Rural areas are now once again attracting more attention as places to live. Existing buildings with conversion potential and landscape references form malleable space for new living designs and building concepts beyond the standard. The municipality of Burgsalach with its historic core around the church, the Burgstall and the vicarage forms the real research core for ways of dealing with valuable, regionally typical stock as well as vacancies and disruptions. The small community serves as a research laboratory for a future in the countryside - in reflection of its specifics of community/history/typology/landscape.
Specific analysis formats serve as discovery tools. Spatial potentials and spatial contexts are discussed and presented. Using zoom areas, pictorial ideas and concepts are shown as possible answers to planning questions of our time and serve as on-site discourse.
Learning from Burgsalach means: How can the place with its potentials and problem areas as well as new worlds of use react to each other and influence each other positively?
The course aims at internalizing the special techniques of analysis and work in the context. Through direct work on the site, the ability is trained to draw design decisions from diverse and tangible references and to derive new, spatially differentiated responses for the continuation of the site.
Spatial models and graphic representations serve as evidence and are discussed and exhibited.
a strategy for small rural villages
Faced with structural change of the rural areas in the German countryside like many other municipalities Burgsalach is in need of a new strategy to cope with the many changes. To start the former center of the village has faded in its importance to the inhabitants. To create a more livable place again its important to focus on creating a better center for the people of Burgsalach.
a place for arrival and community
In Burgsalach there are two main areas of importance. The first
is the small square located at the intersection of the main roads. It’s the more used space today. Cars are parked there and people move across. In front of the church and surrounding the old rectory one can find the old center of the village. When looking at the urban structure one quickly notices the lack of boundary in the southern part of this area where a big open space is located. This massive hole in the urban structure is in itself a problem
and holdes the chance to create a new organization of the village center.
Around the narrow passage of the road two places of arrival need to be added. A major problem lies in the lack of connections to national public transport and the placement of the bus stop at
the opposite site of the main road is creating a challenge for the people to feel safe walking home by foot. In the south there is no place to arrive - it’s all private parking space only. Suggesting
a better way to handle public transit will benefit the community immensely with its aging population that is relying on automotive transport and with more people being not able to drive this
will get a major challenge moving forward. The ensemble of
old building in the middle between the northern part and the southern space needs a reprogramming of its functions adding more community and municipal administration office spaces. With that the core of the village gets a new purpose and new life with people having a reason to go there. Creating a purpose with new community focused functions that bring people together and are actually needed in the municipality is a vital part of restoring old deserted village centers.
is the small square located at the intersection of the main roads. It’s the more used space today. Cars are parked there and people move across. In front of the church and surrounding the old rectory one can find the old center of the village. When looking at the urban structure one quickly notices the lack of boundary in the southern part of this area where a big open space is located. This massive hole in the urban structure is in itself a problem
and holdes the chance to create a new organization of the village center.
Around the narrow passage of the road two places of arrival need to be added. A major problem lies in the lack of connections to national public transport and the placement of the bus stop at
the opposite site of the main road is creating a challenge for the people to feel safe walking home by foot. In the south there is no place to arrive - it’s all private parking space only. Suggesting
a better way to handle public transit will benefit the community immensely with its aging population that is relying on automotive transport and with more people being not able to drive this
will get a major challenge moving forward. The ensemble of
old building in the middle between the northern part and the southern space needs a reprogramming of its functions adding more community and municipal administration office spaces. With that the core of the village gets a new purpose and new life with people having a reason to go there. Creating a purpose with new community focused functions that bring people together and are actually needed in the municipality is a vital part of restoring old deserted village centers.
a new center that needs to adapt
Getting to the new community hub needs to be easy. Often
with the widening of city streets the space for pedestrians
has shrunken significantly. Next to the conversion of smaller streets to shared spaces that limit speed and the danger of the automobile new ways and paths need to be added to make a village more walkable. In the long term the aging population will need safe spaces for pedestrians to be able to walk wherever they need to go.
with the widening of city streets the space for pedestrians
has shrunken significantly. Next to the conversion of smaller streets to shared spaces that limit speed and the danger of the automobile new ways and paths need to be added to make a village more walkable. In the long term the aging population will need safe spaces for pedestrians to be able to walk wherever they need to go.
Within the area that is still an open field south to the rectory a new building can be build to house some of the needed usages the community needs. It generates a new sheltered yard for festivities and every day enjoyment for the resident of Burgsalach. With the slowly starting conversion of the church to a cultural place the center of Burgsalach gets some new uses added to keep up with the ever changing needs of its population.
This process of transformation is going to take decades to complete. Not rushing the final decision and process only ensures an outcome that is desirable and wanted by the citizens and
will guarantee a functioning village down the road. Adapting the plan to the actual needs that will change every decade is the
only strategy that keeps up with the turbulent future of our rural areas.
This process of transformation is going to take decades to complete. Not rushing the final decision and process only ensures an outcome that is desirable and wanted by the citizens and
will guarantee a functioning village down the road. Adapting the plan to the actual needs that will change every decade is the
only strategy that keeps up with the turbulent future of our rural areas.
site plan 2021
site plan 2025
site plan 2030
