Saarland: Fight for monument safety | EUROtoday

The previous tax workplace is on the banks of the Saar. Built in 1952, it seems just like the post-war interval: easy and grey. Because there was an absence of constructing supplies again then, the partitions and ceilings are skinny. Not appropriate for mountains of information, threat of collapse. That was one of many the reason why the tax officers moved out 4 years in the past. Since then, the administration constructing in downtown Saarbrücken has been empty. The state authorities says that Saarland won’t have the cash to renovate it within the foreseeable future.

Perhaps that is why some within the metropolis have been relieved when it was introduced within the spring that an investor would tear down the constructing and construct a brand new one on the location. The tender left it open what precisely this could seem like. “It really can’t get uglier than this dreary gray colossus,” wrote the “Saarbrücker Zeitung”. Only: The tax workplace is a listed constructing.

Markus Otto has been combating for the grey colossus for years. He desires the folks of Saarbrücken to know what’s at stake. The emeritus structure professor stands in entrance of building fences which are meant to maintain curious folks away from the location. The bushes are overgrown, a fox scurries throughout the yard. Otto would not essentially suppose the tax workplace is a factor of magnificence both. But for him, magnificence alone isn’t a criterion for what is taken into account price preserving.

He speaks of what the administration constructing stood for when it was constructed: for a transfer away from the classicist and authoritarian building model of the National Socialists and for a brand new, goal architectural language of the early Federal Republic. And: It was the primary public constructing of its form in Saarbrücken.

Otto takes out an illustrated ebook from his bag, leafs via the pages and factors to a photograph from the early Fifties: In an virtually utterly destroyed metropolis, the administration constructing stands out. It was an try by the French army authorities to “educate the people of Saarland to democracy using the means of architecture,” says Otto. A tax workplace as a spot of democratic historical past? Otto smiles, he would not suppose it is that absurd.

Almost 40 years in the past he fought a really comparable battle. At that point he was a younger architect and was concerned in a residents’ initiative to protect the Völklinger Hütte, solely round 15 kilometers from Saarbrücken metropolis middle. The gigantic industrial advanced, which consisted of metal furnaces and iron works, masking 260 hectares, was to be demolished.

The prices of sustaining it appeared to be far too excessive, as is the case with the tax workplace right this moment. At the identical time, many didn’t need to acknowledge the worth of the advanced. The industrial website stood for a previous that Saarland wished to go away behind. Otto, born in Saarland, the son of a mining engineer, noticed issues in a different way.

There have been many huts, however the one in Völklingen at all times stood out architecturally. Otto and his colleagues started to carry live shows on the location to point out the residents of Völklingen its significance. However, they solely reached a small a part of town’s society. Only excursions via the realm made a distinction. More than 3,000 folks came to visit one weekend. Miners confirmed their households the place that they had labored till a number of years in the past. Many have been touched.

Although the commercial advanced was listed as a historic monument in 1986, it took one other eight years till its preservation was secured. The Völklingen Ironworks was the primary industrial monument to be added to the world cultural heritage checklist – alongside castles and cathedrals. Today it’s a museum, a spot for touring exhibitions, a venue for theater and music – and is best recognized than the small city of Völklingen itself. When Otto talks about it, it turns into clear what he means: the worth of a constructing shouldn’t be primarily based solely on modern tastes and the funds scenario.

Saarland University is positioned on the outskirts of Saarbrücken. The cafeteria is busy, it is lunch time. Even although meals are served each second on the primary flooring, the road stretches all the way in which to the steps. It’s shiny because of the various home windows, the meter-high ceilings make the eating room spacious, but it surely’s additionally fairly loud. Geometric, colourful sculptures float above the scholars consuming at steel tables. In some locations the constructing exudes the modernity of a science fiction movie from the seventies.

In others you possibly can see how previous it’s. There is scaffolding on the entrance and nets are there to catch components of the constructing if they arrive unfastened. The architect Walter Schrempf labored on the design of the cafeteria with the artist Otto Herbert Hajek, who designed the sculptures. The cafeteria, which opened in 1970, symbolized the aspirations of the younger Saarland University, acquired architectural awards, is now a listed constructing – and can be threatened with demolition.

