Many rural areas are characterized by the exodus of the population and the resulting vacancies. Social and medical services are rare, and the sense of home and cohesion in the remaining community is declining. What options are there to counteract this? How can life in the countryside become more attractive again? The "Bauhütte SNDHSN" (Sundhausen) is working on these questions.
There is no lack of good ideas in the countryside, but rather a lack of structures, financial resources or simply manpower. In the Thuringian village region of Seltenrain, the Landleben Foundation and the Landengel e.V. association have been planning and implementing a new health and care network for years. The aim is to provide care, assistance and health services for the elderly and at the same time counteract the isolation of older people.
A new village center
The "Bauhütte SNDHSN" is creating the necessary conditions for this. The project is part of the International Building Exhibition (IBA) Thuringia. The aim is to design, plan, sketch and finally: get to work. In hands-on workshops, architecture students and trainees from the finishing trades design the local infrastructure and then implement their designs.
In concrete terms, bus stops or furniture for public facilities are created, as well as a country center in a vacant Konsum store from the GDR era. In addition to public facilities, there is also space for a rented doctor's surgery. A stage has recently been installed directly opposite. Together with the adjacent village square, the area serves as a meeting and gathering place as well as a venue for events.
Interdisciplinary, sustainable, oriented towards the common good
The project is both exciting and socially relevant for several reasons. Firstly, the Bauhütte strengthens the collaboration between architecture and craftsmanship. This is because the format specifically focuses on exchange and collaboration, making it a prime example of the Sto Foundation's guiding principle: „Head und Hand“. Both groups learn and benefit from each other through insights into planning and integration in real construction - and create added value for local residents in the process.
SNDHSN is also a pioneer when it comes to sustainability and circular construction: the participants almost exclusively use materials that are already available in the economic cycle and have been made available through donations. This can occasionally be pink. This circular approach combats the waste of resources and shows what sustainable construction looks like: Recycling, upcycling and functional transformation.
Collective conversion in the countryside
Final publications of the IBA project leader 2023
The IBA final publications "StadtLand Projekte. For a new spatial practice" and "StadtLand Perspektiven. For a new spatial culture" are a project summary and plea for a new territorial logic. They are available in the IBA Thuringia exhibition "StadtLand - learning from Thuringia" in the Eiermannbau Apolda until October 29, 2023 or from the publisher M BOOKS in Weimar.
A joint health, care and supply network is being created in the Seltenrain village region through cross-municipal cooperation. This addresses a key issue in rural areas, namely how to guarantee security of supply and at the same time organize social cohesion in a cooperative manner. An open-air exhibition on the village green in Sundhausen near Bad Langensalza presents the design process of the health kiosks and the rural center.
If you would like to find out more, please visit iba-thueringen.de.
Impressions from the 2021 construction huts
