IBA Campus 2016 - Eiermannbau Futures Workshop
IBA Campus 2016 - Eiermannbau Futures Workshop

The IBA Campus in 2016 was an experimental on-site workshop to reactivate the Eiermannbau in the former industrial town of Apolda, which has lain vacant since 1994. The intention was to find new uses, operating concepts, financing models and activation approaches. The 4000m²-large Eiermannbau was last actively used 22 years ago. The Campus devised different ideas for the future of this special industrial monument of the modernist age.

The IBA invited young architects, artists, urban planners, sociologists, property developers, economists and urban movers to live and work in the building as part of the campus from 15-30 June 2016 in Apolda. A total of 26 participants from eight countries took part. Ten local and regional initiatives contributed to the campus and were visited by the team. Every evening the doors of the Eiermannbau were flung open, films were shown, food was cooked and eaten together. Fun and exercise was provided by the newly-founded Apolda Ping-Pong Club.

By the end of the two-week workshop, nearly every room in the building had been put to use, with inquisitive neighbours stopping by to see what what the new residents were up to in their temporary abode. More importantly, the Campus team developed Open Factory: The Eiermannbau reimagined, a series of promising development proposals – based on extensive research, their communal experience and local-global knowledge transfer – along with guiding principles and scenarios for the site’s development from 2017 to 2023.

The proposals for the Eiermannbau envisage a range of diverse uses. The era of fire extinguisher manufacturing is long gone. Instead a new, open factory should reactivate the site through the combined contribution of local heroes, students from Thuringia and national initiatives to develop sustainable long-term strategies for the transformation of the location. New educational formats, new forms of production, new cultural and social activities are all conceivable within the building with diversity as the central economic principle. The idea of reprogramming – a central theme of the IBA Thüringen – serves as a guiding principle for the acquisition of new users.

What the IBA Campus has shown very clearly is the potential and power of open-ended processes, of collaborative development, of looking at things closely and allowing them to develop over time. We think that these principles are not only advisable, but are also a prerequisite for initiating transformation processes at this scale and under such conditions in the context of STADTLAND Thüringen.

The IBA Campus in 2016 was jointly organised by the IBA Thüringen and the Wüstenrot Stiftung. The campus concept, preparation and workshop was led by Katja Fischer (IBA Thüringen) with additional input from Christof Mayer and Marius Busch (both from raumlaborberlin), Andreas Krüger (Belius Stiftung) and René Hartmann (Wüstenrot Stiftung). The Eiermannbau in Apolda has been an IBA project site since 2014 and is being developed as an IBA Thüringen initiative.

The Campus – an IBA working format

Der IBA Campus is a specific working format of the IBA Thüringen. For the invited participants, it is as an opportunity to take part in a real-world practical experiment as part of the International Building Exhibition. Each year, the IBA Thüringen sets up a temporary international office in a specific location as a lab and forum for thinking out loud and radically questioning the status quo. For two weeks, students, young professionals and seasoned experts from different national and disciplinary backgrounds come together and live on site at a location in Thuringia. Experts and stakeholders from the region complement the team, contributing local knowledge and specific know-how. This climate of youthful enthusiasm, inquisitiveness and experience creates an ideal basis from which to develop ideas for an IBA project location.

Willkommen zum IBA Campus im Eiermannbau Apolda. Dr. Stefan Krämer von der Wüstenrot Stiftung begrüßte die Teilnehmenden im lichtdurchfluteten Eiermannbau.

Leben mit Egon Eiermann – Der IBA Campus schlug seine Zelte im Eiermannbau Apolda auf und erprobte, wie sich in einem leerstehenden Architekturdenkmal leben und arbeiten lässt.

Den Eiermannbau mit Leben zu füllen bedeutete auch, ihn vorübergehend mit allen notwendigen Versorgungsfunktionen auszustatten.

Gemeinsam entwickelte das Campus Team mit jungen Architekt:innen, Künstler:innen, Designer:innen, Stadtplaner:innen, Soziolog:innen und Ökonom:innen Nutzungsstrategien für das Gebäude.

Leben, arbeiten, spielen: Die Campus-Teilnehmer:innen im eigens gegründeten Pingpong-Club. Foto: Lennart Siebert

Im pop-up-Büro in der obersten Etage wird an den Zukunftsperspektiven gearbeitet.

Von der Planung bis zur Umsetzung: Die Idee der ›Open Factory‹ wurde für eine Broschüre illustriert.

Bis 2021 folgt die Aufbauphase. © IBA Thüringen/Wüstenrot Stiftung

Es folgt die Konsolidierungsphase bis 2023. © IBA Thüringen/Wüstenrot Stiftung

Mit Hilfe eines Risographen über Nacht gedruckt, lag die Broschüre ›Open Factory – The Eiermannbau Reimagined‹ für die IBA Konferenz LeerGut bereit.

Die Teilnehmenden des IBA Campus kamen mit den Besucher:innen der IBA Konferenz ›LeerGut‹ im Eiermannbau ins Gespräch. Sie präsentierten ihre Ideen und verteilten die erstellte Broschüre als Zusammenfassung ihrer Arbeit.

Im Rahmen der IBA LeerGut Konferenz stellte das Campus-Team die Ergebnisse des zweiwöchigen Prozesses vor. Auf dem Podium (v.l.): Christof Mayer (raumlabor Berlin), Andreas Krüger (belius Stiftung), Marius Busch (raumlabor Berlin), Katja Fischer (IBA Thüringen), Dr. René Hartmann, Andreas Krauth.