Freibad-Kolonnade - A community-built village centre
The small village of Rippershausen in southern Thuringia is located in an economically weak part of Germany. For this village, a group of architecture students planned and detailed a long wooden colonnade to create an architectural symbol of the sense of community and the connection between people. In an intensive participatory process, the students built this extraordinary structure together with people from the village community, and it has been actively used ever since.
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-08-25
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Type of organisation: University or another research institution First name of representative: Stephan Last name of representative: Schütz Gender: Male Nationality: Germany If relevant, please select your other nationality: Germany Function: Deputy Professor Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Bauhausstraße 9c Town: Weimar Postal code: 99423 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 3643 583050 E-mail:stephanschuetz@uni-weimar.de Website:https://uni-weimar.de/kee
At the request of a citizens' initiative from the village of Rippershausen two architecture students from the Chair of Urban Design at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar have drawn up plans for the village centre. Rippershausen is located in an economically weak part of Thuringia and has to deal with all the problems of rural areas. In the centre of the village is a communal area with an open-air public pool that was supposed to be closed ten years ago and has been kept alive by the residents. The students' design was intended to support the struggle for the public pool and the village centre by giving the citizens' initiative the opportunity to apply for funding with an integrative master plan. The plans were printed on a large banner and publicly displayed at a barn on main street. At a village meeting, the residents voted for one of the planning variants, which was then further elaborated by the students. The result is a long colonnade that is to be built along the public pool inhabiting the adjoining rooms of the pool, to give the village centre a spatial framework and a visible sign for their communal activity.
In an interdisciplinary collaboration, the planning was then taken up by the Chair of Constructive Design and Experimentation, which designed and specified the colonnade with its students. The design was discussed and agreed with the residents. In addition to a resource-saving use of materials, simple assembly and easy transportability were also required. The components were prefabricated in the workshops at Bauhaus-Universität and then assembled at Rippershausen. Here, the students worked intensively with the villagers to create a roof with a length of 15 metres. Due to the simple construction method and the use of only one type of wooden element, it can be easily extended up to 60 metres by non-experts. The building project is a starting point for the development of Rippershausen and a highly visible sign of the cooperation between students and residents.
rural development
local communities and initiatives
participatory cooperation
sustainable architecture
student design-build
The project aims to achieve sustainability on the following three levels:
MATERIAL EFFICIENCY: The construction consists of FSC-certified timber elements with a single, uniform cross-section of 8 centimetres. This reduced complexity, increased process quality and minimised processing time. The nodes of the wooden elements are connected with economical fasteners and designed to be completely detachable. Due to the plainly construction, the system can be completed by the villagers with wood from the village’s own forest up to a length of 60 metres.
ROBUST DURABILITY: An important aspect is represented by the constructive wood protection. This is ensured by the widely projecting roof surface, which protects the underlying construction from the weather. The facades of the gable ends were treated with an ecological linseed oil to withstand the elements and can easily be replaced in a distant future. As a result, the building aesthetically demonstrates what a durable and sustainable construction can look like.
SOCIAL ACCEPTABILITY: Architectural buildings and constructions are particularly long-lasting if they are valued by people and therefore cared for. The project experiences this appreciation because of its participatory genesis. A large number of people from the village, local companies and the university were involved in the design, planning, detailing, approval and execution. This cooperation leads to a deep identification with the object.
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EXEMPLARITY: This project exemplifies the positive results that open, appreciative and participatory planning can produce. The necessary simplification of the planning process led to an intensive dialogue between university training and actual local execution. The village community uses the building with love and the students learned valuable process steps of successful architectural planning. The project has been widely publicised and discussed in the local press and on social media.
The building is designed as a fundamentally simple architectural sign. A clearly visible and aesthetically designed roof, which has contact with the ground with its four-part supports. It shows that architectural quality can also be created in a participatory process with students and laymen. The form as well as the restrained wine-red colouring of individual elements quotes the surrounding residential buildings and barns with half-timbering. This interpretation of forms of the site makes the building comprehensible to people and respects the genius loci.
The load-bearing structure of the roof is developed as a spatial, recurring pattern of load-bearing elements interlocked at right angles. This aesthetic roof space supports a simple corrugated metal sheet, thus quoting Vitruvius' idea of the ‘Tugurium’. It was the clear goal, create a freely usable experience space under the roof, which is rhythmically structured by the supports. Cultural events (e.g. the annual Rippershausen cultural festival) and meetings of the village community take place here.
