A German Richtfest, a topping-out ceremony, is held when the shell of a building is finished. The craftsmen and all the other helpers are invited. One of the carpenters or the site foreman gives a short speech, with thanks to the architect and the owner and a request for God’s blessing on the house. The roof is decorated with a wreath or a small tree. The tradition goes back to the 14th century. A common saying fits the order: Erst die Arbeit, dann das Vergnügen, first the work, then the pleasure.
architecture
From the Sofa Cushion to the City
In 1907 the Deutscher Werkbund was founded in Munich at the instigation of Hermann Muthesius. Peter Behrens and Richard Riemerschmid were among its founders. Its motto was Vom Sofakissen zum Städtebau, from the sofa cushion to city building. The Werkbund wanted good design for everyday products. A 2014 exhibition at the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge in Berlin described the aim. Good design would make Made in Germany a seal of quality and raise the export power of the German Empire.
Ulm Minster
The foundation stone of Ulm Minster was laid on June 30, 1377. In 1543 construction stopped for good, officially for reasons of cost. For three hundred years the main tower stood unfinished, at about 70 meters under an emergency roof. Restoration and completion began in 1844. In 1890 the main tower reached its full height of 161.53 meters. The builders worked from the medieval design of Matthäus Böblinger, which the architect August Beyer modified.
Phase Zero
Before an architect in Germany designs a building, the project goals can be defined in a stage of their own. The standard DIN 18205 calls it Bedarfsplanung, needs planning, and it is often called Leistungsphase 0, phase zero. It covers clarifying the context of the project and setting its goals. Since 2018 the Civil Code also makes this a legal step. If the essential planning goals are not yet agreed, the architect must first prepare a planning basis to determine them, together with a cost estimate. The client may then end the contract within two weeks. For consumers, this period runs only once they have been told of this right in writing.
Who May Draw Your House
In Bavaria, the plans for a house that needs a building permit must be prepared by a design author who is bauvorlageberechtigt, entitled to submit building plans. This right belongs to people who may use the protected title of architect, and to engineers on an official list. Master craftsmen in bricklaying, concrete construction and carpentry, like some graduates and state-certified technicians, have a limited right. They may submit plans for small residential buildings with no more than three apartments. A homeowner without one of these qualifications cannot submit plans he has drawn himself, however good they are. Each German state sets its own rules, and the details differ.
Approved Before It Is Built
In Germany a new building product cannot simply be used. If there is no technical rule for it, it needs a general approval from the German Institute for Building Technology, usually for five years. For a single building, the state’s highest building authority can approve its use in the individual case. Germany’s first 3D-printed residential house, in Beckum in North Rhine-Westphalia, went through this process. Construction began in September 2020. The state ministry approved the project through individual-case decisions. Above all, it needed values for calculating the stability of the printed walls. For this, the Technical University of Munich carried out numerous material tests. The two-story house was presented on 26 July 2021.
Building on the Old Street Plan
In the early 1970s, the architects Josef Paul Kleihues and Hardt-Waltherr Hämer shaped a concept called Kritische Rekonstruktion, critical reconstruction. Its aim is rarely an exact copy of what was lost. Usually it reproduces important features of the historic city structure. After reunification, Hans Stimmann, Berlin’s Senate building director from 1991 and again from December 1999 to October 2006, pressed for building in this sense. New buildings were to follow the historic street plan and the local building types. He was criticized several times. His critics said that his rules restricted architects too much. His supporters considered the strict rules necessary for a city like Berlin.
Thirty Days Before a Change
Since 1 January 2018, Section 650b of the Civil Code has regulated how the client of a construction contract can change the work. First, the two parties try to agree on the change and on the extra or reduced payment. The contractor must make an offer. For a change to the agreed result, this applies only if carrying out the change is reasonable for the contractor. If the client is responsible for the planning, the contractor must make the offer only after the client has done the planning for the change and handed it over. If the parties do not agree within 30 days, the client may order the change in text form.
The Neufert
Ernst Neufert’s Bauentwurfslehre, the theory of building design, first appeared in Berlin in 1936. It has been translated into 18 languages, and a 41st edition appeared in 2016. The Neue Deutsche Biographie says that to this day der Neufert is the standard work for every architecture student.
Back to the Craft
In April 1919, Walter Gropius published the program of the new Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar as a leaflet. It called artists back to the craft. Architekten, Bildhauer, Maler, wir alle müssen zum Handwerk zurück! Architects, sculptors, painters, we must all return to the craft! Der Künstler ist eine Steigerung des Handwerkers. The artist is a heightened form of the craftsman. The basis of craftsmanship, Gropius wrote, was essential for every artist. The school organized its students as in a guild, in apprentices, journeymen and junior masters.