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Wolfsburg. A City changes its appearance:
From industrial colony to service and leisure centre
With its origin going back to the industrial colony "Stadt
des KdF-Wagens", created to house the workers of the Volkswagen
Works established then, and still closely connected with the well-being
of that company, the City of Wolfsburg is a typical example of planned
urban development focusing on economic impetus. Here, the creation
of a cultural identity and the integration of different cultures
combine with an effort to transform the place into a centre offering
state-of-the-art services and leisure amenities.
The development of the Klieversberg-Castle urban axis illustrates
how cultural changes have affected and shaped urban planning. Over
the years, the city's major buildings for cultural purposes have
been constructed along this axis, thus revealing evidence of the
development from the beginnings in 1938 up to the forward-looking
plans of the city. Four different development stages are described.
Stage1: Construction in the open countryside -
An industrial housing project is implemented, 1938-1954
Projects:
Urban Development Plan "Stadt des KdF-Wagens", Peter Koller,
1938
Accommodation of Municipal Administration, 1938
Tullio Cianetti Hall, 1938
Urban Development Plan "Wolfsburg", Hans Bernhard Reichow,
1948
Population:
1938 1,100 inhabitants
1945 19,000 inhabitants
1954 38,000 inhabitants
The location, at the centre of the German Reich, is in a thinly
populated area close to the industrial triangle of Braunschweig-Salzgitter-Magdeburg;
the railway route and the Mittellandkanal form an east-west transport
axis with easy access to the planned northern Autobahn - these were
the reasons the new car factory was located in 1938 in the glacial
valley of the Aller river. Peter Koller, whose urban development
plan for a town housing 90,000 people was implemented, planned to
strictly separate the factory in the north from the town in the
south.
Geographical landmarks such as the Klieversberg and an existing
renaissance Castle were the cornerstones of his concept. Initial
construction activities in the Wellekamp and Schillerteich districts
were to expand towards a central shopping axis - Rothehofer Straße,
later Porschestraße - with the Castle forming its historical
point of reference. Most of the rural dwellings existing in the
area of the town soon gave way to the new town's expanding construction
activities.
After 1942, the focus was on arms production, which put an end to
any urban building. With only 3,000 flats completed by then, the
townscape - until the end of the war - was characterized mainly
by shacks. Whereas the essential administrative organizations were
accommodated in temporary offices located at Steimker Berg, wartime
social life took place in a huge barn-like "leisure time"
building seating up to 5,000 people. It was the Tullio Cianetti
Hall, named after the then Italian Industrial Workers Association's
President and erected on the largest square of the so-called nationalist
community's camp. Also after the war ended, the flood of refugees
and people looking for work forced many people to adopt such spartan
forms of life, and housing remained a burning issue late into the
1950's.
Stage 2: House of Culture, Theatre and more -
The quest for local identity, 1955-1971
Projects:
Town Hall, Titus Taeschner, 1954-1958
Congress Center, 1957-1958
Culture Center, Alvar Aalto, 1958-1962
Theater, Hans Scharoun, 1965-1973
Population:
1955 44,000 inhabitants
1971 93,000 inhabitants
One of the essential tasks to be accomplished in the 1950's and
1960's was - next to coping with housing shortage - to create a
complete new cultural and social infrastructure. Numerous schools,
sports and playing fields, and swimming pools, as well as 26 new
churches, were evidence of the enormous efforts made in those years.
By the early 1960's, Porschestraße is almost entirely lined
with buildings: department stores, cafés and the first cinemas.
At the southern end of Porschestraße it was the market square
and the town hall that constitute a traditional city centre. Here,
in 1958, the local administration staff finally moved into a prestigious
building, having worked for so many years in shacks. A typical sign
of the democratization efforts made in the 1950's, the town hall
buildings reflected the principle of separation of powers.
