Re-Flect: The AbbrechenAbbrechen bus tour party
“Cultivating and nurturing the potential of our built city”
The demolition bus tour through Munich took place on 6 June. Prominent examples of residential, commercial and public buildings were visited on behalf of many other buildings. The purpose of the city tour was to highlight vacant buildings and discuss their possible demolition. The bus tour was organised by the initiative JustizzentrumErhalten/ AbbrechenAbbrechen in cooperation with the Munich Sustainability Initiative, the Hans Sauer Foundation, Architects 4 Future and #ausspekuliert.
The motto of the AbbrechenAbbrechen bus tour was “Nurturing and maintaining the potential of our built city”. A cosy vintage bus took the participants, including representatives from the city council, state parliament, experts from academia and civil society, as well as media representatives, to places and buildings that have lost their original use and whose future is either uncertain or where the decision to demolish has already been made.
Bus tour party on 21 August 2024
On 21 August at 6 pm, participants are invited to a joint Re-Flect, a review of the bus tour. Together, participants will take another look at the #demands that emerged and explore further potential and points of contact. On the programme:
#Slideshow
#Playlist Re:Listening
#BestofBärlifahrt
#Claims
#AbbrechenAbbrechen-Award
The bus tour centred around the following properties:
Settlement Harthof
The 16 two-storey apartment blocks contain around 350 existing flats. Several GWG buildings in the neighbourhood have already been demolished and rebuilt. On behalf of all owners of municipal buildings in Munich, the polar bears presented Mayor Dieter Reiter with the Demolition Award in SILVER for the greatest potential for the effectiveness of a local demolition moratorium and the greatest potential for a scalable learning effect.
Tengstraße 7
The former Capuchin monastery has been vacant since 2013. The building rights for the replacement of the monastery and parish building from the 1950s have been exhausted for a new building, also with regard to the listed building / ensemble character. Approximately 1,000 tonnes of CO² will be emitted as a result of the demolition, roughly the amount that would be released in 10 years if 28 detached houses were heated with gas.
On behalf of the owner of the entire church property portfolio in Munich, the polar bears presented Cardinal Reinhard Marx with the Demolition Award in GOLD for founding a Christian-social property council.
Central station district & Schwanthalerstraße
During the tour, several buildings and street sections such as Hotel Königshof am Stachus, the new Karstadt building in Schützenstraße, the main railway station and Schwanthalerstraße were inspected from the seats. On behalf of the owners and investors of the commercial properties in the central station district, which have degenerated into pure investment properties, the polar bears presented Mr René Benko of Signa Holding with the BRONZE Demolition Award for the biggest and most opportunistic manoeuvre to make speculation visible.
„Sheraton“ at Heimeranplatz
From its opening in 1984 until its closure in 2020, the Sheraton served as a luxury hotel for “businessmen & trade fair visitors”. Since 2022, the city has been renting the building as accommodation for refugees – the largest in Munich. They are provided with space and essential resources with the help of social organisations. If the building were to be demolished, the space they are entitled to would be taken away from them again. It would also be responsible for a CO2 input of around 14,000 tonnes. This would mean that around 388 average family homes could continue to be heated with dirty gas for 10 years!
