Mannheim is not only known for its square city layout and Baroque palace, but also for its diverse citizenry.

Mann­heim, a medium-sized city in southwes­tern Germany, is known for its grid-plan city layout, its baroque palace and its bruta­list buil­dings – but also, and above all, for its ethni­cally and cultu­rally diverse popu­la­tion. This diverse and colourful mix of people can be expe­ri­enced, among other places, in Neckar­stadt East and Neckar­stadt West, two districts northwest of the city centre.

The cultural link between the two neigh­bour­hoods is ALTER, a public space situated next to the Alter Mess­platz, which, with its free sports and cultural acti­vi­ties, is a place to meet, pass time and get toge­ther.

A graphic has been installed on a sports pitch at ALTER that tries to express all the posi­tive quali­ties of this commu­nity-crea­ting space: a ‘super­gra­phic’ that seeks to visually repre­sent and streng­then the exis­ting cohe­sion of the people and its atmo­sphere.

The project also aims to set a marker for the preser­va­tion of public cultural spaces, both within the city and beyond.

The aspect of active togetherness already came into play during the realisation, because several interested people spontaneously followed the public call for help every day.

“Common Monnem – toge­ther Mann­heim”: The title of the project is composed of the words “Common” and “Monnem”.

The 38-metre-long and 16-metre-wide super­gra­phic with a total area of over 560 square metres follows a typo­gra­phic approach. This draws refe­rence from the basic geome­tric motifs in the poster for 1975 State Garden Show in Mann­heim. The iconic skyscra­pers over­loo­king ALTER were also cons­tructed around this time. The over­sized lette­ring “Common” forms the focal point of the graphic. The letters are oriented towards the centre of the pitch – analogous to players who gather toge­ther in a circle before a game begins: they hook into each other in a circle and thus form a unit.

The graphic’s connec­tion to its loca­tion is also rein­forced by the choice of colours. The pink, for example, picks up on the colour of ALTER’s facade, while the green estab­lishes a rela­ti­onship with the adja­cent green space on the banks of the Neckar river. The red, blue and yellow are taken from Mannheim’s city coat of arms.

Fish Trap House IV is a contribution to the annual Taiwan Lantern Festival, which is very spectacular in Taiwan.

Artist Cheng Tsung FENG applies Taiwa­nese tradi­tional fish traps as the theme of artwork. Invited hundreds of local in Taichung to work­shops to learn weaving the art craft of the fish trap. With them hundreds of fish trap was made and hang bamboo sign with their wishes on it. People surround hand by hand unite toge­ther. Rewrite the precious art craft which is going to vanish into our memory and body.

Recently, Cheng Tsung FENG was invited to create a lantern in the most fabu­lous event — Taiwan Lantern Festival. He began a huge coll­ec­tive work plan for this two-week cele­bra­tion.

During the proces­sing, FENG and his part­ners drove a truck and went to four farmers’ asso­cia­tions in the festival’s loca­tion, Taichung. He found out hundreds of inha­bi­tants who didn’t have any expe­ri­ence for basket weaving. FENG taught them how to weave basket with bamboo and shared the story behind the tradi­tional fish traps.

Feng taught the farmers how to weave baskets and told them the history of traditional fish traps. This is how Fish Trap House IV was born.

They finished over two-hundred basket units and bring these units toge­ther in the loca­tion. Finally, it became a grand instal­la­tion art in public.

After the end of the festival, this grand instal­la­tion art work carefully unpi­cked and took back to their maker by truck. Each basket unit has their own tag which is written down the wish of maker.

These basket weaving item and invi­sible craft skills will keep Inte­grate into their lives. This expo­sure sparks new ideas and possi­bi­li­ties.

Fish Trap House IV has not only been a contribution to the Lantern Festival 2020, it also aims to preserve this valuable culture.

Those tradi­tional craft lesson became into their own personal expe­ri­ence. It inspired those inha­bi­tants in farmers’ asso­cia­tions to make some­thing new. A number of people said they would make a lamp­shade, others would make duck cages, and the others would pile up like a Christmas tree with this bamboo basket units.
Cheng Tsung FENG led and taught people making fish trap hand by hand. People reunite toge­ther as each unit gathe­ring in site. Expect body expe­ri­ence, there’s no text record to preserve those precious hand­made culture.

By this coll­ec­tive work plan, FENG write down these craft origi­nate from Taiwan into our memory. Keep those ancient treasure live in our body for eter­nity.

The site is located betweeen a primary school and the railway line. So Modřice Sports Hall serves as a noise barrier for the school and does not take any daylight from the classrooms.

The sports hall is located in Modřice — the surroun­ding part of Brno which is the second biggest city in the Czech repu­blic. The urban struc­ture in Modřice has the scale of a small town.

The site is located betweeen a primary school and the railway line. Modřice Sports Hall itself is situated on the boarder of the railway line so it serves as a noise barrier for the school and does not take any daylight from the class­rooms at the same time.

We see the former buil­ding as a histo­rical layer which gives the site a high value. The memory of the place itself is important for our proposal and ther­e­fore we restore the old buil­ding and put there the restau­rant- an important place for the commu­nity life.

The lower service part of Modřice Sports Hall is on the side to the school so it doesn´t shadow the school buil­ding.

The floor level of the hall is 3 m lower than the floor of the entrance foyer. That enables to keep the height of the buildng low.

Modřice Sports Hall has the ambi­tion and the poten­tial to become a local commu­nity centre. The archi­tec­ture of the buill­ding should ther­e­fore express the soli­dity, the importance of the place.

The spatial concept fits perfectly in its surroun­dings. The great sports hall is sepa­rated to three equal volumes which core­spond with its func­tion. The biggest hall can be divided into three volleyball/ netball courts.

The volume of the former restau­rant becamed a volume pattern, by repea­ting the same volume is emha­sized its exis­tence.  

The entrance foyer is the core of the building, the meeting point, where the sports people meet the spectators.

The entrance foyer is the core of the buil­ding, the meeting point, where the sports people meet the spec­ta­tors. Right after ente­ring the foyer you can take a look unto the sports hall trough a big window. The gallery of the big hall can directly be accessed from the foyer, as well as the main stand, the chan­ging rooms, the gym and the outside courts.

The other side of the foyer leads down­s­tairs to the service part of the buil­ding. Here, the swim­ming pool and some belon­ging chan­ging rooms are located.
The lower level is directly connected to the primary school via an under­ground corridor, because the swim­ming pool mainly serves for the school children.

Important elements for the interior are the rooftop skylights.

The baring concrete struc­ture of Modřice Sports Hall is visible in the inte­riors and give it a strong character. The struc­ture itself creates many inte­res­ting views through the buil­ding which simplify orien­ta­tion.

Important elements for the inte­rior are the rooftop skylights provi­ding perfect inde­rect light for the big sports hall, the mirror hall, the gallery of the sport hall and the corridor leading up to the mirror hall.

The outer space in front of Modřice Sports Hall is paved and became a proper town public space. The street between the hall and the primary school is a side street with trees and parking area.

Two new multi­func­tional outdoor sports grounds next to the exis­ting sport courts were bulit as well. Next to the restau­rant, old trees were preserved. A play­ground for children and an outdoor dancing parquet are about to come.