Projects

Stadtland

The IBA Thüringen has made StadtLand its primary theme. Through three key areas of action, the IBA aims to promote a new quality of relationship between the town and the country.

IBA Programme (PDF)

REUSE Vacant Properties

The IBA Thüringen examines practical, tangible ways of making use of the potential of vacant property in the towns and country and is embarking on an initiative to match unused buildings with new uses. The influx of refugees has given fresh impetus to this topic. To this end, the IBA Thüringen is seeking model projects for activating and converting vacant buildings and for piloting new methods and design approaches. Given the urgency of the current situation, the mechanisms of current standards, norms and procedures must be re-evaluated. The IBA asks: How much is good enough? How quickly do we need to act? and how can we still cultivate Baukultur in the process?

Thuringia, Vacant Property Agents

Thuringia, Vacant Property Agents

Thuringia, Vacant Property Agents

Rescuing vacancy: Thuringian network for revitalising empty properties 

The Vacant Property Agents were founded on the initiative of IBA Thüringen in 2018 as a Thuringian network for revitalising vacant properties in the public’s interest. For the IBA, vacancies are a valuable resource in terms of scarce building land and building materials, local history and identity, craftsmanship, grey energy, environmental protection and building culture.

Trotz vielfältigem privaten Engagement und langjähriger öffentlicher Förderung gibt es allein in Thüringen über 45.000 leerstehende Gebäude. Die LeerGut-Agenten erkennen ihren Wert als kulturelle und bauliche Ressourcen, die jede Menge Raum für gute Ideen bieten.

The Vacant Property Agents support new users, municipalities and former owners in revitalising old buildings and derelict sites. Many vacant and derelict buildings, including old factories, schools, accommodation facilities, administrative offices and farms are too large for just one unit of use. Accordingly, there is a need for vacancy management, the formation of building groups, the development of utilisation and operator concepts and advice on planning and building law issues, financing and funding, right through to alternative forms of ownership such as heritable building rights and cooperatives. 

The Vacant Property Agents link initiatives, knowledge and experience so that good ideas are turned into feasible projects. The aim is to show alternatives to speculation, decay and demolition, but also to further new construction ‘on greenfield sites’. In doing so, the Vacation Property Agents support the individual approach of those involved, strengthen public welfare in the region, small town or village and take planetary boundaries, in particular soil, the environment and climate into account. With their self-defined role as Thuringia’s lobby for real estate development in the public’s interest, they thus advocate for the conversion and re-use of houses and brownfield sites in rural areas and for a building culture that promotes innovations in planning, financing and funding. 

With financial support from IBA Thüringen, the Vacant Property Agents set up a corresponding advisory service in 2021 with the ‘Vacant Property Vouchers’: they want to network, advise and support initiatives for the development of vacant properties, especially in the so-called “Phase 0” – from the idea to the project. In 2022, they offered additional training for administrations at the Thüringer Kommunalakademie.

Dates 

Momentan keine Termine

Ansprechpartner

Dr. Bertram Schiffers
Projektleiter
Telefon +49 3644 51832-14
bertram.schiffers@iba-thueringen.de

Artikel / Links
Schwarzatal, Sommerfrische Open Day

Schwarzatal Blick auf Schwarzburg_Foto Thomas Müller

Schwarzatal Blick auf Schwarzburg_Foto Thomas Müller
Aus dem IBA Kandidaten ›Resilientes Schwarzatal‹ sind mehrere IBA Projekte erwachsen. Sie stärken die zivilgesellschaftlichen Kräfte der Region und bringen neue Akteur:innen ins Tal. Damit erhoffen sich die Projektbeteiligten auch eine Stärkung der Demokratie und des sozialen Zusammenhaltes. Außerdem bedarf es im Sinne nachhaltiger Infrastruktur und Bauweisen eines grundsätzlichen Umdenkens bei der Entwicklung des Tals. Die vorhandenen Ressourcen sollen geschont und weitergenutzt werden, insbesondere die vielen leeren Häuser der Region.