The project shows in an exemplary way how a restrained architectural design can enhance a formerly lifeless place and strengthen village self-confidence. The goal of extending the building in the future links its existence deeply in the consciousness of the village community and represents a starting point for the future development of the village.
The central quality of the local initiatives in Rippershausen is their effort to keep the public space alive. Many villages no longer have pubs, village community centres, schools or sports facilities. However, public swimming pools are extremely important places in the community, especially for children and young people. They are an antidote to loneliness and isolation. They enable exercise and fun, encounter and well-being in public and in the landscape of the hometown. They are accessible and affordable for all - a day ticket for children costs two euros. They are democratic places that resist commercialisation.
The jointly developed master plan and the jointly realised building make an important contribution to preserving and strengthening this valuable community place. Moreover, the cooperation between the university and the village community has brought together groups of people who would otherwise never have met. Building together and enjoying the resulting structure breaks down barriers between social groups and helps to break down prejudices. The result is the realisation that social engagement is worthwhile, that self-help can be successful and that something can be done against the decline of rural areas.
The project serves as a structural link between the main street of the village of Rippershausen and the open-air swimming pool at the rear, which is the last of its kind to be run by a voluntary association. In the warm summer months, many visitors from the surrounding villages find their way to this oasis and are welcomed by the building. People stroll along under the aesthetic roof and look forward to the bathing experience. Thus, the roof is not only a meeting place for the village community but also an architectural link between the traffic route and the open-air swimming pool. It also serves as a stage and meeting place for the annual music festival “Kultur-Biergarten”, which is organised by a local musician and brings together bands, local brass bands and traditional glee clubs.
Many participants from civil society were involved in the development of the project from the very beginning. The basic urban planning idea was proposed in a student competition whose jury included residents of Rippershausen and the local council. Intensive debates followed, which led to a second competition in which the appearance and construction of the building were found. Residents of the village were also actively involved in this participatory decision-making process. In all planning phases, people were involved in the decision-making process, which led to a deep identification with the process and the building. Last but not least, a large number of helping hands participated in the construction and formed a heterogeneous group together with the students. This had an extremely positive effect on the development of the project.
The initiators of the project were the citizens' initiative for the preservation of the outdoor pool and the organisers of the music festival. The residents of Rippershausen, the local council, the mayor and the district administrator were involved. Local companies acted as supporters and sponsors, including a sawmill, a timber construction company, a brewery, the savings bank, the local energy producer and other local companies. For further construction, wood will be taken from the community's own forest and cut at the local sawmill.
On the university side, the Chairs of Urban Design, Constructive Design and Experimentation and Static Calculations were involved, as well as the wood workshop and metal workshop of the faculties of architecture and civil engineering. The project was financed, among other things, by the university's creative fund for the promotion of art and building projects.
The most important aspect was the voluntary work of the students and professors, who spent many hours and days planning and realising the project above their study and teaching obligations, and who repeatedly travelled back and forth between Weimar and Rippershausen.
The starting point was a student design project at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, in which students of urban planning developed various proposed solutions for upgrading a central area of the village of Rippershausen. The aim was to link university teaching and architectural development work in rural areas. Already at this early stage, stakeholders from the approval authorities and committed citizens were involved. After the construction of the building was developed by architecture students in a second step, participants from the departments of civil engineering, design and art joined in. This steadily growing group of students and experts developed the concept and also the execution of the building. An engineering firm from Berlin provided the structural calculations as a donation, local craftsmen helped out with machines and personnel, and the village community supported the student group with accommodation and food. Funding for the building materials was provided by a grant from Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and the village of Rippershausen, and the approval authority helped with an accelerated approval process to realise the project within one semester.
The interaction between the groups was characterised by intensive cooperation and trust. The representatives learned an incredible amount from the partners and developed a deep understanding of different kinds of problems and their approaches to solving them. The interdisciplinary cooperation of all participants was the key to the success of the project.