The VW Board, aware of the company's responsibility for its employees,
undertook to contribute to the basic cultural infrastructure of
the city as a counterbalance to the workers' industrial working
environment. The first cultural projects constructed thanks to VW's
financial support were the functional Congress Centre building,
the Culture Centre and the theatre. Renowned architects presented
their outstanding designs in small international competitions: Finnish
architect Alvar Aalto's concept went beyond the basic functions
of a culture centre as he aimed at creating a place for people to
meet and discuss: hence the central roof terrace, around which all
other rooms were arranged. Upon its completion in 1962, the building
- housing the public library, a youth centre and an adult education
centre - soon became the pulsating heart of the city. A broad discussion
developed on the subject of a theatre since industrial workers are
not really traditional theatergoers. Hans Scharoun won the competition
with his concept of an elongated building that occupied the entire
slope of the Klieversberg, thus forming the southern end of the
so-called Koller axis, with the Castle at its northern end.
The Castle, one of the few historic islands in the modern city,
is an essential point of identification though it has long remained
somewhat off the beaten track due to the strict separation of functional
areas - the city in the south, the factory in the north. It was
only in 1957 that the town approached the Castle: straight across
the newly-built Berlin Bridge. In 1961 the local administration
acquired the renaissance building which, in addition to rooms for
official events, the municipal art gallery and the local arts association,
now also houses a small group of artists, well-known beyond the
limits of the region, who are bringing life back to the ancient
building.
Stage 3: Transforming into a metropolis -
The efforts to generate urban life and a city centre, 1972-1995
Projects:
Planetarium, Volker Kersten, Erich Martinoff, Hans Struhk, 1981-1983
Design competition "Nordkopf", winning design, Horst Beier,
Reinhard Beier, 1987
Museum of Modern Art and Town Hall extension, Peter Schweger, 1989-1994
Population:
1972 131,000 inhabitants
1995 128,000 inhabitants
The intention to develop a pulsating business centre along a central
city axis - a goal pursued since the mid-1950's - was being pressed
ahead with in the 1970's when Porschestraße was subdivided
into three sections. Its southern section, with its ensemble of
prestigious edifices already completed, led right into a landscaped
culture park at the foot of the Klieversberg. All the remaining
efforts focused on the middle section of the axis with its high
traffic volume. By 1981, its transformation into a pedestrian area
had been accomplished, its width broken up by little shop pavilions
fitted in to add a touch of bazaar atmosphere - a "shopscape"
to attract shoppers and promote urban life. The traffic flow banned
from this section was channeled into the bypasses encircling the
city.
The northern section of Porschestraße was converted, too,
the result of a planning competition in 1987. The winning design,
whose consistent concept convinced the jurors, provided for a straight
connection from railway and central bus station to city centre to
replace the existing roundabout. So, in the 1990's, a multi-level
traffic junction was built, with a four-lane trunk road alongside
the Mittellandkanal through a tunnel.
Whereas the essential traffic projects were implemented in the 1970's
and 1980's, economies became a must in those years, affecting also
ongoing cultural projects such as the construction of the theatre.
It was only fifteen years later that another major project could
be launched; on one of the biggest undeveloped areas of the city,
located between the Culture Centre and the theatre, an arts museum
was to make a contribution of its own. Peter Schweger's winning
concept was both a large forum providing space for the different
ways of how modern art can be expressed and a southern border point
of the city. The self-confident body of the museum constitutes a
landmark on the southern edge of the city axis, adding a new dimension
to the inner city.
Stage 4: Forward-looking City -
Transformation into a centre of global services and leisure
amenities, since 1996
Projects:
VW Autostadt, Gunter Henn (master plan), 1996-2000
Concept Erlebniswelt, Entertainment Services, 1998 - approx. 2003
Science Center, Zaha Hadid, 2000 - approx. 2001
Population:
1996 126,000 inhabitants
2000 123,500 inhabitants
Wolfsburg AG, a public-private partnership between the City of
Wolfsburg and Volkswagen AG with each partner investing 50% of the
capital, set structural changes in train in 1998. The objective
was to halve unemployment within five years. Whereas the need to
recruit more labour intensified the industrial monostructure for
many years, efforts are now being made to attract business start-ups
in the short term by offering optimum conditions. One of the four
divisions of "Autovision" will be "Erlebniswelt",
focuses on entertainment and leisure amenities. It relies mainly
on private investment. Planning is not restricted to the urban outskirts
but affects most of the areas along the city axis where any existing
threads in the cultural, sports, historic or shopping areas are
taken up. The first areas to be realized, east and south of the
Autostadt, were "Sports and Recreation" and "Discovery
and Entertainment".
