Lauchringen: Start of the cultural center

Lauchringen – With the start of construction work on the cotton hall on the Lauffenmühle site, the municipality of Lauchringen is setting another milestone in its history. The listed hall from 1836 is being converted into a municipal cultural center. Several old extensions to the building, which previously served as garages and storage rooms, are being demolished. Instead, two new flat-roofed buildings in timber frame construction are being built on the western side, which will house the foyer, cloakroom, sanitary facilities, bar, catering kitchen, storage and artists’ dressing rooms for the future cultural center.

The 400 square meter listed hall will remain and will only be changed to the extent necessary for the new usage concept. “The floor will be removed because it has considerable differences in height.” “We want to install underfloor heating and a sealed screed in the future,” explains Mayor Thomas Schäuble. The 50 centimeter thick quarry stone masonry will also remain intact, apart from a few necessary openings, as will the roof structure.

The roof will be uncovered, insulated and re-covered with the old tiles. The attic will be opened up in parts so that the impressive roof structure can be seen from below. In the next few days, the Berb company from Sulz am Necker will begin demolition work. The conversion work to the cultural hall will begin in the new year. The PV system, which was previously installed on the roof of the cotton hall, has already been moved to the roof of the Lauchringer sports hall.

By converting the old, listed cotton hall into a cultural center, a vision is being turned into reality that not only delights the local council, but also the executive planner and architect Afshin Arabzadeh from the architectural firm arabzadeh.schneider.wirth in Nürtingen: “The potential of this special building is impressive. We are working with a real gem here.” The architect has succeeded in creating a symbiosis between old and modern in his planning.

The new cultural center is intended to be part of a lively district and have a variety of uses. Thanks to a spacious stage area and a sophisticated technology, acoustics and lighting concept, the cultural center will offer space for theater, concerts and cabaret, as well as exhibitions and other events. The local authority will also rent out the gem for private parties, weddings and other occasions. “With the rental income, we can cover part of the costs of maintaining the building,” explains Schäuble.

The mayor is enthusiastic about this visionary project in the community: “We are creating a truly unique cultural and meeting place in our region and because we are working very carefully with the existing building, we are also preserving the character of the building, which is an important piece of history.” The project will cost around 5.6 million euros to complete. Around half of this can be covered by subsidies. With the two local cultural and theater associations Schauplatz and Kleine Bühne, the community of Lauchringen has two institutions that want to establish a year-round cultural program in the new center.

Lauffenmühle project

The former mill site, which has served as a flourishing location for the textile industry for decades since 1835 and yet had to file for bankruptcy in 2019, is being put to new use. The municipality is buying the 6.6 hectare site and will create a visionary quarter there over the next few years, in which some listed buildings will be preserved and carefully renovated.