Schwarzatal, Sommerfrische Open Day

Schwarzatal, Sommerfrische Open Day

Revival of a valley

The valley of the Schwarzatal was for generations a popular summer holiday destination. In the 19th century, especially during the period of industrialisation, city dwellers headed to the cooler climes of the countryside to escape the heat and bustle of the cities and relax in bucolic surroundings. Evidence of this tradition can still be seen in the typical summer resort architecture of the region.

The valley of the Schwarzatal stretches 53 kilometres along the River Schwarza on the northern edge of the hills of the Thuringian Schiefergebirge.

Holidaymakers stayed in small hotels and guesthouses – the so-called summer resort houses – which reflect the local building traditions and materials of the day. Their characteristic loggias and balconies opened onto the landscape.

Many of these impressive houses are now disused and without a clear use concept are increasingly falling into disrepair.

Students from Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences present design concepts for the revival of these houses in the “Alte Post” as part of the “Sommerfrische Open Day” in 2019.

Apolda, St Martin's Church

Apolda, St Martin's Church

Apolda, St Martin's Church

New socio-cultural centre: Community, city and diaconia open church space for diverse usage

One of the model projects selected in 2017 as part of the ‘STADTLAND:Kirche’ open call for ideas organised by the Protestant Church in Central Germany (EKM) and the IBA Thüringen is the socio-cultural centre in St Martin’s Church. One of two churches in the town run by the parish of Apolda, it adjoins the green Kantplatz, a square at one end of the town centre’s pedestrianised zone. Until recently, it was used as an art depot for the regional church but is now vacant and free for new uses. In cooperation with the neigh- bouring Diakonie social care agency, the church will set up a market of opportunities for cultural and social activities.

The imposing nave at St Martin’s is currently used for storage and archives, and only the front part for liturgical ceremonies. In 2020, the Parish of Apolda, the EKM and the IBA Thüringen invited ideas for the conversion of the nave space, which dates back to 1119. The Leipzig architecture office Atelier ST won through with a design for a new two-storey structure placed on concrete columns. The design minimises interventions in the existing structure of the church and adds a new diamond-gridshell vault made of white-glazed glulam timber ribs inserted as a ‘house in house’ into the nave. The new centre aims to breathe new life into the old walls.

Dates 

Momentan keine Termine

Partners
Involved in Planning Process
IBA Project Coordination

Ulrike Rothe
Project director
Telefon +49 3644 51832-13
ulrike.rothe@iba-thueringen.de

Schwarzatal, Bräutigam Sommerfrische House

Haus Bräutigam_Teaserbild.jpg

Haus Bräutigam in Schwarzburg 2018, Foto: Thomas Müller
Schon nach der ersten Öffnung zum regional bekannten Tag der Sommerfrische im August 2018 wurde offenkundig, welche Bedeutung das Haus Bräutigam insbesondere für die Bevölkerung Schwarzburgs hatte. Viele Besucher:innen erzählten Geschichten über das Haus und seine Erbauerin Lydia Bräutigam: In der DDR diente es als Bettenhaus eines Betriebsferienheims, nach der Wende wurde es aufgekauft und vermutlich nur noch kurz betrieben.

Schwarzatal, Bräutigam Sommerfrische House

Schwarzatal, Bräutigam Sommerfrische House

New urban-rural connection: Association redevelops Sommerfrische residence

The ‘Haus Bräutigam’ association is developing a former ‘Sommerfrische’ summer holiday residence in Schwarzburg into a place for short-term living and working after the ‘Zukunftswerkstatt Schwarzatal’ stepped in and saved the building in the centre of the village from demolition. The communally organised project for the resource-efficient reconstruction and conversion of the disused building is intended as a model for similar initiatives in the village, region and beyond.

