Architecturewriter

About one third of the texts featured in my book "Bavarität – Krisenbewältigung im baukulturellen Raum" are based on previously published contributions of different kinds. When I began working on the book concept, I had a much larger selection of published and unpublished texts that I considered including in the book. This was also the case for a group of texts that dealt with the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the way we inhabit the built environment of Bavaria (and elsewhere). They are good, but they didn't fit into the book. And a blog is a great place to make them available. So I begin today with a brief series of outtakes. The first one is in English and essentially a photo report: De­ser­ted Ci­ti­es of the Heart For a long time, world city with a heart – “Weltstadt mit Herz” – was the official marketing slogan of the city of Munich. Nowadays, like any city subject to a stay-at-home-order aimed at mitigating the impact of the Corona pandemic, it is more akin...

Ein Fachbuch vom Deutschen ins Englische zu übersetzen ist eine verantwortungsvolle Aufgabe. Der Text soll informativ sein und dabei fließen. Für einen Übersetzer ist es sicher hilfreich, wenn man die "Sprache der Architektur" kennt. Da ich am Anfang meiner Berufstätigkeit in der Praxis in deutsch- wie auch englischsprachigen Ländern tätig war, kenne ich die meisten Dinge, die in so einem Fachbuch "verbaut" werden. Doch der Anspruch an die Übersetzung ist größer: Verstehen Leser in allen Ländern, auf allen Kontinenten tatsächlich, worum es geht? Können sie für ihre eigene Praxis Erkenntnisse gewinnen, die auf eigene Projekte übertragbar sind? Und macht es ihnen Spaß, das Buch zu lesen? Aber – lest selbst! Translating a professional publication from German to English comes with great responsibility. The text is supposed to inform readers, the text is supposed to flow. For a translator, it is certainly helpful to know the architectural "lingo". At the beginn...

In "Bavarity", one footnote deals with phenomena that are evoked in the context of architecture and urban planning time and again. These phenomena are of central importance to chapter five and the "Space for Visionary Things" it focuses on. Aura and atmosphere – both are ephemeral, even elusive. We can feel them, but they remain intangible. Nevertheless, they are important to how we perceive the built space of architecture and the city. Footnote number 23 on page 102 indicates that there are pioneers of this mode of perception. They are commonly known as "flaneurs": "Hassenpflug (2006) points out that the aura and what is considered auratic comprise phenomena that can trigger an emotional response. In this manner, they can also serve as basis for creating the atmospheric character of a space – and how to recognize it. The capacity for recognizing auratic phenomena is, in return, a core characteristic of urban actors known a...

One thing I enjoy about footnotes is that they can serve to deliberate on certain topics beyond the scope of the book they are included in. As an urbanist, this refers to all terminology in use to describe the city, the urban way of life, the architecture as its facilitator, as well as the open and public space of cities. This is also the case in the footnote on page 83 of "Bavarity". The chapter on "Space for Housing" it is featured in deals with the housing crisis in cities and how to solve it. For this purpose, a basic understanding and differentiation of cities in history is foundational: "As Hassenpflug (2006) states, the synecism of the historic European city can be understood as cooperative settlement of long distance traders, merchants and craftspeople (p. 41) with the aim of forming a fraternity based on self-rule and the avoidance of a central authority. This notion is typical to European urban culture and the way it avoids central auth...

Did I already mention that I'm a big fan of footnotes? "Bavarity" features a number of footnotes that I enjoyed writing. They offer room for detail and the opportunity to clarify things, based on available literature. They also allow authors to make a statement. In chapter three on "Space for Building Culture", the footnote on page 43 presented here allowed me to harmonize different understandings and conceptualizations of different forms of culture. All of them are relevant to an understanding of building culture that is fundamental to the book. The fact that I refer to the great structuralist, Claude Lévi-Strauss, shouldn't come as a surprise to readers: "I propose a notion of building culture that is based on the idea of culture as proposed by Lévi-Strauss (1977): "Culture consists of intrinsic forms of exchange (such as language)" as well as "rules that are applicable to all kinds of 'games of exchange', whether...

Certain books feature footnotes – that is no secret. I like them, as a reader and as an author. I use them in order to offer an additional level of detail or to point out something interesting. In the case of the footnote in "Bavarity – Coping with Crisis in the Space of Building Culture" presented in this post, I elaborated on a certain notion that I have been working on for quite some time. When crisis occurs, there is often talk of a desired "return to normal". The question is whether that is actually desirable. Was there a condition in place prior to the crisis that can be defined as "normalcy" or "normality" for all impacted populations? And, is this condition worth recreating? Quite a number of assumptions are tied to the notion of "returning to normal". From the perspective of planning, they require critical inquiry. The footnote on page 28 of the chapter on "Space as Crisis" states accordingly: "The...

