’s modernization began in mid-June 2021. bogevischs buero is working intensively on the existing building and its fabric this summer. Read on to find out what renovation work is planned for the Viktualienmarkt and why you may soon have to shop in Frauenstraße.

When the government is not restricting the flow of visitors to the Bavarian capital due to the pandemic, Munich’s Viktualienmarkt is one of the city’s most popular tourist highlights. In contrast to the Hofbräuhaus or the Chinese Tower in the English Garden, it not only offers beer garden and brewery food – although of course it also serves this category effortlessly – but also offers a much wider selection of food and drink. And it is only a stone’s throw away from the center of the city, Marienplatz.

So it’s no wonder that hordes of enthusiastic tourists bustle around the 1.9 hectares of permanent stalls and booths at almost any time of day. A total of 110 traders offer their wares every day – except Sundays – ranging from fruit and vegetables, meat, cheese, fish, baked goods and spices to flowers and gifts. And that explains the attraction for Munich residents, who mingle with the guests in no small numbers: In addition to the market flair, the Viktualienmarkt also offers a worthwhile shopping opportunity for locals.

At the same time, Munich’s most central beer garden should not be overlooked. It can accommodate almost 1,000 guests and is located directly by the maypole, which stands in the middle of the Viktualienmarkt. This is the symbol of the Viktualienmarkt and a gift from Munich’s breweries to the citizens of the city. Incidentally, the city of Munich did not want to favor any of the Munich breweries when it came to supplying the beer garden. That’s why the beer bar changes every few weeks – so no brewery misses out. At the bar, you can see which beer is currently flowing into the mugs.

Viktualienmarkt refurbishment: meeting regulations, retaining charm

The special thing about Viktualienmarkt is its history: it is over 200 years old. In 1807, the city of Munich had to relocate part of its city market – the former location, Schrannenplatz, had become too small for it. However, the almost 100 wooden stalls on the Viktualienmarkt are comparatively young: they date from the post-war period. They also contribute to the historical ambience.

However, the requirements for food hygiene, statics and worker protection have increased significantly over the last 75 years. Many stalls lack storage and cooling facilities for their goods. In addition, there is currently a shortage of accommodation and staff toilets for traders. As a result, the city of Munich has decided to have its permanent food markets comprehensively renovated. In addition to the central Viktualienmarkt, this also includes the market on Elisabethplatz, Wiener Platz and the Pasing Viktualienmarkt. The aim of the refurbishment is to comply with modern regulations while retaining the characteristic charm of the markets. This is the responsibility of the city’s municipal department with its own company “Markthallen München”.

This municipal enterprise has existed in this form since 2007, when the wholesale market hall and abattoir – both traditional Munich companies – merged. The “Markthallen München” now manages all of its subordinate companies on behalf of the city council. In addition to the wholesale market hall, the abattoir and the permanent food markets, this also includes the gardeners’ hall and the weekly and farmers’ markets. Markthallen München is responsible for optimizing these public facilities for the food trade, crafts and trades as well as gastronomy. Its aim is to create the necessary spatial, technical and organizational conditions to improve the competitiveness of local businesses.

“Cautious.Gentle.Loving.”

However, a general demolition of the Viktualienmarkt is not planned. The plan of the municipal department is to preserve the stalls as far as possible and renovate them in sections. True to the motto “Cautious.Gentle.Loving.”, which the municipal department chose for the Viktualienmarkt renovation. Two new basement buildings are also planned to create space for storage, technology, staff and sanitary facilities. Visitors will also be provided with new toilets. Improved waste disposal is also part of the plans.

The Munich-based planners from bogevischs buero architekten & stadtplaner have been entrusted with the future concept for Munich’s Viktualienmarkt. In a joint venture with pbb balke + kagerer and bauchplan ).(, they have already produced the feasibility study for the Viktualienmarkt. Commissioned by the City of Munich, or rather the municipal department’s own company “Markthallen München”, bogevischs buero has now been examining the stalls and market stands since mid-June 2021.

The planners from bogevischs have been busy with the inspections for the preliminary planning for a few weeks now. Each stall is examined individually: the current condition, but also the space and equipment required in the future as well as the building fabric. This enables the planners to identify deficits and develop concepts for the future Viktualienmarkt. In doing so, they always ask themselves how they can deal with the existing buildings, how they can expand and preserve them.