Rural areas are seen as the losers of current social transformations. There are fewer jobs, schools, libraries, youth centres, doctors and services for daily needs. Young people are leaving their villages, which are ageing more and more. The feeling of being left behind leads to hopelessness and frustration. Especially in Thuringia, radical right-wing parties benefit from this, often gaining over 30 percent of the vote in rural areas. An important antidote is to make life in rural areas more attractive and to create a sense of belonging and community. Children and young people in particular need to associate life in the countryside with positive memories so that they return after their education, set up initiatives and businesses and revitalise rural areas.
Communal swimming pools in small communities have a special integrative power as public, active places. They have positive connotations and are associated with movement, encounter, fun and sunshine. In Rippershausen, the public pool is located in the centre of the village, together with the festival meadow and opposite the old village inn. The social and urban conditions for an active village centre are ideal. The project’s participatory process of planning and building has brought the residents more together. The citizens' initiative, which had been losing more and more members, is getting new members again. The local council, which wanted to sell part of the common area, has dropped the plan. The residents are considering how the kiosk under the colonnade could be run outside opening hours. The Thuringia state government has taken notice of the project and a state secretary has handed over a cheque for 4,000 euros. After initial scepticism, the residents want to continue building the colonnade on their own initiative so that it closes off the entire length of the grounds. Communal buildings together with good architecture can contribute to a sense of belonging and a feeling that rural communities matter.
The Rippershausen project brings people, institutions and initiatives together for mutual benefit who would otherwise never have come together. It connects urban with rural culture and the world of the university with the society of the countryside. The project goes all the way from A to Z within the short time of two years. It goes from the initial idea over urban design on a scale of 1:1000 to the one-to-one of the structural detail. The result is a sensible building in sustainable construction according to a holistic plan, which was practically built with no (or very few) money. Professors from the furthest apart sides of the discipline have worked closely together. Architecture students, whose designs are not usually built, have worked through a project from the very first sketch to the topping-out ceremony within three months.
The university has left its safe terrain and entered the largely unknown world of country life. Contrary to what one would expect, the success of the project is not due to the collaboration of specialised experts, but is essentially the result of laymen working together. And in the end the appearance of the finished object is not the result of abstract aesthetics, but case related conditions of sustainability: the simplicity of the construction, the availability of materials and the buildability by non-experts.
The Rippershausen project brings people, institutions and initiatives together for mutual benefit who would otherwise never have found each other. It connects urban with rural culture and the world of the university with rural society. The project goes from A to Z in the short time of two years. It goes from the initial idea to the urban design on a scale of 1:1000 to the one-to-one execution of the structural details. The result is a meaningful building in sustainable construction according to a holistic plan, built with practically no (or very little) money. Professors from the most distant areas of the discipline have worked closely together. Architecture students whose designs are not normally built have worked through a project from initial sketch to topping out in three months.
The university has left its safe terrain and entered the largely unknown world of country life. Contrary to what one might expect, the success of the project is not due to the cooperation of professionals, but is essentially the result of laymen working together. And ultimately, the appearance of the finished object is not the result of abstract aesthetics, but of case-related conditions of sustainability: the simplicity of the construction, the availability of materials and the buildability by non-experts.
A widespread thesis is that social cohesion seems to be increasingly dissolving. Especially in eastern Germany, anti-democratic beliefs and conspiracy theories are on the rise. This phenomenon is often associated with the theme of "disconnected regions" and seems to be a process that sometimes appears irreversible.
The project in Ripperhausen shows that there are possibilities for action and more substance than it seems at first glance. It also became clear that pupils who are often perceived as privileged and unworldly have a high willingness for social engagement. According to the experiences of the project, it seems possible that wherever there are civic initiatives in villages, community-building projects can emerge from cooperation with universities, foundations or associations. In this sense, the case of Ripperhausen can serve as an encouragement for local stakeholders and be read as a model for saving village centres, outdoor swimming pools and cultural institutions.
Creating equal living conditions and fighting inequality is a global problem. In the US, the Rust Belt is considered the prime example of a "disconnected region" and was responsible for a large number of voters who put Donald Trump in the White House in 2016. Disconnected regions occur as a phenomenon in many countries and usually lead to people feeling left behind, economically declassified and excluded from development opportunities. In addition to improving the digital and transport infrastructure, the promotion of civil society engagement as a decentralised and low-threshold strategy can improve the quality of life in rural areas and the identification with the place of residence. The case of Rippershausen proves that the visibility and symbolism of a good and collectively approved architecture can act as an important and universally understood communicator.