Every scientific book features footnotes. This is also the case for "Bavarity – Coping with Crisis in the Space of Building Culture". In fact, I actually enjoy footnotes. They expand the horizon, they offer room for elaboration and they are fun. This also applies to the footnote in chapter one on "Space as Text" selected for this post. I am fascinated by the notion that the city is a phenomenon that can be "read" like a book. Reading the city opens the door to understanding what is read in a qualified manner. Readers find the following footnote on page 6: "The notion that cities permit reading them is an invention of 19th century feuilleton writers. It is rooted in the idea that nature and the world itself can be read, similar to a text. The urbanist perspective advanced in this book views the city as a system that is embedded in the natural environment. Its built subsystems and units are represented by architecture. Partial to the urba...

The theme of chapter five of "Bavarity" is "space for envisioning projects" and once more features some of my own photos. The image presented in this post shows how an existing building was envisioned anew, thereby connecting the past, the present and the future. The timber house is located in the city of Landshut in the region of Lower Bavaria and was built in the 15th century. Munich-based architect Markus Stenger carefully revived it in the 21st century by use of sustainable materials. The structure offers an answer to the architectural question on "what if?" by the way the changes it experienced throughout the centuries become partial to its architectural expression. This includes, but is not limited to, a change in context from rural to periurban to urban. Thus, it reflects the theme of chapter five in an exemplary manner. The featured projects ask "what if?" in relation to architecture, urban design, urban planning and landscape architectur...

Chapter four of "Bavarity" focuses on space for housing, illustrated in color photographs, some of which I specifically created for the book. In particular, this refers to the housing association project "wagnisART" in Munich. It was established by the wagnis housing association for its members only a few years ago and was designed by bogevischs buero, SHAG Schindler Hable Architekten, Ingenieurbüro EST, auböck/káráz and bauchplan. I had previously reported on this project and how it was planned and designed for the architectural press. In the summer of 2023 I revisited the housing complex and received friendly permission to use the new images in the book. Why housing associations, one might ask? I was interested in the way they facilitated participation within the planning and design of the project. As it turns out, this occurred similar to a game, with rules established and implemented by the designers and the users together – in a shared space and with the shared...

The photos featured in "Bavarity" include many I captured myself. This post presents an image for chapter three, showing the New City Hall (Neues Rathaus) in Nuremberg, designed by Kurt Schneckendorf. It represents what the chapter on space for building culture is about: the past, present and future of building in Bavaria. The structure occupies a historic site bordering the Main Market Square (Hauptmarkt) in Nuremberg. It was designed in the era of postwar modernism, which continues to architecturally contour the cityscape of the present. As the photo shows, it is used for media installations, which underscores its capacity for transformation and, hence, its future-proof character. In a corresponding manner, the book chapter features essays on the past, present and future of building culture in Bavaria. For this purpose, I employ the motif of the mirror in order to allow readers easy access to the topics and examples described in the chapter. The essay on the past begins one...

The photographs selected for "Bavarity" are featured in color in both the digital and print editions of the book. Chapter two deals with "space as crisis" and includes an image from the recovery and reconstruction process in Deggendorf after the 2013 floods. I took the photo in 2014. "Space as crisis" in intended to provide architects, urban designers, urban planners and landscape architects with an interdisciplinary understanding of crises and disasters. Such an understanding is aimed at providing a knowledge base for the creation of sustainable and resilient means of adaptation to future crises and disasters. One poignant example is the intersection between building and dwelling, where it is necessary to transcend off-the-shelf ideas and products. Correspondingly, the individual, socially and psychologically informed perception of risk plays an important role in terms of how people respond to crises. This is also relevant to a culture of rem...

For "Bavarity" I had the opportunity to select about fifty photographs. They are featured in color in the digital and physical print editions of the book. The image in chapter one displayed here shows the Wieskirche in Bavaria. I took the photo myself in the fall of 2011. The chapter deals with space as text and particularly how we can "read" the built environment. The question is how to approximate this notion in the case of the Free State of Bavaria. The premise for answering this question was to have a closer look at text that illustrates the milieus of Bavarian rural and urban life. This is the case in the work of playwright and actor Franz Xaver Kroetz. His theater plays depict how people deal with conflicts between traditional and modern ways of life. The plays are very specific in terms of the spatial dimension and character of these conflicts. Kroetz calls out the derelict farmhouses and modern urban districts in which his characters experience their individ...

Out social and political freedom is contoured by constitutions and laws. Our freedom as planners and designers is described by the reality of the resources that are at our disposal. This corresponds to the need for sustainability in a world that is subject to rapid change. We should not underestimate what it means for planning and design to focus on these aspects. The risk exists that we become path-dependent and lose the capacity to think outside of the box. It is important to acknowledge that the reality of things limits the range of available opportunities in a substantial manner. It is also important to maintain the freedom of thought to be at least capable of imagining "what if?". One important reason for doing so is to become aware of the perspectives of those actors who can't participate in current discussions on planning and design, for various reasons. An earlier experiment (featured in "Architekturkultur", edited by Alexander Gutzmer and S...

