Design of the youth and cultural guesthouse

Based on the artistic concept and designs of the renowned Hamburg artist Franz Erhard Walther and under the artistic direction of Martin Köttering, the existing building constellation at the Koppelschleuse Meppen was extended with the construction of the youth and cultural guest house in 2000. Walther conceives the building of the youth and cultural guesthouse as a structure with sculptural qualities. He proposes a consideration of the structure as a sculpture. A comparison of the forms of the bank-like building elements and the elongated two-storey guest house shows that they are borrowed from the same formal vocabulary of strict geometry.

The two cubic annexes, to the right and left in front of the main building with its segmental glazed annex, each stand with their opposite facades in the line of alignment of the benches. Walther hereby pursued the reinforcement of the axial effect of this section of the park.
Symmetry is a basic formal principle of Walther’s site design, which testifies to the artist’s sensitive engagement with the pre-existing site development. In addition to the classicist principle of symmetry analogous to the Kunstkreis building, the clear simple structural forms of the two cubes are reminiscent of Bauhaus architecture. The three-winged structure of the building allows parallels to the baroque palace architecture.
The concentration on formal simplicity, on discreetly placed basic sculptural forms, is striking in Walther’s architectural and landscape design. In favor of clear formal relationships, he dispensed with architectural ornamentation, playful elements and ornaments. Aspects that are reflected in the design of the interiors of the guest house. Walther also took artistic influence here on the materials used, the interior architectural forms, proportions, colors, and light.

Walther’s vocabulary of forms, developed from seven basic shapes, is also reflected in the artist’s silkscreen prints on view in the main building. The color canon he used is valid here as well as in the house itself. The wordworks on the glass fronts in the entrance area of the guesthouse stretch out like a lyrical ribbon and have been strung together by Walther in different ways. In Walther’s work, language is used as an artistic material that can be interpreted neither solely as a form nor exclusively as a mediator of content. Word works create additional spaces for the artist with the involvement of the viewer against the background of what has been seen, experienced, experienced so far. What remains striking is that the word fields of space, architecture, and time emerge. Terms that are closely related to the youth and cultural guesthouse and the park landscape.

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