Context
For more than 70 years, the unfinished Congress Hall - the congress building once planned by the National Socialists for 50,000 people - remained largely unused. By resolution of the city council, a section of the Congress Hall was to be opened up for permanent use by the arts and culture with spaces for production, presentation and encounters. For the further planning of these "enabling spaces", actori further elaborated and concretised the preliminary work on the utilisation concept for the City of Nuremberg with regional stakeholders from the arts and culture.
Approach
In 2019 and 2020, actori carried out preceding work of this project, such as the development of initial usage visions and a needs survey. The project kicked off with a participatory event, the "Open Space", held with 50 artists and other relevant actors of the cultural landscape in the Z-Bau in Nuremberg. The requirements for enabling spaces and framework conditions were discussed with the representatives of the local cultural scene in the following three thematic areas: Users' needs, visitors' needs and synergies with the upcoming opera interim, which is also to find a home at the Congress Hall. These global expectations were then refined in around 30 individual interviews into more concrete user needs of the various art and culture sectors. For example, room sizes, equipment or accessibility requirements were successfully specified.
Added Value
- Artists were actively involved in the process, resulting in diverse perspectives and real demands.
- The requirements of the actors in Nuremberg's cultural landscape, which were recorded and structured by actori, were transferred by the city into a spatial and functional plan and will be included into concrete plans for the conversion.
- A section of the Congress Hall in Nuremberg can thus be put to creative use in the future. This will make a large area of the building accessible to the public and socially "sustainable".
- Initial impulses for possible innovative synergies and cooperation with the Nuremberg State Theatre during the interim period were developed.
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The Project was implemented by Amélie Strobel, Project Management and Jonas Salzer, Consultant.