The new construction of the Kammerspiele in Ingolstadt will not be possible for less than 100 million euros. I can communicate this number from other projects. All other numbers that are always mentioned in this discussion are unfortunately wrong. You can’t even get a museum for 40 million. A theater is a much more complex building. What is forgotten in the whole discussion is that the existing city theater is in urgent need of renovation. The costs for this are not discussed at all, at least not in public.
Norbert Zepter,
Munich
All known arguments for or against a second city theater in Ingolstadt – called Kammerspiele – are on the table. Costs, urban planning, ecology, culture and construction technology were apparently weighed up with the decision of the city council. In memory of the publications of the esteemed author and architecture critic Dieter Wieland, we should also remember another important factor, the topography of a place. It is about the description of a place, a terrain and the associated natural and artificial objects. It’s about settlement forms and historical heritage.
Seen in this way, the chosen location should at least frighten all historians of this city. The historic line of the old Ingolstadt city wall runs just a few meters next to this planned modern monument made of concrete, steel, glass and cladding. This location has a genius loci, it breathes city history. You can ignore it or respect it. We already have plenty of disrespectful examples on site.
The great example of the Italian city of Lucca, unique in Europe, shows how it can be done better. Millions of tourists thank today for the historic city wall that has been kept free. The wall in Ingolstadt would be lost at this point, but the genius loci remains. Keep this inherent character of this place!
Reinald Schmauß,
Ingolstadt
The preliminary planning for the planned chamber play building is currently underway. But while alternative locations to the space above the theater underground car park are being discussed in order to avoid cost increases similar to those for the construction of the Museum of Concrete Art, the fundamental necessity of the Kammerspiele, especially after the corona pandemic, is unfortunately not being called into question.
A good housekeeper has always known that a euro can only be spent once. Therefore, every major construction project is always a question of prioritization; this in particular after the corona pandemic, which will leave shattered public coffers. The situation is clearly different today than at the time the city council decided to build the Kammerspiele in 2019. In times of tight budgets, available resources must be focused on future-oriented investments.
The Kammerspiele are primarily an elite topic with no claim to social compensation. Studies in other German cities have shown that theatergoers are on average around 58 years old and predominantly have a high social standing. The question that arises here is to what extent such an investment would be future-oriented or whether it is investing in the right target group in need of help.
An alternative would be to invest in education. The corona pandemic has shown very clearly that Ingolstadt, like the rest of Germany, had major weaknesses in maintaining school lessons for our children. We will feel the resulting gaps in our children’s education in the form of lower income / tax payments and even fewer skilled workers for many years to come. Scientific studies during the pandemic showed early on that school closings would have been avoidable if all classrooms had ventilation systems. For all almost 1000 classrooms in Ingolstadt (with around 23,000 students), around eight million euros would be due. This is still well below the city contribution for the chamber theater costs of 40 million euros (even without expected cost increases).
When deciding on the correct use of the scarce funds, one should also take into account who needs special help, especially in the experience of the pandemic. While the students suffered the most from the pandemic, older theater-goers largely benefited from the tremendous solidarity. The decision to invest in schools instead of chamber plays would be a clear sign that one is focusing on the really important issues. And those who do not sponsor schools today need not be surprised later that theater-goers stay away – then we will no longer need chamber plays.
Reinhard and Eva-Maria Roth,
Ingolstadt
In addition to the arguments in favor of building the Kammerspiele, which have already been cited more often, such as tax money already invested in the planning, promised subsidies from the Free State and Ingolstadt’s talent for holding competitions and then putting the designs in drawers (how big must these drawers have to be be?), further comments that have so far received little or no attention in the discussion: Ingolstadt is, compared to other large cities, a municipality very blessed with green (Grünring des Glacis, Klenzepark, Luitpoldpark, Donauauen). This small green area, on which the Kammerspiele are to be built (and which, as former Mayor Schnell remarked so aptly, has never been called a “park”), is of little importance.
This is especially true because the winning design by the Blauraum architects’ office is a special, one-of-a-kind property that has to be in a prominent position and not, as recent suggestions for alternative locations have shown, on the edge of an industrial park, a busy arterial road or next to train tracks. Not to mention the urgently needed workshops and rehearsal rooms in the immediate vicinity of the city theater.
Ingolstadt now has to demonstrate again the courage that the city council demonstrated in the early 1960s when it decided in favor of the Hämer design for the city theater at the exposed location in the immediate vicinity of the Danube. In addition to the upgrading of the so-called “theater forecourt”, which has only been used to some extent and which could finally be used sensibly and comprehensively as a connection between the large house and the Kammerspiele, the new Kammerspiele can be something unique in the history of the city, a building of the century will highlight and enhance the city and its appearance. Only this location is the right one!
Alfred Hilscher,
Wettstetten
–