It was the EXPO event in nearby Hanover that induced Volkswagen
AG to build the Autostadt, a compact thematic area presenting the
company's entire range of cars at the Wolfsburg headquarters. This
new service centre, appealing to visitors with a multitude of leisure
amenities, aims at generating lasting customer loyalty. Within only
two years the spacious water park area with seven brand pavilions
and a service point for the direct delivery of cars to their new
owners was built. The new city bridge across the canal extends the
Porschestraße axis beyond its northern end at the railway
station, thus lifting the strict division of city and factory and
opening part of the factory premises permanently to the public.
When in 1998 the railway station was converted into a state-of-the
art ICE stop, its forecourt adopted a new significance: it is now,
next to being the link to the Autostadt, the essential gate to the
City. The location of the Science Centre project "Phaeno"
and an international architecture competition to redesign the place
highlight the significance of the railway as a means of transportation
in a city that used to be tailored to the car. The innovative Science
Centre, quite different from traditional museums owing to its fascinating
concept of actively imparting information, is to become a cultural
component appealing strongly to the region. Zaha Hadid's prizewinning
design elevates the entire exhibition floor to a height of 6.5 meters,
thus generating an urban area underneath the disc-shaped building
as an interactive link to the city centre. Several public functions
will move into this artificially created topography which, by 2003,
is going to mark an urban place at the heart of an intersection.
Dipl.-Ing. Nicole Schneider
Stadt Wolfsburg, Institut für Museen und Stadtgeschichte
Architektur und Städtebau
Links:
Autostadt
http://www.autostadt.de/info/cda/main/0,3606,1~1~0~0~1,00.html
Wolfsburg.de
http://www.wolfsburg.de/bauen_wohnen/
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Some Books:
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by Gunter Henn (Editor)
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267 x 500 px, 14 KB
558
x 1043 px, 58 KB
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Development Plan:
stage 1, 1938-1954. An industrial colony for 90,000 people is to
be developed practically in the open countryside. About 3000 flats
are completed by 1944.
Drawing:
Kathi Rodehutskors
500 x 350 px, 49 KB
Wolfsburg Castle, south façade, around 1953. This
renaissance edifice, typical of the Weser river region, is one of
the few historical islands of the modern city and an essential point
of identification.
Photo:
Stadtarchiv Wolfsburg
268
x 500 px, 17 KB
558
x 1042 px, 57 KB
(scrollable window)
Development Plan:
stage 2, 1955-1971. On the southern end of Porschestraße the market
square, the Town Hall and the Culture Center constitute the traditional
city center.
Drawing:
Kathi Rodehutskors
467 x 500 px, 51 KB
View from Town Hall roof onto Culture Center,
1962. The design concept integrated the public library, the youth
center and the adult education center in this spectacular new building.
Photo:
Heinrich Heidersberger
268 x 500 px, 18 KB
558
x 1042 px, 58 KB
(scrollable window)
Development Plan:
stage 3, 1972-1995. In several competitions designs for northern
and southern ends of the city axis are developed.
Drawing:
Kathi Rodehutskors
500 x 383 px, 45 KB
Museum of Modern Art, main façade seen from Porschestraße,
1994. Located between the Culture Center and the theater, the state-of-the-art
architecture of the museum makes a contribution of its very own
to the group of cultural edifices.
Photo:
Wolfgang Neeb, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
268 x 500 px, 19 KB
558
x 1042 px, 63 KB
(scrollable window)
Development Plan:
stage 4, since 1996. A new city bridge continues the Porschestraße
axis across the canal and the railway station to the north. The
strict separation between city and factory is lifted.
Drawing:
Kathi Rodehutskors
500 x 212 px, 15 KB
Science Center "Phaeno", entrance seen from railway
station, 2001. Zaha Hadid's design elevates the entire exhibition
area to a height of 6.5 meters, thus generating an urban area underneath
the disk-shaped building.
Photo:
Office of Zaha Hadid, London
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