Experts reward the constructing as a mannequin of brutalism. The architect Schrempf at all times had difficulties with the time period, says his daughter Mona Schrempf, who’s dedicated to preserving the cafeteria. Schrempf refers back to the French origin of the time period, which took on a lifetime of its personal: “Beton brute” meant the unplastered, uncooked uncovered concrete, the purity of the fabric. The naked concrete inside and outdoors dominates the picture of the cafeteria.

And this concrete is the massive problem within the renovation of the constructing. The college’s head of building, Dominikus Tiator, factors to the locations the place the concrete has cracked. The restore is taken into account demanding and costly. Actually, in response to Tiator, your entire space must be renovated.

The slender partitions of the cafeteria can’t be insulated energetically, in any other case the character of the constructing can be modified an excessive amount of. The scholar union suffers from excessive power prices, which quantity to round half 1,000,000 euros per 12 months. Mona Schrempf factors out that it is best to first insulate the home windows and the roof. If you put in a warmth pump, heating prices ought to lower considerably. Schrempf is concerned by the truth that the identical calls for are positioned on a monument as on a contemporary passive home.

The college is unquestionably conscious of the significance of the cafeteria. Head of the constructing division Tiator speaks of a “walk-in work of art”. The college desires to protect the constructing – however the prices are excessive. There are the pyramid-shaped lamps within the entrance space, they’re greater than half a meter by half a meter in measurement. They are custom-made and, in response to the scholar union, price an estimated 40,000 euros every to buy.

Because they haven’t acquired approval from the development inspection of their present situation, emergency lighting manufactured from LED lamps hangs subsequent to them. A brief resolution. In order to satisfy right this moment’s fireplace safety necessities, 619 fireplace detectors are put in all through the cafeteria constructing. This is critical as a result of the constructing has so many nested coffered ceilings. Regular upkeep prices some huge cash.

For a very long time little was invested in sustaining the constructing. The renovation prices are excessive; in 2022 they have been estimated at 20 million euros. In view of worth will increase, the sum is more likely to be considerably increased right this moment. Tiator and the scholar union don’t need to give precise figures. Maybe it has one thing to do with the truth that giant sums of cash function an argument for individuals who have at all times seen an unsightly concrete block within the cafeteria. The dearer the renovation, the extra engaging the brand new constructing. Even although the Monument Protection Foundation has already warned urgently in regards to the destruction of cultural heritage.

At college you do not count on a fast choice. The state not too long ago launched cash for the renovation of one other historic constructing. Ten million euros are to stream into the previous French embassy, ​​which was designed by the architect Georges-Henri Pingusson – solely a fraction of what would actually be vital. The prices are estimated at as much as 80 million euros.

The CDU opposition speaks of a “calming pill” and accuses the SPD state authorities of not having a transparent technique. She acts haphazardly and dubiously. Although monument safety has constitutional standing, relevant regulation isn’t noticed, says cultural coverage spokeswoman Jutta Schmitt-Lang.

The Pingusson constructing represents a particular period: Saarland was semi-autonomous till the top of the Fifties, and there have been issues about establishing European authorities in Saarbrücken. The big message from the French was seen as a dedication to the small nation, as a handout.

However, after the Saarlanders determined to belong to Germany within the Saar Statute in 1954, there was now not any use for the embassy. The Ministry of Education resided within the advanced for many years till there have been structural considerations and a renovation backlog right here too. The naked white workplace tower that’s a part of the ensemble, referred to as “Langer Hans”, isn’t highly regarded amongst Saarbrücken residents.

The monument conservationist Markus Otto believes that the Saarlanders have a particular perspective in the direction of monuments. “Saarland had hundreds of years of war behind it until 1945,” he says. The important motive for this was the coal and iron ore deposits. “The history of the country is characterized by destruction and reconstruction.” Otto sees this as an expression of the truth that after the Second World War the fortress wall on the Saar was torn down in favor of a motorway throughout Saarbrücken. Otto assumes that the folks of Saarland lack consciousness of the necessity to protect their cultural heritage.

The demolition of the tax workplace failed within the fall. There was little interest in the demolition and new building. An investor mentioned that, in his opinion, it might be extra economical to restore the constructing from the Fifties for right this moment’s use. The state authorities had dominated out this feature. Now there needs to be a brand new, open-ended tender. Markus Otto nonetheless has hope.