Spremberg community center
The community center Spremberg is arising out of a reconstruction of an East German prefabricated modern building in the market square of the city Spremberg . It is characterized by modern, innovative architecture and efficient management. What is particularly noticeable, and not yet implemented in Germany, is the fact that wall and roof surfaces merge, are made of the same material and are treated in the same color. Due to the sensitive location, the population took part in the conversion of the former workers' dormitory (AWH) to a "community center" to an extent previously unknown.
history
Due to the effects of war and destruction during and after the Second World War, 70 percent of the buildings in the town of Spremberg, which was declared a fortress, were affected. The city's market square was particularly hard hit. Only the west side with the town hall located there and individual buildings on the east side of the market square have been preserved. All six commercial and residential buildings that stood on the south side of the market square, the current location of the community center, fell victim to the war. Most of the other buildings, with a few exceptions, were demolished and initially replaced by large green spaces.
Due to its status as a mining protection area , which Spremberg held until around 1968, larger construction projects were more the exception than the rule. At the beginning of the 1970s, it was decided to build a new administrative building for the Spremberg district . Since Spremberg was a district town at that time, the choice fell on the still undeveloped south side of the town's market square for the area to be built on.
A three-storey, rectangular skeleton structure with ribbon windows and curtain-type concrete slab cladding was created, which took up the entire south side of the market square. In 1972 the topping-out ceremony was celebrated. Even before the building was finally completed, the decision was made not to use it for the district administration as planned, but as a workers' dormitory (AWH) for skilled workers for the large companies located in the immediate vicinity, such as the Schwarze Pump gas combine or the Welzow construction and assembly combine ( BMK Welzow). The official handover of the AWH took place on April 29, 1974. In the following years up to 2006 the building was used in a wide variety of ways. Most recently, for example, as the local headquarters of a large people's party, as a sports studio, but also partly as the city's tourist office.
Planning and construction
In 2002 it was decided to completely redesign the south side of the market square. An initially considered demolition of the existing building was then not pursued for two important reasons: Firstly, under the building, due to the first intended use, there were basement rooms which were designed as bunkers and which were partially implemented as such. A demolition of these would not only be extremely time-consuming, but above all costly. Second, according to the current funding guidelines of the state of Brandenburg, only a renovation, but not a new building, would be funded at this point. In March 2003, the old town renovation company (ASG) was commissioned to draw up a district plan (conversion of AWH, facility for a community garden, redesign of the adjacent Töpferstrasse, redesign of the open spaces).
In 2004 the city of Spremberg announced a nationwide architectural competition for the renovation of the AWH. The winning designs, selected by a specially convened jury of experts, met with massive rejection from the city's population, so that the city was forced to announce the competition again in November 2005. The second competition was also accompanied by similar problems as the previous tender. Of the three final winning designs, none corresponded to the specifications made by the client, the city of Spremberg. However, since a renewed rejection also ran the risk of losing funding from the state of Brandenburg, the city council decided on July 4, 2006 to implement the design of a regional architectural office. The budget should amount to 1.65 million euros without usage-specific expansion costs for the building and without the design of open spaces.
On March 7, 2007, the city of Spremberg received the official conversion and expansion permit for the former AWH. The official start of construction was on April 25, 2007. First, the existing building was completely gutted and the upper floor removed. During the gutting process, only limited consideration was given to the existing “art in the building”. While a large-scale enamel mosaic by regional artist Georgios Wlachopulos attached to the east gable of the building was recovered and stored, a tile mosaic attached to the east gable by regional artist Horst Ring was irretrievably destroyed.
Due to the enormous time pressure, the concessions made, but also planning errors, there were repeated increases in costs during the construction phase of the construction costs originally estimated in April 2007 (for the entire district of Bürgerhaus, Bürgergarten and adjacent Töpferstrasse) of 4.4 million euros. In November 2007 it was estimated at 5.6 million euros, in April 2008 already at 6.2 million euros. But completely unforeseen things also messed up the schedule. For example, the window tendering had to be repeated because no supplier had submitted a lot in response to the first tender.
The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on October 26, 2007. On May 5, 2008, the city council decided that the former AWH should be called Bürgerhaus after its completion, following the will of the residents . On September 27, 2008, the community center was inaugurated with the 40th session of the city council. The town's building and planning department, tourist information and a bakery are now located in the community center.
Before their second meeting in the new council chamber, members of the city council made public deficiencies in the technical equipment, the technical possibilities and the confined space in the council chamber that was required by them and their specifications. The meetings were then moved to the old meeting place, the Spremberger Bergschlösschen, until the deficiencies were eliminated. On March 25, 2009, the Spremberg city council returned to the new council chamber after deficiencies were removed for another EUR 50,000 and new camera technology was installed in the local city sewer to broadcast city council meetings.
At the 28th session of the city council in May 2012, the total cost of redesigning the former AWH into a "Bürgerhaus Spremberg" was given as 6,223,653 euros.
Construction defects
A few months after the handover of the community center there were already problems with the construction, the causes of which could be due to improper construction. In 2011, the city of Spremberg therefore applied for several evidence preservation proceedings at the Cottbus regional court .
In an article in the local press in May 2015, it was reported that the damage to the community center was so serious that it had to be comprehensively renovated after only seven years. The main point of criticism is an "invisibly" laid roof drainage system , which repeatedly causes moisture problems within the building in heavy rain . However, until the legal dispute between the Altstadtsanierungsgesellschaft (ASG) and the responsible architects' office has ended, no steps can be taken to remedy the defects.
