Regaining a sense of belonging by transforming vacancies into educational resources
The vacant Haus Bräutigam in rural Thuringia (Germany) tells stories of the past, while asking questions about the future. The house becomes a Learning Space and its transformation is the curriculum: sustainable, inviting, uplifting, and as a common good. Students and academics collaborate with local actors, communities and craftsmen in transdisciplinary and integrated education formats, thus creating new urban-rural linkages and a place of belonging.
Regional
Germany
Thuringia, Schwarzatal
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
EAFRD : European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
EAFRD/ELER - Förderinitiative ländliche Entwicklung in Thüringen (transl. Funding initiative rural development in Thuringia/Germany), 2019
LEADER - Regionale Aktionsgruppe Saalfeld-Rudolstadt (trans. regional action group of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, Thuringia/Germany), 2021
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Haus Bräutigam e.V. Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Maria Last name of representative: Frölich-Kulik Gender: Female Nationality: Germany Function: Association chair Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Jakobstraße 2 Town: Weimar Postal code: 99423 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 176 32171749 E-mail:info@haus-braeutigam.de Website:https://haus-braeutigam.de
URL:https://www.instagram.com/hausbraeutigam/ Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #hausbraeutigam #Bauschule #linacommunity#linaplatform #schwarzburg #sommerfrische #stadtland #ibathueringen #stiftungtrias #bauenimbestand#Leergut #BauhausUni #Handwerk #reuse
The initiative Haus Bräutigam – A Learning Space creates new forms of learning by transforming a vacant house in an exemplary way. The association Haus Bräutigam e.V. is a transdisciplinary group, linked through the Bauhaus-Uni Weimar, with a focus on spatial design disciplines. We are working on urgent questions such as accessibility of education, sustainable design, circularity and socio-spatial integration. The Haus Bräutigam in the village Schwarzburg serves a model space: collaborative, comprehensible, vivid and hands on!
Haus Bräutigam exemplifies the dwindling sense of belonging in rural regions. Built as a boarding house in the typical style of local summer resorts (Sommerfrische-Häuser), it stood empty since the early 1990s. Like many other such houses, it was falling into disrepair. Our association has been reactivating and opening the house as a place of learning since 2020, attracting young people to the valley for the first time since the local forestry school closed in 2008. The initiative is working on new urban-rural linkages, in response to the trend of dwindling infrastructures and social facilities in rural areas. The house becomes a point of identification as three specific learning formats integrate local collaboration, neighborhood support and community outreach:
(1) short term: "Offene Baustelle” (open construction site) a low-threshold and regular format in which skills in crafts and construction techniques are taught through learning by doing.
(2) medium term: "Bauschule" (building school) allows for more complex construction tasks to be worked on collaboratively for up to 10 days.
(3) long-term: In the “Fellowship”, artistic practices and research are accompanied on site over a longer period of time.
The association cooperates with institutional actors and NGOs such as the local “Zukunftswerkstatt Schwarzatal”, the regional International Building Exhibition (IBA) Thuringia and the nationally active non-profit “trias foundation”.
vacancies as resources
hands-on learning
place of belonging
urban-rural networks
common good
Sustainable action begins with knowledge about circular, holistic processes and the reflection of one's own position within them, corresponding to target 4.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goal No 4. (Quality Education): "By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development..."
The initiative Haus Bräutigam – A Learning Space – starts here and revitalizes a vacant place as a common good for the production of knowledge with three focal points:
Learning with: Haus Bräutigam is an open and public learning space that contributes to securing the common good of education in the context of the Schwarzatal region and making it accessible at a low threshold. We promote urban-rural networks by making topics of sustainability accessible and tangible for all social and educational levels. Haus Bräutigam becomes a "place of belonging".
Learning in: The learning process is designed as a hands-on experience rooted in the valuing use and reuse of resources through circular concepts respecting planetary boundaries. E.g.: How can we implement a circular water system allowing for a safe reuse of the wastewater and the nutrients it contains? What environmentally friendly and locally sourced building materials can we use to maintain our houses? Complex questions require interdisciplinary approaches from practice and academia! Our hands-on approach fosters the integration of people external to the subject and with diverse backgrounds.
Learning from: Through our network (trias foundation, Zukunftswerkstatt Schwarzatal, IBA Thüringen, etc.) we learn from other projects and make our know-how transparently available. Our ideas can be taken up and be further developed by other initiatives and locations. Especially relevant is a long term building lease contract (Erbbaurechtsvertrag) we have with the land owner trias foundation. It saves the land and the house from financial speculation, thus securing it for the common good.