‘Bräutigam Sommerfrische House’ also represents a new symbiotic urban-rural connection. In addition to acquiring IBA project status, the association has also been granted funding from the ‘Rural Development in Thuringia’ initiative as part of the ‘European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development’. In autumn 2019, work began on gutting earlier alterations and removing the applied facade to expose the house’s original half-timbered appearance.

Dates 

Momentan keine Termine

Location 
Haus Bräutigam
Am Schloßberg 10
07427 Schwarzburg
Germany
Main Partners
Sponsors
  • Thüringer Ministerium für Infrastruktur und Lamdwirtschaft:
  • Maßnahmen und Projekte der Regionalentwicklung und zur Gestaltung der Folgen des demografischen Wandels
  • Revitalisierung von Brachflächen
IBA Project Coordination

Ulrike Rothe
Project director
Telefon +49 3644 51832-13
​ulrike.rothe@iba-thueringen.de

Krobitz, Chapel of St Anna

Krobitz, Chapel of St Anna

Krobitz, Chapel of St Anna

Small-scale renewal: A chapel resounds with music

“Old and new, tradition and innovation complement each other perfectly in this project. The innovative spirit, the sensitive handling of the site and its traditions, and the participation of and interaction with people clearly mark out the Chapel of St Anna in Krobitz as an IBA project.”
Prof. Barbara Holzer, IBA Thüringen Advisory Board

Until recently, the small Chapel of St Anna served just once a year as a place of congregation. Villagers from Krobitz in the Saale-Orla district came together to celebrate Ascension – outdoors, due to the dilapidated state of the interior.

The turnaround came in response to an open call for new and unconventional ideas for churches as part of the ›STADTLAND:Church‹ exhibition in 2017 initiated by the EKM Evangelical Church in Central Germany and the IBA Thüringen.

The renowned international artist Carsten Nicolai gave the 11th century Romanesque chapel a new musical heart: a sculptural installation entitled ‘organ’ in the form of a gas-powered pyrophone made especially for the chapel in 2017. The unusual musical instrument has since attracted hundreds of visitors to the chapel and other artists have now also been invited to contribute new compositions. The interior of the chapel was renovated with a few simple additions including a new rammed earth floor and a simple wooden bench around the perimeter. With minimal means, the chapel has been revived as a place of congregation, prayer, music and Baukultur.

The art installation for the Chapel of St Anna in Krobitz is an IBA candidate project by the EKM Protestant Church of Central Germany.

The pyrophone features two rows of gas flames and was built by Frank Fietzek and Rob Feigel. Drawing: Frank Fietzek.

In contrast to the classical (church) organ, the sound generators are flames, which produce sounds by resonating in glass cylinders.

IBA project manager Ulrike Rothe in conversation with the artist Carsten Nicolai.

The art installation lends the Romanesque chapel a special sense of place and turns it into a landmark in the gently undulating landscape of the Saale-Orla region. The art chapel is the first of a series of projects that derive from the “Think lateral!” call for ideas competition initiated by the EKM Protestant Church in Central Germany as a way of finding innovative ideas for the many empty churches in rural Thuringia.

Opening hours
The church is open for groups on request. Please send an email to: anfrage@st-anna-krobitz.de.

 

More 
On an Amazing Resonance Space
21 March 2018

On an Amazing Resonance Space
Interview with Carsten Nicolai

But above all an acoustic space?

Churches are acoustically perhaps the most complicated places. They have such a high reverberation, so strong a resonance at certain frequencies that one quickly understands that a church interior is always a huge resonance space. It should be swinging at people, as an amplifier ultimately of the word and the music. People’s religious faith should be strengthened as a whole. The church interior is more than a classical instrument, it is a resonance body.

organ exhibits another classical element of the chapel: the flame, the eternal light.

