PUBLIC BUILDINGS

Dear Readers,

the Child Day Care Act in Baden-Württemberg was passed almost exactly twelve years ago. The consequences of this decision are increasingly becoming a built reality and were now expressed in a plethora of submissions of day care centre project for this issue on public buildings. Good concepts, imaginative ideas and individual solutions… we present a small selection (from p. 60). To live up to our claim of diversity, we also feature schools (from p. 74), libraries (from p. 88) and churches (from p. 96). The fact that political decisions — such as the one in 2011 on the introduction of community schools in Baden-Württemberg — can ultimately lead to very satisfactory, architectural solutions despite lengthy processes is shown in our article “Learning Organism” (from p. 104). Stefan Rappold, partner in the architectural firm Behnisch, and Jens Fischer, chairman of the Filderstadt parents’ association, each describe from how the customised, architectural concept for the Gotthard Müller School can effectively support modern pedagogy. The fate of the educational institutions presented is currently a changeful one. All cultural institutions currently share this fate. In Lauterhofen, Berschneider + Berschneider have converted a listed malthouse (from p. 110) into a multifunctional cultural meeting place. It already enriches the town centre, but it remains to be seen when events will be held there again. When did you last see the inside of a concert hall? The pictures of concert halls in our series Photo and Space (from p. 118) should whet your appetite for the return of music. And when travelling is possible again, the first place we recommend is — Vienna (p. 28): our colleague Kira Kawohl takes you on a tour of her former home of choice! Everything will be all right!

Best wishes
Petra Stephan, Dipl.-Ing.
Chief Editor
Architect