On June 22, 2017, a press article in the Lausitzer Rundschau reported that the ASG and the executing architects' office had reached an out-of-court settlement . However, details are not given, only the payment of a certain sum by the architect's office to the city of Spremberg is mentioned. All meetings and discussions about this legal dispute were always dealt with in the non-public part of the city council. With this agreement it is now possible for the city of Spremberg to arrange for the urgent repair of the moisture damage.
In December 2017, the “The New Generation” parliamentary group suggested considering a complete demolition of the community center. The reason for this was that around 500,000 euros had to be set in the budget for 2018, which makes up about a third of the costs that an urgently needed repair of the grossest defects in the community center would cost. The estimated total cost of this measure is estimated at around 1.5 million euros.
Serious defects in the building / empty train
In May 2019, investigations began to determine the damage to the structure caused by the moisture that has been penetrating for years. When the facade was opened, massive fungal attack was found on the wooden structure. These are Hausporling and the white pore sponge . Experts rate elimination as costly and difficult. City administration employees who work in adjoining offices will be assigned to other office spaces due to the risk of health risks that cannot be excluded . All costs for the renovation are borne by the city of Spremberg because of the settlement concluded in 2017 between the city and the architectural office.
On September 2, 2019, on the urgent recommendation of a structural engineer working at the house, the right front area, from which the facade was partially removed for assessment, was cleared. According to the statement of the mayor Ms. Herntier, contrary to the previous assessment of the structural engineer ... the safety in these areas is no longer given On September 4, 2019, a further assessment by a structural engineer and a carpenter called in took place. It was found that the deficiencies are even more serious than on September 2, 2019. The large window areas on the front and back of the building turned out to be particularly at risk. A secure hold can no longer be guaranteed. It is therefore strongly recommended that the entire building be vacated as quickly as possible. Due to these serious deficiencies, it can be assumed that the entire wooden structure will have to be renewed and the entire facade replaced. The duration of such a measure is estimated at around 3 years.
The administrative structures housed in the community center must now be distributed across different locations. According to the current status (September 2019), these should be the town hall, an empty shop and a former school in the Trattendorf district .
According to cost estimates, the initial security of the community center will cost around 90,000 euros. The accommodation of the administrative structures at the planned replacement locations for the current period of two years would add up to 30,000 euros for the converted former business. Here, rental costs are not included. For the former school in the Trattendorf district, which has since been converted into a (never used) refugee accommodation, the costs are 662,000 euros! Heating costs that are then incurred for the vacant community center are not yet taken into account in these cost estimates.
After most of the administration had moved to the replacement quarters, the continued handling of the ailing town house led to heated discussions and, in some cases, verbal personal attacks among the city councilors. On February 26, 2020, the city council decided to have the existing variants, demolition of the community center and subsequent new construction or renovation of the community center, precisely calculated by an external planner with regard to the expected costs . The figures presented by the administration in January 2020, which put around 9 million euros for the demolition and new construction and 6 million euros for the renovation, were based only on estimates .
Others
- In order to increase the acceptance among the population, the old town renovation company (ASG) launched a competition at the end of 2007 to find a name for the new building. The winners of this competition should be invited to the inauguration of the building. But even this competition was accompanied by problems and controversies, and it almost turned into a farce . Members of the city council tried to subvert proposals made by the population by submitting their own proposals at short notice. The winners of the naming competition were never honored.
- In the immediate vicinity of the community center, on the newly created open space “Kleiner Markt”, the so-called “Saebisch Fountain” (named after its founder, the Spremberg publisher CFSaebisch) was built around 1930 from the market square directly next to it in front of the former Tax office (today police station) had been implemented, reintegrated into the center of the city.
- The mosaic mural by the artist Georgius Wlachopulos, which was removed when the workers' dormitory was converted into a community center in 2007, which consisted of 120 enamel panels, was then restored by him and re-attached in 2009 to the new “House of Associations” on Pushkinplatz.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gaining height with color . In: LR-Online. July 16, 2008.
- ↑ Start of construction at AWH In: LR-Online. April 26, 2007.
- ↑ Broken piece of life's work In: LR-Online. January 19, 2008.
- ^ Community center, costs for community center are increasing In: LR-Online. April 4, 2008.
- ^ Spremberg community center, return to the Bergschlösschen . In: LR-Online. December 15, 2008.
- ↑ No progress on the community house dilemma . In: LR-Online. 15th November 2013.
- ^ Controversy over Spremberg town house . In: LR-Online. May 29, 2015.
- ↑ The dispute over the community center will end soon? . In: LR-Online. 4th June 2015.
- ↑ Community house damage remains open . In: LR-Online. 22nd June 2017.
- ↑ City parliament debates the restoration of the community center on the market . In: Märkischer Bote December 15, 2017.
- ↑ Two types of mushrooms in the community center wood . In: LR-Online May 10, 2019.
- ↑ Staiker- danger Spremberger community center . In: LR-Online September 3, 2019.
- ↑ Spremberger Bürgerhaus must be completely cleared . In: LR-Online September 4, 2019.
- ^ Spremberger Bürgerhaus - first alternative quarters found . In: LR-Online September 6, 2019.
- ↑ Spremberg's community center is completely empty . In: LR-Online September 19, 2019.
- ↑ There is also heating in Spremberg's empty town house . In: LR-Online November 20, 2019.
- ^ Another dispute about the community center . In: LR-Online February 13, 2020.
- ↑ External planning - costs are decided by the Spremberg community center . In: LR-Online February 29, 2020.
- ^ Building committee favors the technical town hall . In: LR-Online. April 23, 2008.
- ↑ Young Spremberger fears democracy when choosing a name . In: LR-Online. April 29, 2008.
- ↑ Georgios Wlachopulos restores artwork for Spremberg In: LR-Online. August 19, 2009.
Coordinates: 51 ° 34 ′ 15.7 " N , 14 ° 22 ′ 47.7" E