Flames have their own archaism beyond Christian symbolism. The primordial elements fire, water, air, and earth—basically one has everything there. organ plays on these basic elements. When the flame begins to resonate, then you see the air rise and the flame changes its color: the playing flame becomes blue, the non-playing flame remains yellow. The visitor will connect the fire with the sound; in principle, one has a visualization of the sound; that is the beauty of this synesthetic aspect. The flame is the light source and the fire at the same time. In winter, organ will also heat the church. Moreover, the flames deprive the environment of oxygen, so there is a rudimentary lack of oxygen. But this will not happen at the church in Krobitz, because it is too porous due to its age.

In the best sense, this sounds archaic, timeless, and somehow also meditative.

Yes, it is what one conceptualized the least in the beginning. Actually, it is a return to the original use of such spaces. That is the beauty.

Downloads 
Dates 

Momentan keine Termine

Location 
Krobitz
Deutschland
Main Partners
Partners
Involved in Planning Process and Artists
Execution of Construction
IBA Project Coordination

Ulrike Rothe
Projektleiterin
Telefon +49 3644 51832-13
ulrike.rothe@iba-thueringen.de

IBA Material
Thuringian Forest, Her(R)bergskirchen

Thuringian Forest, Her(R)bergskirchen

Thuringian Forest, Her(R)bergskirchen

Reconciling worship and tourism: Sacral sanctuary as wayside hostel

“The opportunity to spend the night in a church attracts people from near and far, giving the church new appeal as the social centre of the community. The Her(R)bergskirche is a successful example of sustainable tourism.”
Prof. Barbara Holzer, IBA Thüringen Advisory Board  

What’s it like to sleep in a church? Inspired by the EKM Protestant Church in Central Germany’s open call for ideas in 2017, regional stakeholders and external ideators have joined minds and hands to find new uses for churches in the Thüringer Wald holiday region. St Michael’s Church in Neustadt am Rennsteig is the first of a series of wayside shelters and overnight stopovers in churches – the so-called HER(R)BERGSKIRCHEN – along the Rennsteig Hiking Trail.

A provisional solution first installed in 2017 was converted in 2018 into a permanent sleeping niche at the rear of the neo-Romanesque choir near the church tower. The model project in Neustadt enables passing hikers to stay the night in the church. 93 people took up the opportunity in 2018, and more than 155 in 2019. The success of the project has prompted the parish to come up with other possible uses: a space for yoga courses, a library and a communal cooking and dining area are now scheduled to be installed in the coming years. It also earned the church the EKM’s “Golden Steeple Award” in 2019. Additional LEADER funding has made it possible to install a guest bathroom and kitchen next to the sleeping niche in 2020 and 2021.

The success of the IBA pilot project in the Church of St Michael in Neustadt am Rennsteig has encouraged other churches to open their doors to passing hikers. In 2020, the HER(R)BERGSKIRCHEN received a new addition with the Lutherkirche in Tambach-Dietharz. This was followed in 2021 by the St Matthew's Church in Spechtsbrunn, which will be offered as a HER(R)BERGSKIRCHE for the first time in the summer of 2022. In addition, the planning process for the Church of St Catherine in Hirschberg an der Saale will begin in 2022. As in Neustadt am Rennsteig, micro-architectural insertions will supplement the historical naves of the churches to create spaces for simple sleeping accommodation as well as for meetings and communal use. These site-specific interventions make the churches more usable and bring them back into the public consciousness of the villagers and visitors as public places in the community.

A diverse network of local participants has arisen around each project, and an overarching brand – the HER(R)BERGSKIRCHEN – has been developed to connect the locations and coordinate ideas, marketing and tourism potential. The capital (R) is a reference to the Rennsteig Hiking Trail that runs the length of the Thuringian Forest region.

The idea is a product of the “'STADTLAND:Church 2017” ideas competition organised by the Protestant Church in Central Germany (EKM) together with the IBA Thüringen. The project was initiated and further developed by the volunteers from the parish of Neustadt am Rennsteig with the support of young architects from Berlin and Leipzig.

St Michael’s Church in Neustadt am Rennsteig became an IBA project in March 2019 and is a model project for other possible Her(R)bergskirchen along the Rennsteig Hiking Trail in the Thuringian Forest.