The next step is to develop the redevelopment plan on this basis. In two years’ time, in 2023, the Munich City Council will finally decide on the project contract. However, construction will not begin until 2025 at the earliest – over a period of five to eight years. So it may be some time before Munich residents can enjoy the renovated Viktualienmarkt – until 2033.

Interim Viktualienmarkt planned for Frauenstraße

However, the municipal department is keen to ensure that traders can continue to sell their goods during this time. In addition to the new construction and renovation measures, the Viktualienmarkt therefore also requires the planning of interim stalls. Traders whose stalls are currently being renovated should be able to move to these. There are good reasons for this: It is important to the City of Munich that the Viktualienmarkt remains attractive to visitors throughout the construction period. The shopping facilities should therefore remain open during the renovation work. This small, temporary Viktualienmarkt will probably be located along Frauenstraße. The affected traders will move into the temporary stalls while their usual stall is refurbished.

More planning in Munich? The north of Munich is to get a creative quarter.

28.11.2024

Society

Werner Sobek receives Global Award for Sustainable Architecture

Building design

Werner Sobek received the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture on May 13. Sobek, who is head of the Institute for Lightweight Design and Construction, was one of five award winners. The jury recognized his “groundbreaking research”. Sobek’s research projects include, for example, the Urban Mining and Recycling Unit in the NEST building in Zurich. Werner Sobek is one of the five prize winners who received the award on […]

Werner Sobek received the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture on May 13. Sobek, who is head of the Institute for Lightweight Design and Construction, was one of five award winners. The jury recognized his “groundbreaking research”. Sobek’s research projects include, for example, the Urban Mining and Recycling Unit in the NEST building in Zurich.

Werner Sobek is one of the five winners who received the award on May 13, 2019 at the Cité de l’Architecture in Paris. The jury recognized his “groundbreaking research” with the award. He has headed the Institute for Lightweight Design and Construction for 25 years.

In order to give the complex issue of sustainability a more concrete focus, the jury members choose a specific theme each year. In 2019, the sustainability experts decided to refer to the current 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus. They focused on its multidisciplinary approach that strives for social reform.

The Global Award for Sustainable Architecture is based on a growing community of award winners from all over the world. Like Werner Sobek, they are all committed to sustainable architectural ethics.

We reported on Werner Sobek’s Urban Mining and Recycling Unit in Garten + Landschaft in April 2019 with the topic “Sustainable residential districts”, because the idea of returning material to the cycle in the form of recycling or upcycling when buildings are demolished in the interests of sustainable construction is an obvious one. However, the corresponding approaches have not yet arrived in everyday planning. With the “UMAR” research project, Werner Sobek and his colleagues are testing how residential buildings can be returned 100 per cent to technical or biological cycles in the future and are gaining insights that could also revolutionize open space planning.

You can read the full article on the UMAR unit here.

14.01.2025

Pioneer of the profession in Mexico

Building design

The Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award goes to the Mexican landscape architect Mario Schjetnan.

Mario Schjetnan has received the 2015 Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award from the IFLA. Born in Mexico City, the architect and landscape architect has shaped Mexican landscape architecture like no other. He studied architecture at the National University of Mexico and then went to Berkley to study landscape architecture, where he was influenced by greats such as Garret Eckbo, Donald Appleyard and Robert Twis. As head of the urban planning department at the National Institute of Housing for Workers (INFONAVIT) in Mexico, he worked on the development of guidelines for social housing estates. In 1977, he founded his office Grupo de Diseño Urbano (GDU). His best-known works include Tezozomac Park (1982), Xochimilco Ecological Park (1993) and Chapultepec Parks. All of these parks are located in Mexico City. Some of his projects can also be found in the USA, including Union Point Park in Oakland, California (2005).

Schjetnan was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in 1984 and received an honorary doctorate from the Univsersidad Autónoma de Nuevo Léon in 1995. He teaches as a guest lecturer at various universities and, in addition to his academic and practical career, has worked to establish landscape architecture as a profession in Mexico. From 1985 to 1986, he was president of the Mexican Society of Landscape Architects, of which he has been a founding member since 1972.