MEDIEVAL EXPERIMENTARIUM infuses life into the historical milieu of the old prison building of Landshut. Light steel structure, a skeletal double of the two prison wings, is inserted into its courtyard to act as a support system – together the two become a cultural catalyst for the town and its emerging creative scene.
On one side, the existing building is to be reconstructed and transformed into creative experimentarium – ateliers, temporary dormitories, collective spaces and exhibition halls. On the other, the new structure forms a vertical public space – a promenade along the old facades on multiple heights, allowing access to all floors from the outside, along with covering a large collective Grand Hall in its centre. Located on the edge of the historical city centre, Medieval Experimentarium literally becomes the Gate of the City, allowing access to the historical town through the Experimentarium via the Promenade, and not around the enclosed prison site as it has been during the past 100 years.
The new structure of the Vertical Promenade acts as an archaeological scaffolding for the old prison, at the same time protecting the historical building, as well as bringing the visitors closer to it. The structure recalls the Gothic domes of Landshut’s medieval history – open galleries surround the large central public space, its skeletal arches are covered with hundreds of aromatic climbers, and it is protected with a transparent double hipped roof – in time the whole building would turn into an overgrown Gothic Cathedral in the open, ready to host Landshut’s traditional medieval festivals!
The project speculates about future co-habitation models, where people would live, learn, work, play and grow together in one circular self sustained system. Creators, temporary tenants, and daily visitors are all part of a vibrant co-existence within newly formed hybrid ecosystems of the Experimentarium, born of symbiotic synergies between old and new, nature and culture.
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Project:
MEDIEVAL EXPERIMENTARIUM
Europan 16 Competition – Special Mention
Landshut (DE)
Authors:
AKVS architecture, Belgrade SERBIA
Anđela Karabašević, Vladislav Sudžum, Ana Petrović, Aleksa Bekić, Marija Matijević