To bring about positive change in a self-determined way, is of central importance for regaining a sense of belonging. The Learning Space Haus Bräutigam achieves this by offering active experience, exchange and togetherness. In this way, the place generates positive connections both to the place and the people learning in and from it:
Shaping Change: Haus Bräutigam is located in the Schwarzatal region of Thuringia, whose identity is characterized by idyllic half-timbered houses. Traditional, regional construction methods can be visited and discussed with reference to Haus Bräutigam, involving everyone present. Everyone has a say, every perspective flows into the design of the Learning Space. Co-design strengthens identification.
Hands on-experience: Working on the object allows participants to engage in craftsmanship with building materials that come from the local environment. Learning craft skills promotes self-confidence and self-efficacy. Participants are proud of what they have accomplished together.
Place of exchange: Haus Bräutigam is an open, communicative Learning Space. We encourage continuous exchange about what is happening at the house, in the village, and beyond with craftspeople, participants, visitors, etc. The many voices around the house create a lively place for learning.
Togetherness: Shared meals at the long table integrates the most diverse people and promotes positive emotions. Whether it is the “Offene Baustelle” or the “Bauschule”, an important part of Haus Bräutigam identity, are shared meals in the garden or at tables in and around the house, dedicately fostering a sense of belonging.
We understand our initiative Haus Bräutigam - A Learning Space, as a common good on multiple levels. Inclusive learning formats allow the offer of learning experiences for people of diverse educational backgrounds. New educational perspectives are opened up to participants. The low-threshold of our program brings networks and role models within reach of young people. Bringing together different people with diverse social and educational backgrounds in an actual place allows for socio-spatial networking on a local, regional and international level.
Our events and learning formats open up a low-threshold access for people from the village and the Schwarzatal region: During the learning formats "Offene Baustelle" and "Bauschule" and during the annual “Tag der Sommerfrische" (day of the Summer Retreat) the door is open for interested people and neighbors. All people can be involved, whether they bring expertise or memories of the past. We target people of diverse backgrounds through a variety of outreach channels: Through social media, through local and regional news coverage, through visibility in the community through posters and postcards, and through press outreach by our stakeholders.
Organizing as an association offers very low barriers to participation. At the same time, we are transforming the existing building to be handicap accessible. It will be open to the community of Schwarzburg and public activities in the future. A residency program will bring international creative people to Schwarzburg in the summer of 2023, enabling an exchange of culturally diverse perspectives.
We strengthen the much-needed identification with the region by demonstrating that commitment leads to real change. Striving to reach and include a diverse group of actors rooted in the region, we are very pleased that our youngest association member, who has just graduated from high school, is a local Schwarzburger.
The local network of the project is diverse and ranges from neighborly support, to cooperation with the municipal administration, to direct cooperation with other actors of civil society in the region such as “Kulturnaturhof Bechstedt”, “Zukunftswerkstatt Schwarzatal”. Furthermore, we prefer to cooperate with craftsmen from the region in our learning formats in order to establish and strengthen regional economies.
The openness of the project has proven to be the key to citizen participation. Since its foundation in 2019, the association has been able to attract several members from the Schwarzatal region. The project strengthens a broad perception of the region, as the work of initiative is published in various media. In particular, a 45-minute television documentary has helped the Haus Bräutigam project to be increasingly perceived by citizens as part of a regional culture of sustainable innovation. Our active participation in local events (“Festival of Lights”, “Tag der Sommerfrische”, “Schwarzburg Gespräche”) is conducive to our work, for example, by passing on narratives about the history and identity of the place. The sense of belonging to the region is fostered by giving a meaning to the identity and heritage of the Schwarzatal. This is reflected locally through our work. The response to our project ranges from recognition and verbal support as well as to donations and participation on the construction site. In the medium term, the house will be shared with other local initiatives and the community. Learning formats will also benefit from local knowledge in the future, e.g. with regard to craftsmanship, plant and vegetable cultivation, enabling the cross-fertilization of rural and urban knowledge through innovative education.
The stakeholders of our initiative represent the goals of our commitment.
Our local partner include the municipality of Schwarzburg and “Zukunftswerkstatt Schwarzatal”, a group of local associations and interested individuals who are jointly committed to the sustainable development of the Schwarzatal region.
On a regional level, we cooperate with the state of Thuringia. Structural repairs on the house could be implemented through a grant as a model project of regional development.
As an educational institution in the region, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar embodies the highest standards, particularly in the areas of design and sustainability. The university is anchored in the region of Thuringia and carries out inter- and transdisciplinary teaching formats. As a living lab, Haus Bräutigam was an integral part of the NEB-Lighthouse application of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and is a core partner in their regional and national network. Some stakeholders of Haus Bräutigam are professionally connected to Bauhaus-Uni Weimar.
An important stakeholder is the International Building Exhibition (IBA) Thuringia, which initiates and promotes innovative model projects in the region. It supports the development of the project in terms of content, monitors the design quality and supports learning formats and public relations work financially. It also provides a supra-regional network.
