Official residence Habitat Stockenbruch

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North view of the Stockenbruch habitat

The civil servants' residence Habitat Stockenbruch was built as a small vertical garden city in accordance with the modern urban planners of the 1950s in Saarbrücken . Coinciding with the Unité d'Habitation of Le Corbusier in Marseille , the architect designed Jean Schoffit the semicircular building for Saarbruecken. The Stockenbruch habitat is smaller in its dimensions than the great role models of Le Corbusier, but is based on the same urban development models.

Building description

Floor plan of the Stockenbruch habitat

With the construction of the civil servants 'house from 1949–1953, popularly also known as the “civil servants' silo”, the architect Jean Schoffit not only tried to alleviate the great housing shortage in Saarbrücken, but also took into account the modern urban development models that were laid down in the Athens Charter of 1933 . The official residence is not only living space for government employees, but a building with the highest technical equipment. For its residents, it was a luxury that was incomparable for its time, and its architectural design was a special building.

The Stockenbruch Habitat , an eight-storey reinforced concrete skeleton structure, is filled with bricks and lightly plastered. It has an arched floor plan, with the lounges facing south and only functional rooms and traffic areas on the north side. The semicircular stairwells and the two elevators divide the building into a central wing and two side wings. A flat roof with roof structure and roof terrace forms the end.

The reinforced concrete skeleton is clearly visible on each axis. The building is structured horizontally by its protruding window sills, which are only interrupted by the reinforced concrete pillars. The roof terrace or a low mezzanine floor is located above the cornice. The building is completed with the roof structure, consisting of an open hall, an apartment and a kindergarten area. A two-storey cellar forms the basis. The basement rooms of the residents are in the lowest basement. The heating system, workrooms as well as washing, drying and ironing rooms are housed in the high basement. A connecting corridor is arranged between each of the three floors, which connects the two side wings horizontally via the central wing.

There are three apartment types from two to four ZKB apartments. All apartments were originally whitewashed. The screed floor was kept dark brown. In the hallway of the apartment, glass blocks were provided for lighting in the entrance area. This was replaced by bottles during construction, which were probably cheaper to get.

Building history

In the 1940s, architect and deputy head of the Reconstruction Department, Jean Schoffit, designed a high-rise in the shape of a semi-circular arch. This should include 48 apartments on eight floors. It is planned to accommodate government employees there, which is why the building is now often referred to as a civil servants' residence. The building was designed independently of the construction site, now a suitable building plot is being sought. Jean Schoffit prefers the site between Saargemünder Straße and Alleestraße because it is government-owned and immediately available. Construction is to begin immediately because the apartments are urgently needed.

Urban planner Georges-Henri Pingusson and the Ministry of Finance and Forests plead for a building site in the Bruchwiesen . The French town planner Georges-Henri Pingusson (1894–1978) planned for Saarbrücken and other French occupation zones from 1945 to 1950. In Saarbrücken he had made plans for the ideal city of Saarbrücken with reference to Le Corbusier's ideas regarding the restructuring. This stipulated that vertical garden cities should be created on both sides of the Saar, in the form of parallel high-rise windows and large green spaces in between. In this urban landscape, the joies essentials , the essential joys according to Le Corbusier, should flourish. That means a clear view, birdsong and relaxation in the green areas and a silence high above the roaring life.

The rotunda by Jean Schoffit didn’t really fit into the town planning of Pingusson, and Jean Schoffit passed his draft on to the technical director of the reconstruction department, Friedrich Rheinstädter, who himself would have liked to have submitted a draft for the civil servants’s residence. In addition to presenting his own ideas, Rheinstädter also criticized the Prime Minister's choice of the building site. A lengthy discussion ensues with regard to the building site, which is finally ended in the 77th cabinet meeting of the Saarland government on August 9, 1949. The Council of Ministers decided that the construction of the high-rise should begin immediately and that the Ministry of Finance and Forests should provide additional funds.

On October 24, 1949, the Reconstruction Department submitted the planning application for the said civil servants' residence and in November the first work began. The topping-out ceremony will take place on May 14, 1950 on the roof terrace of Habitat Stockenbruch . Due to the new design and technical equipment of the building for Saarland, Prime Minister Hoffmann is invited to take over the protectorate for the Stockenbruch habitat .

The modern technical equipment of Habitat Stockenbruch consists of two passenger elevators ( Otis-Pifre , Paris), a garbage disposal chute, central heating (3 low-pressure boilers), as well as 6 washing machines and a hot iron, a bell system with intercom, plus a panoramic roof terrace and a kindergarten. However, this kindergarten was never used as such and in June 1953 the attic was released as living space by the reconstruction department. On June 22, 1950, the architect Jean Schoffit was given notice on September 30, 1950. It is not known who managed the construction work on the Stockenbruch Habitat .

literature

  • Wolfgang Pehnt, German architecture since 1900 , Deutsche Verlagsanstalt Munich, ISBN 3-421-03438-9
  • Beyme, Durth, Gutschow, Nerdinger, Topfstedt (eds.), New Cities from Ruins , German Post-War Urban Development, Munich 1992
  • Otto Renner Architekt (ed.), Bauzeitschrift , Volume 1, Issue 1
  • Urbanisme en Sarre 1947
  • Baulig, Mildenberger, Scherer, Architectural Guide Saarbrücken , Historical Association for the Saar Region eV Saarbrücken 1998
  • List of sub-monuments of the state capital Saarbrücken, St. Arnual district, St. Arnual district, Stockenbruch 10 (individual monument)
  • Bilke-Perkams, Miriam, Habitat Stockenbruch, Saarbrücken, St. Arnual, Saarbrücken 2014

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Landesarchiv Saarbrücken, StK891
  2. ^ Letter from the Minister for Finance and Forests Grommes to the Department for Reconstruction, 2 Department 60, May 20, 1949, Saarbrücken City Archives
  3. ↑ Landesarchiv Saarbrücken, holdings 2750, letter from the Rheinstätter government building council to the Prime Minister Hoffmann dated October 10, 1950
  4. ↑ City Hall Archives Saarbrücken, Stockenbruch House File
  5. ↑ Landesarchiv Saarbrücken, StK 2750
  6. ↑ Landesarchiv Saarbrücken, StK 1452

Coordinates: 49 ° 13 ′ 18.2 ″  N , 7 ° 0 ′ 31.3 ″  E