Star architect Pierre de Meuron is planning a new prestigious property in Munich. Soon two tall towers rise up next to the Backstage and the parcel post hall. Our editorial team interviewed the Swiss.
Munich - Like an oversized armadillo, it lies there, the listed parcel post hall. Here, the Büschl Group is planning a completely new area, with two high-rise buildings that will be visible from afar with their 155 meters in height. Pierre de Meuron's gaze wanders over the grounds, he enthusiastically takes a photo with his mobile phone. But he is particularly fond of the backstage, which has asserted itself as a subcultural island here, between modern office and residential buildings and the huge parcel post hall.
"That's what makes a city, informal places like that," de Meuron enthuses, and you quickly realize that he would have liked to have had the conversation in the backstage beer garden. In a place whose use can change again and again, which eludes the strict rules of urban planning and land use plans in modern cities.
+The two 155-metre-high skyscrapers are intended to function like a "vertical city".
© Herzog/De Meuron
Meanwhile, the development of the parcel post area right next to the city is moving like no other project. No wonder, since fundamental questions about the future of Munich are raised here. What self-image do the citizens actually have of their city and how should it develop? This is a question that is also on de Meuron's mind. His answer: "I see the city as something alive, as something dynamic and not static."
Swiss star architect Pierre de Meuron: "Cities must not continue to proliferate into the landscape"
The height of the towers is a major part of the discussion, but there is actually more at stake. "This project exemplifies the questions we ask ourselves as a society," says de Meuron, drawing a wide range of topics such as sustainability, greening and mobility. It is in the nature of things that there could be different views on this. For him, however, one thing is clear: "Cities must develop inwards and must not continue to proliferate into the landscape." After all, the landscape is our only natural resource.
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Speaking of resources. These urgently need to be spared. His motto in the planning is therefore: Build on the built. "We want to preserve as much as possible." Not only the spectacular parcel post hall, which is a listed building, but also the rather inconspicuous administration building of the post office next door. "We discovered this in the course of the revision and knew immediately that the building could not be demolished. The reinforced concrete is in good condition and the building gives the place a welcome continuity," says de Meuron.
Parcel post hall: Project to become sustainable and protect the landscape in the surrounding area
However, the argument of sustainability is also used by the opponents of the project. The CSU member of the state parliament Robert Brannekämper, for example, who is collecting signatures against the project with his association "Hochhausstopp" and wants to stop it with a referendum. He reported in time for the meeting of the urban design commission with pithy words: "Is the city leadership suffering from planning policy Alzheimer's? The same forces that recently declared a climate emergency are undauntedly promoting the unecological and brutal intervention of the investors Büschl/Bauwens in Munich's cityscape!"
+Wide view: Pierre de Meuron is thrilled by the view of the site and takes a photo with his smartphone.
© Jens Hartmann for tz
De Meuron also places de Meuron's urban identity in the foreground. "The Frauenkirche and the core city are literally sacred, no question about it," he says. But: Cities are alive and changing. This development requires free space within the given structures, which allows different types of use over time. A model for this is the cities of the Wilhelminian period with their still lively urban quarters today. "Once upon a time there was a built structure for completely different needs of life, but the life that takes place now is very different from what it was at the end of the 19th century. We want to develop these high-rise buildings as a vertical city, similar to a Wilhelminian style district."
De Meuron makes it clear that high-rise buildings must be carefully placed and justified. "But if they are set precisely, they are not bad for the beauty of Munich," the architect is certain. As the capital of Bavaria, the city is large enough to tolerate places with different characters.
High-rise buildings refer to the shape and structure of the parcel post hall
Especially since no standard high-rise buildings are to be built here. "We refer to the curvature and ribs of the unique hall construction," explains de Meuron, drawing with a few strokes in a block why these towers can only stand here and nowhere else in the city. The form only works in dialogue with the parcel post hall – "it's like its imprint," says de Meuron.
+"Like an imprint": In his block, the architect records how the high-rise towers take up the curvature of the parcel post hall.
© Jens Hartmann for tz
In the end, the citizens breathe life into a city. "We architects can't impose anything. It's the people who make the city, especially this project," says de Meuron. That's why the architect also praises the citizen participation, which convinced him that there was a need for a small park for the district in front of the parcel post hall. Ultimately, life only arises where people feel comfortable.
You can find even more up-to-date news from Munich and the region on tz.de/muenchen.