A building lease contract (“Erbbaurechtsvertrag”) with the public welfare-oriented trias foundation, protects the site from financial speculation in the long term. In addition, our lease benefits projects in the region through a special regional fund.
On an international level, Haus Bräutigam is a fellow of the LINA Community, a European network connecting prominent cultural players with emerging practitioners and thinkers in sustainable architecture. Through this fellowship, we are in active exchange with other LINA fellows as well as internationally recognized institutes (LINA members).
Our commitment is based on competences in the knowledge fields of spatial design, the built environment and crafts. The disciplinary background among both the organizers and the teaching staff and experts includes architecture, historic preservation, landscape and spatial planning, design, graphic design, and various crafts trades. This focus is mirrored by other members of the association with backgrounds in cultural studies, social pedagogy and medicine. In this context, members of the association and guests as well as students often take different positions with regard to their educational backgrounds. Sometimes they are "trained" and sometimes "untrained" with regard to the respective discipline. This reduces social thresholds between individuals.
In the learning formats, members of the association bring in their disciplinary expertise within the framework of their voluntary work, both in terms of organization and planning as well as during the implementation. We invite experts to specific learning formats. The participants, who are usually laypersons in the subject, are instructed in how to implement certain services on the object themselves, e.g., clay plaster on interior walls, repair of half-timbered houses. This leads to intensive exchange with the teachers and a high degree of self-efficacy among the participants. As our tasks we see the development, implementation, documentation and further development of the formats as well as the transfer of aggregated knowledge.
An additional benefit of the process is the development of a vivid Learning Space in the rural area of Thuringia. New forms of education outside of formal educational institutions are actively established for very diverse people, by getting to know and understanding "actor networks of people, things and resources" (Kaijima, M. 2022 in ARCH+249 p. 15). Within this network of actors, further learning spaces emerge that benefit from each other structurally, organizationally, civically.
From our experience, identification with practical work executed at Haus Bräutigam succeeds equally well across diverse groups of actors. Hands-on learning experiences at the house are proven to be not only particularly engaging, but most importantly inclusive for students and people from all backgrounds. This holds a special potential for innovation, and ultimately represents the key to (re)gaining a sense of belonging to the region.
The initiative offers informal education formats in a rural location whose formal educational institutions, such as vocational schools or universities, are increasingly concentrated in other, sometimes distant locations. The former forestry school, which was a central player in Schwarzburg before its closure in 2008, serves as an example here. The loss of schools in the region left behind major structural problems, such as increasing vacancies and a lack of links between the region and higher educational institutions.
The initiative is organized and run on a voluntary basis out of civic commitment and thus shows how learning spaces can be organized to complement state and private-sector educational institutions. While existing educational institutions usually prescribe linear and sometimes segregated educational paths, the Learning Space Haus Bräutigam succeeds in establishing links between groups that have become increasingly isolated from one another (rural - urban, academia - crafts, young - old).
Future-oriented topics such as sustainable and circular building can be practically experienced on site in a hands-on way. This opens up new perspectives for vacant buildings, the preservation of historic substance and the passing on of special craftsmanship and fostering regional identification. Ensured by the initiative's links with the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, individual education formats are set up in a discourse- and innovation-oriented way.
Replicability and transferability are central to our work: We envision Haus Bräutigam as a starting point for a network of learning spaces on common ground. This addresses many challenges rural areas are facing: Young people come to the rural context, the demand in infrastructures increases, exchange of local and global perspectives is encouraged which turns around the narrative of decline and decay. The educational network draws on using existing resources and transforming vacant buildings into educational hubs. This network continuously promotes new connections between different actors at local, regional and supra-regional level. Our vision is a macrocosm emerging from the network of learning spaces that can fundamentally change rural areas: existing infrastructures are strengthened, a dynamic influx of young people is promoted and there is an increased need for everyday supplies, so that regional economic cycles will be revitalized.
The main replicable and transferable elements of our project are:
Common ground: Haus Bräutigam is withdrawn from speculation as a Common Good and is made available to the public as a learning space. In cooperation with the stakeholders IBA Thüringen and Stiftung Trias, concrete, sustainable, transferable structures have been created in the Schwarzatal region with the Ground Fund and made visible to the public thanks to the activities of the IBA.
Learning with local stakeholders: At the local level, exchange and cooperation with actors and projects such as the Haus Döschnitz association is sought through various formats. For example, in the summer of 2023, a cooperative residency, "Festival of Local Heroes", takes place for the first time at two locations in the valley.
Sharing our learnings: We work up our competencies transparently and make them available to other local actors (e.g. in the Haus Bräutigam Magazine). A network of actors in the region but also on a European level (LINA) has already been established and is growing.
