Erding, Munich's new lighthouse

Created: 05/12/2022, 08:00

By: Hans Moritz

The Erding Air Base has a development area of ​​351 hectares. The picture shows the area with the garages and halls.

From 2025, a new district is to be created here.

© Hans Seeholzer

Erding - The city of Erding has big plans for the conversion of the air base.

A new district is to be built on the 300-hectare site.

The IBA in Munich should be an incentive for this.

Erding – A few figures to begin with that describe the dimensions of the project: 351 hectares of development area, twelve hectares of which are for a new train station, 400 buildings, 4600 trees – the Erding Air Base is by far Bavaria’s largest conversion area.

In 2025, the city wants to start developing a completely new district here.

And possibly in a framework that is respected worldwide: Erding is to be part of the International Building Exhibition (IBA) in Munich, which is scheduled to run for ten years.

On Tuesday evening, the city presented the generational project to representatives of the European Metropolitan Region of Munich (EMM).

Arne Lorz from the state capital then praised: "This is a very ambitious project that shows what is possible in terms of urban development.

This is exactly what characterizes the IBA.”

"Spaces of Mobility" is the subtitle of the Munich IBA application.

And the air base is just as much about large spaces as mobility of the future, explained Christian Famira-Parcsetich, head of urban development in the town hall, during a tour of the air base and a walk on the planned new highway - Landshuter Straße between the new train station and the city center.

Famira presented two ideas right at the beginning, visionary ones at that.

According to him, the motto of the new station is “Erding is changing”.

No fewer than 17 types of transport are to be reconciled in the multi-storey building – in addition to suburban and regional trains, there are also regular and long-distance buses, bicycles, car and bike sharing.

Famira envisions the new district being developed under the motto "life on the street".

“Our goal is that no vehicle stays on the street in the square for more than 20 minutes, but instead disappears into one of the neighborhood garages as quickly as possible.” A few entrances and exits, where the license plates are recorded, could regulate this.

Famira: "If you use the street for too long, you pay from the 20th minute." This should give pedestrians and cyclists more freedom.

The idea is so new "that it cannot even be reconciled with the road traffic regulations at the moment," the city developer admitted.

Another challenge: The planners should predict as precisely as possible what mobility will look like in the future.

Famira hopes that the new station area will be ready for the finale of the IBA around 2032.

Markus Rudolph from the Munich planning office Obermeyer presented the central twelve hectares of mobility center.

The trains arrive underground, above is the central bus station with 16 parking spaces.

Under the extensive, partly open roof, he wants to create a piazza with bright meeting areas and shops - "an area with its own high quality of stay," emphasized Rudolph.

The area is not to be developed via Anton-Bruckner-Strasse, but via the planned eastern bypass.

The old industrial track becomes a pedestrian and cycle path.

Neither Rudolph nor Famira could explain away one problem: The EMM delegation had noticed that the current station is much more central than the future one.

400 meters then become 1000 meters to get to the city center.

Famira explained that they are thinking that shuttle buses could be a solution.

The IBA, the international building exhibition in Munich, should be an incentive for the conversion.

(From left) Managing Director Wolfgang Wittmann, urban developer Christian Famira-Parcsetich, Arne Lorz from the city of Munich and planner Markus Rudolph (left picture, from left) presented the project to members of the European metropolitan region.

© Hans Moritz

Famira's colleague Michael Backes led through the air base and provided initial impressions of what the new district could look like.

Of the 4,600 trees recorded, as many as possible should be left standing.

There are buildings from several eras since the Nazis built the military base in the 1930s.

"We definitely want to keep some for historical reasons," said Backes, including the church, the NATO bunker (could become a disco), the shelter and the officers' casino, a possible outdoor location of the Erding Museum.

An in-house recycling of building materials is also part of the planning.

But before the air base can be rebuilt, contaminated sites first have to be found and salvaged.

Backes reported: "There are 314 suspected military cases here." 5,600 bombs were dropped, by no means all of them were recovered.

The EMM delegation learned that the winning architect's design envisages 2,500 residential units - space for 6,500 people from Neu-Erding.

At its peak, 7,000 people were employed at the air base.

The settlements are to be built in the area of ​​the crew quarters - on a gentle slope with many old trees.

According to Backes, commercial space could be created above all where there are countless barracks, halls and garages, most of which have long been orphaned.

Mayor Max Gotz remarked during the welcome: "We want a district in which people feel comfortable." The IBA could form a framework "that spurs us on," said Famira.

But the breath has to be longer: The project will probably only be completed in 40 or 50 years.

Lorz encouraged: "We need projects like this, which radiate beyond the region, as internationally as possible."