Schwarzatal, Döschnitz Sommerfrische House

Schwarzatal, Döschnitz Sommerfrische House

Schwarzatal, Döschnitz Sommerfrische House

Where urban meets rural

“Döschnitz is more than a way to escape the hectic pace of urban life; it is about escaping from the system, about the future heterotopia of StadtLand.”
Prof. Andreas Wolf, former member of the IBA Thüringen Advisory Board

The Schwarzatal, one of the most beautiful valleys in the Thüringer Wald region, was for years a holiday destination for city dwellers in need of relaxation. Its pleasantly cool summers, beautiful half-timbered houses and freshwater courses attracted people in droves. Today, however, most of the resort hotels are empty and have fallen into disrepair. At the same time, more and more city dwellers are rediscovering the qualities of the region.

The Döschnitz Sommerfrische House, built for the Böttner family of brewers in the 18th century, has since served as a refuge for displaced persons, the village council offices, a hunting lodge, local history museum and most recently contained a short-let holiday apartment. The newly founded association Haus Döschnitz e.V. has now taken on the historical half-timbered building with the intention of turning it into a place of exchange between the town and country and the urban and rural:

“The aim of the association is to establish a place of interaction and exchange between the urban and the rural with the help of local, regional and national participants. This can be in the fields of education and research, culture and history, and living and working. It aims to create a new place in which both individuals and groups can learn, work and live cooperatively in the context of the natural surroundings of the Schwarzatal – and to be a space that can stimulate social and democratic life in the local community through recurring programmatic impulses.” (Haus Döschnitz e.V. website)

In April 2018, the Jena-based architect Lina Maria Mentrup converted part of the house into a summer holiday apartment. Mentrup had undertaken a resourceful, low-key adaption of the local history museum into a further summer residence. Her sensitive approach to the historical building fabric, and the inexpensive, low-labour approach serves as a model for the renovation of other vacant properties in the region. With the work of the Haus Döschnitz e.V. association, the IBA project is now entering the next phase.

The Haus Döschnitz e.V. association is supported by the Stiftung trias Foundation, the Schwarzatal Futures Workshop and the IBA Thüringen.

The Sommerfrische holiday apartment in the 400-year-old half-timbered house in Döschnitz was completed in 2018. Photo: Dörthe Hagenguth.

Historical details were uncovered and made visible for the new summer residence and combined using simple means to create a comfortable, contemporary living atmosphere. Photo: Dörthe Hagenguth.

The sensitive, cost-effective partial renovation of the listed building pays respect to the historical building fabric and was awarded an architecture prize by the Thuringian Chamber of Architects in 2019. Photo: Dörthe Hagenguth.

As a “Sommerfrische” building, the house is open to the public on Open Monuments day and the “Sommerfrische Weekend” event in summer.

Apolda, Eiermannbau

Apolda, Eiermannbau

Apolda, Eiermannbau

Open Factory: Collective reactivation of a disused architectural icon

“The Eiermannbau is an iconic work of modernist industrial architecture that the IBA is successively developing as an own initiative. The intention is to demonstrate first-hand how vacant buildings can be revitalised and made habitable in imaginative, sustainable and reactivating ways. An innovative contractual agreement between the LEG Thüringen as the owners and the IBA Thüringen as the tenant allows the IBA to develop concepts for future new users at low risk until 2023. This approach, along with the fact that the building remains in public ownership, are important prerequisites for successfully developing structurally underdeveloped regions.”
Andrea Hofmann, IBA Thüringen Advisory Board

The small town of Apolda lies between Jena and Weimar and was an important industrial location for many decades. Textiles have been produced here since the beginning of the 18th century, initially stockings and later knitwear and hosiery. Very few of the 6,000 jobs that once existed in the textile industry survived after the reunification of Germany. As a result, many of the town’s larger production sites were abandoned, among them a factory building known as the Eiermannbau. Since 2018, the IBA Thüringen has been developing this industrial monument into an open factory.