The goal of the initiative is a Learning Space in the Schwarzatal region that is lively, integrative and transferable. Our work is based on three essential methodological approaches that we see as mutually dependent:
1. Vacancies as common resource
The vacant Haus Bräutigam is an example of the many buildings in rural areas that have become useless. Citizens in the region very much identify with this problem, because the decay of buildings is visible. Therefore, we see this vacancy as an ideal "common resource." It offers the possibility to conceive places in a new way and thus providing a visible and tangible contribution to society. The possibility of dealing with vacancy opens up necessary and urgently needed "learning spaces" in rural areas.
2. Academia meets practice
Practical learning experiences in real settings prevents "passive information consumption"(Kaijima, M. 2022 in ARCH+249 p. 15). Our academic backgrounds and our competences in the field of architecture combined with external expertise, are the foundation of various collaborative forms of learning at and around the building. Starting from informal exchanges at the one-day "Offene Baustelle” (open construction site)," to compact and in-depth learning experiences during the 7 to 10-day "Bauschule” (Building School), to long-term, topic-based residencies during a "Fellowship" that have an individual focus in research or artistic practice.
3. Learning by doing
The learning formats focus on active participation and co-creation of the processes. "When we are actively involved in creating our learning spaces, what we have learned and created through our own hands will become the embodiment of knowledge and skills" (Kaijima, M. 2022 in ARCH+249 p. 15). Especially during the "Offene Baustelle" and the "Bauschule", learning can be done under guidance and hands-on, with and without previous education.
Please refer to the attached document ”Learning Formats Diagram”.
Like many rural regions in Europe and the world, the Schwarzatal region is affected by demographic change and economic downturn. Infrastructure and services for the public have been dwindling and an increasing number of houses stand empty. Haus Bräutigam exemplifies the urgent questions of a sustainable future associated with extensive vacancies: What does a sustainable conversion look like? What social and material or economic cycles can guide repurposing strategies? How can vacancies be established as places with a "sense of belonging"? And how can they function for the common good?
The initiative Haus Bräutigam - A Learning Space approaches these global challenges with local solutions:
Common Grounds: Organizing the conversion of the house with the help of the trias Foundation is a strategy to remove vacant spaces from real estate speculation. This provides creative space for local initiatives regardless of possible future development or institutional changes.
An Inclusive Place: As a hands-on learning site, Haus Bräutigam already serves as a place of encounter and exchange across disciplinary and social boundaries.
Circularity: The transformation of the building is carried out with circular, sustainable materials from the region and implemented with know-how from local craftsmen.
Actor Network: As a place of learning, Haus Bräutigam is conceptually and functionally interconnected with various local partners striving for sustainable regional development and ‘Baukultur’. In turn, local partners benefit from our growing regional and international networks.
Vacancies as resources: Demolition and construction account for disturbing amounts of global annual waste and carbon emission. Saving existing houses from demolition is a necessity. By finding new programs for vacant building whilst (re)establishing local identity by preserving characteristic elements, vacancies are turned into resources for sustainable development.
The initiative is being implemented in three stages, the first two of which are already being successfully carried out. In 2021, we introduced our low-threshold ‘Offene Baustelle’ format (open construction site), which has been held regularly ever since. Also in 2021, the first organized “Bauschule” (building school) took place, which included a ten-day learning stay at Haus Bräutigam, was once again repeated in 2022 and is in the planning for 2023. The third stage is represented by the “Fellowship Haus Bräutigam", which will be awarded for the first time in 2023. Here, individual artistic practice and research on site is accompanied by a mentor over a longer period of time.
In 2023 we will advance our cooperation with Bauhaus-Universität Weimar by offering a transdisciplinary seminar taught by a group of members of our initiative from the department of architecure and urbanism as well as colleagues from the department of engineering. It will be open for students from all courses of study and executed hands-on and for the most part on site in Schwarzburg.
Local support is provided by the mayor and the municipal council, which endorse the model project Haus Bräutigam. In order to connect with other regional actors, the initiative regularly presents itself at the so called Schwarzburg talks (Schwarzburger Gespräche), a regional conference of the "Zukunftswerkstatt Schwarzatal", and will continue this commitment. Our project gained significance on a national level when being awarded the status of IBA project in 2019 as a “reference and role model for the development of Thuringia and beyond”. In 2023, it is an integral part of the IBA Thuringia final year and co-host of the international "Festival of Local Heroes", to which international artists are invited as residents to realize their own work on site.
A detailed tabular overview of the activities of the association is deposited under "Additional Documentation".
"Everybody is on the same page, because it’s easy to identify with the action of putting clay on a wall."
The learning space Haus Bräutigam uses the integrative character of practice-based learning to develop new competences. The goals named in the framework are fully reflected in our learning formats by working sustainably and in an inclusive way on a real object. We anchor sustainability values at a local level, at the house and with the participants. We provide solutions facing the complex challenges related to the sustainable development goals. We act collectively and individually at the same time building on the individual initiative of all participants.