In my research on how planning and building responded to environmental risk in southern Germany, it became clear to me that vulnerability was the phenomenon that connected the case to other ones across the globe. The lacking capacity to individually cope with the impact of disaster was precisely the weak spot when it came to rebuilding damaged or destroyed housing. The lack of housing happens to be a general societal weak spot, an everyday circumstance of urban crisis beyond environmental risk. On various occasions I had the opportunity to speak in detail with actors who engage in finding solutions to the housing crisis, especially in cities. These interviews allowed me to write publications for architectural magazines, such as Der Baumeister and Bauwelt. The reviewed cases included housing associations or initiatives in Munich and the specific way they employed the participation of future residents, in order to plan and design housing and apartments. The examples show how...

My road to "Bavarity" began with crises. What is their impact on the built space of society, under which circumstances can planning and preparedness, reconstruction and recovery be successful, how can we adapt to recurring forms of crisis in a sustainable manner? In this context, it is important to show solutions, to present adequate, beautiful, useful and good built examples. It is no surprise that they exist in Bavaria. A few years ago the Bavarian Chamber of Architects (BYAK) asked me to write essays on the culture of building in the Free State. The occasion was the anniversary of the Architektouren, the annual initiative of the BYAK to communicate successful architecture, urban design, urban planning and landscape architecture projects to the public. The Architektouren serve as an invitation to visit new and exceptional built examples in cities and on the countryside and to speak with the responsible actors. This corresponds to the way I worked on the essays. I proposed a...

In the course of my preparations for "Bavarity" and its structure, it became clear to me that I had been writing about building in Bavaria longer than was aware to me at the time. This is relevant for two reasons. For one, it was important to me to develop an understanding of crises and disasters that had the potential for harmonization with perspectives of architecture, urban design and urban planning. From this point of view, it is sensible to refer to the insights gained by sociological research on disasters. In fact, I had already developed a related approach in 2007 and tested corresponding hypotheses within international and national case studies. This leads to the second reason: A particular case of an environmental crisis and disaster unfolded along the Danube river in Lower Bavaria in 2013. Only few colleagues understood right away just how catastrophic the impact was, in particular during the phase of disaster management that is intended to achieve reco...

The road to "Building Bayern" as a book project – the prototype of "Bavarity" – opened before me a few years ago. I was invited to the editorial office of the German architecture magazine Der Baumeister. On the occasion, I became acquainted with the editor-in-chief at the time, Alexander Gutzmer. He told me about his idea to create a special edition of the magazine dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the modern Free State of Bavaria following the end of World War II and the feudal Kingdom of Bavaria. In the course of our conversation we developed a number of interesting and appealing ideas on how to discuss whether "Bavarian architecture" actually existed. We refer to Swiss architecture or Dutch architecture so often we no longer question them. But Bavarian architecture? Actually, not that simple! Yet also very appealing. My personal contributions to the Baumeister edition on "New Architecture in Bavaria" was an important step towa...

"Bavarity" began as an experiment. One and a half years ago, my idea of writing a book about the topic of building culture in Bavaria took on shape. In the winter of 2022, I put together a corresponding prototype under the provisional title of "Building Bayern". For this purpose, I took a look at all essays I had already written on architecture, urban design, urban planning and environmental management in Bavaria. This included published contributions, unpublished articles and entirely new texts that I intended to write or were in different stages of completion. The result was a manuscript that I sent to select publishers. Springer Spektrum were very interested in the manuscript. In my discussions with the editor in charge of the project, the book took on a specific and decidedly scientific shape. In the spring of 2023 I completed the manuscript and discussed it with my alpha readers. The image indicates how my related work process looked like: I used a red pen and ...

In order to communicate what my book "Bavarity – Coping with Crisis in the Space of Building Culture", in the German original, "Bavarität – Krisenbewältigung im baukulturellen Raum" is about, I formulated seven talking points that outline the central ideas of the book: Bavarity describes how people influence the built environment – and vice versa. The German federal state of Bavaria serves as an example of a regional form of building culture, against the background of current and future crises. The book is structured into five chapters that aim to understand or "decode" the built environment of Bavaria according to the categories of text, crisis, building culture, housing, and visions. The built environment in cities and on the countryside possesses characteristics that make it similar to a text. Laypeople capture the meaning of this text in a subliminal way, perhaps unconsciously, by "feeling" it, which provides a manner of orientation. For prof...

Springer Spektrum just published my book "Bavarität – Krisenbewältigung im baukulturellen Raum" or, in English, "Bavarity – Coping with Crisis in the Space of Building Culture". What is it about and why did I choose this title? The book deals with architecture, urban design, urban planning and the environment in the German federal state of Bavaria, from the interdisciplinary perspective of an urbanist. In this context, individual participation in planning and building processes can also contribute to coping with crisis, as long as the responsible planning and design actors and the users or occupants are included. The aim of the book is to offer ways of understanding the built environment in Bavaria, to apply criticism where it is due, to present built success stories and, by doing so, to propose solutions while, finally, "building" a space for reflection and imagination. If people can read the built environment, this reading can inform and support their ac...