The Eiermannbau is the only building designed by architect Egon Eiermann in Thuringia. Originally built as a weaving mill to a design by the Apolda architect Hermann Schneider, it was used as a factory for fire extinguishers from the 1930s until 1994. Eiermann extended the original building in 1938 and 1939, respectfully extending the existing building structure while also incorporating the functional and aesthetic requirements of his time. Egon Eiermann is regarded as one of the most important German architects of post-war modernism and was also a furniture designer and lecturer at the Technical University of Karlsruhe. Logic, purity and clarity were his architectural maxims.

Repurposing and development as an Open Factory

Largely unused since 1994, the Eiermannbau contains over 6,000 m² of floor space with around 2 hectares of surrounding land. The IBA Thüringen is reactivating the historical listed building according to the motto “How little is enough?” which also echoes Eiermann’s original design principles.

Over 20 international students and graduates used the Eiermannbau during the IBA Campus 2016 as a place to live, work and create. In the evenings it became a cinema, ping-pong club and much more.

In summer 2018, 50 creatives lived, learned and worked for a fortnight at “Hotel Egon”, the motto of the second IBA Campus in the Eiermannbau. During the 14-day design-and-build workshop they created furniture and unusual spatial experiences to attract and stimulate guests to engage with the building during the IBA Thüringen’s interim presentation year in 2019. The iconic roof terrace of the Eiermannbau was also furnished as part of the summer campus.

Based on a specially developed financial model and use concept for an Open Factory developed in 2016, the LEG Thüringen acquired the Eiermann Building in December 2017. An innovative contractual agreement between the two state-owned companies allows the IBA Thüringen to act as project developer until 2023, an approach that has the potential to serve as a model for tackling vacant properties in other areas.

Initial uses and conversion concept

The IBA Thüringen is the developer and placemaker of the Eiermannbau, and also the first of the new users to move into the industrial monument in summer 2017, albeit initially only temporarily. The intention was to motivate other users to discover the factory and make it their base. To this end, the IBA developed a prototypical conversion and use concept for 750 m² of the Eiermannbau from February to October 2018. In autumn 2018, the IBA team moved into their new premises, which feature cost-effective, functional and at the same time stylish greenhouses that serve as offices on the first floor. A self-build instruction kit has since been published by the IBA for others to emulate. This house-in-house approach makes it possible to have two different room climate zones to ensure that the spaces can be used all year round.

Dates 

Momentan keine Termine

Location 
Auenstraße 11
99510 Apolda
Germany
Construction

Reichmann Gebäudetechnik, Bad Berka
Zehnder Group Deutschland GmbH, Lahr (Vertrieb Erfurt)
 

  • Building and construction of IBA greenhouses:
  • Students of the Bauhaus-University Weimar
  • Tobias Grabowski
  • Hannes Heitmüller
  • Simon Martini
  • Nicolas Schüller
  • Till Teubner
  • ​Katharina Wittke
IBA Project Coordination

Katja Fischer
Project director
Telefon +49 3644 51832-11
katja.fischer@iba-thueringen.de

Christoph Grube
Project Collaboration Open Factory
Telefon +49 3644 51832-04
christoph.grube@iba-thueringen.de

Dorothee Schmidt 
Renting and Marketing 
Telefon +49 3644 518 32-06‬‬
dorothee.schmidt@iba-thueringen.de

Alexander Stief
Project Collaboration Open Factory
Telefon +49 3644 518 32-03
alexander.stief@iba-thueringen.de

Links / Further Information about the Project Process
Thuringia, 2000 churches

Thuringia, 2000 churches

Thuringia, 2000 churches

New perspectives through transformation: Creative ideas and new uses for sacred buildings

"Churches shape the cultural landscape of Thuringia and are an important part of the cultural heritage of the region. Reprogramming them to promote social interaction in the respective communities helps reinforce their role in the localities and raise their perception in Thuringia and beyond.”
Prof. Barbara Holzer, IBA Thüringen Advisory Board

Churches invariably play a central role in the identity of local communities, and in Thuringia 99% of the nearly 2000 protestant churches are additionally historical listed buildings. As such they represent an important architectural and cultural legacy. The upkeep of these churches, parsonages, and other properties, however, presents a challenge, especially in the context of demographic change and declining church congregations. In cooperation with the Protestant Church of Central Germany (EKM), the IBA Thüringen and its partners therefore set out to find strategies to give new life to empty or little-used churches.

