Ideas competition for sanatoriums and nursing homes

Competition documentation

The documentation presents the results of the urban development and open space planning ideas competition for the Erlangen sanatorium and nursing home with all the competition entries in full.

Background

Against the background of National Socialist "racial hygiene", medical crimes were also committed against mentally handicapped and mentally ill people in Erlangen and in the districts of Middle Franconia and Upper Franconia. The Erlangen sanatorium and nursing home was a central location for this. Today, it is estimated that a total of over 2,000 patients were actively and passively murdered at the sanatorium and nursing home during the National Socialist era. There were also many forced sterilizations. Many of the victims and perpetrators at the time came from the city of Erlangen and the districts of Middle Franconia and Upper Franconia.

Ideas competition

To this day, there is no central, appropriate and effective memorial to the events. In order to fill this gap, the city of Erlangen, the district of Middle Franconia and the district of Upper Franconia launched an interdisciplinary, urban and open space planning ideas competition in 2022. The task of the ideas competition was to propose a framework for a future place of remembrance and future for the Erlangen sanatorium and nursing home. The participants were asked to show how the historical site of the sanatorium and nursing home and the wider urban area of Erlangen could be used to raise awareness of the events and make history visible in a suitable way.

The following were involved in the process and the jury

• District of Middle Franconia
• District of Upper Franconia
• University Hospital Erlangen
• Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg
• State Building Authority Erlangen/Nuremberg
• Forum on the memory and future of the Erlangen sanatorium and nursing home.

Results

Many impressive works were submitted, showing a wide range of good ideas and making it clear that it is not only about spatial and architectural design, but also about a processual examination of the topic of a place of remembrance and future. The numerous and exciting proposals make it clear how many important perspectives the topic has and offer an overall view of the future place of remembrance and future of the sanatorium and nursing home.

The jury for the ideas competition awarded three prizes and two commendations in July 2023.

The prize winners are:

• a 2nd prize - competition entry by
  dressler mayerhofer rössler architects and urban planners, Munich
  liebald + aufermann landschaftsarchitekten, Munich
• a 2nd prize - competition entry by
  Studio Sebastian Klawiter, Pasing
  STUDIO LEK Architekt:innen, Munich
• 3rd prize - competition entry by
  m8architekten Christian Winter Mia Winter, Munich
  Sofia Hartwig Landscape Architecture, Stuttgart
• Recognition - competition entry by
  studio2020 Matzat Henkel, Berlin
• - Recognition - competition entry by
  Engineering office for civil engineering Ralf Breunel, Plauen

Current status

On July 27, 2023, the City Council of Erlangen welcomed the result of the ideas competition and decided that the recommendations of the jury will be taken into account in the further process.

The concept for the memorial and future site is currently being further developed on the basis of Prof. Dr. Skriebeleit's framework concept and the competition results.

Current information can also be found at www.erlangen.de/gedenkort.