In 2016, the EKM and IBA Thüringen put out a call for ideas for forward-looking uses for around 2,000 churches.

At the opening of the exhibition on 13 May 2017, visitors were able to see hundreds of ideas for the use of church buildings. Many of the “Think lateral!” ideas were presented as videos on the monitors of the exhibition.

Six model projects have been carried forward from the call for ideas: a socio-cultural centre at St Martin’s Church in Apolda, a HER(R)BERGSKIRCHE in the Church of St Michael in Neustadt am Rennsteig that serves as a wayside shelter for hikers bookable via AirBnB. Currently in the qualifying stage are a project for a garden for bees at St Peter and Paul’s Church in Roldisleben, a meditative playground in the Church of St Nicholas in Niedergebra and a digital and social network Church of St Johannis in Ellrich.

Dates 

Momentan keine Termine

Location 
Thüringen
Germany
Curatorial Project Management & Planning
Board of Trustees
  • Veronique Faucheur, Oberkirchenrat Christian Fuhrmann, Florian Heilmeyer, Prof. Barbara Holzer, Jürg Montalta, Anne Schönharting, Dr. Barabra Steiner und Tom Unverzagt 
Participators in the Querdenker Salons
  • Dr. Dankward Guratzsch, Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann, Dr. Stefan Krämer, Holger Reinhardt, Dr. Mathias Rein, Elke Bergt, Marcus Schmidt, Dr. Sonja Beeck, Jürgen Willinghöfer, Dr. Marta Doehler-Behzadi, Ulrike Rothe, Lisa-Marie Hottenrott und Oliver Weiland 
IBA Project Coordination

Ulrike Rothe
Project director
Phone +49 3643 90088-12
ulrike.rothe@iba-thueringen.de

Dornburg, Estate

Dornburg, Estate

Dornburg, Estate

New uses for a historical estate: A country seat for the local university

Perched high up on the ledge of a steep limestone ridge overlooking the Saale valley is a row of three castles, with the Old Castle at one end. It is a perfect spot to while away a few hours in the sun or enjoy the well-kept gardens and panoramic view across the valley. The Old Castle, now restored, has been used by the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena since 2005 as a conference centre and meeting location but it provides no overnight accommodation.

Behind the Old Castle is the Dornburg Estate, an ensemble of buildings including the former granary, tenant’s house, old pharmacy, manor and a row of barns. Unlike the castles, the buildings are in a state of disrepair. Formerly used to supply the university in Jena, the estate was used for agricultural purposes during GDR times, but has remained vacant since German reunification. The municipality of Dornburg-Camburg, the LEG Thüringen and the Thuringian Castles and Gardens Foundation are working together with the IBA Thuringia to revitalise the empty estate buildings. The reactivation of historical sites for use by public institutions establishes synergies and reciprocal connections between the town and country. 

In 2019, the IBA Thuringia commissioned the office HENN Architekten to create a development plan for the Dornburg Estate. In three scenarios, they devised potential guiding principles for the future use of the estate buildings. On the basis of the development plan by HENN Architekten, it is intended to bring individual sub-projects into concrete realization and to make the outstanding quality of the site visible.

As flexible working patterns become more widespread and people become more mobile, the connection between Jena and Dornburg can benefit from the potential of the urban-rural StadtLand of Thuringia. Few places offer the opportunity to switch so easily between the high-tech facilities of the present day and historical legacy of the past.