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Gothic Realisation in Glass

Stuttgart is host to the modern age in one of the city’s historical landmarks. The surprising result of the restoration of the Stiftskirche is the complex steel and glass construction inside. Light and space await the visitor within and compel him to look upwards, here the return of the Gothic reveals itself in symbolic reduction.

The Stiftskirche writes art history. Its roots extend into the Romanesque and its shell shows traces of the following eras. Thanks to the solid fabric of the building, it survived the Second World War and still shows the marks of destruction as a warning to future generations. The renovation in the fifties bore witness to the conception of dignity at the time with a lot of wood and dark colours.

 

40 years later, light and liveliness fill this house of God. Architect, Bernhard Hirche, made the necessity of restoration an aesthetic purpose. The wooden barrel vault has given way to a delicate construction of suspended steel girders with glass sails attached which form the new ceiling and follow Gothic logic.

The nave and two aisles together with the bay structure bring back to life the former grandeur of the Gothic. Free of pillars, which fell victim to the war, the nave now gives a sense of the original structure. In addition, the surface of the glass sails reflects the sound providing better acoustics.

The unique construction demanded innovative solutions from the planners in terms of design, static equilibrium and realisation. They used products manufactured by Carl Stahl, the Swabian specialist for stainless steel cables and cable constructions. The company combined elements from the I-SYS stainless steel architecture program with special designs to form an optimised unit in both static equilibrium and construction terms.

In co-operation with the Institute of Fördertechnik (Materials-Handling Technology) at the University of Stuttgart, some of the main parts of the construction, including stainless steel cables, joints and tie-rods, were given special approval by the building inspectorate. Carl Stahl’s success lies in his extensive expertise in architecturally harmonious and well thought-out stainless steel cable constructions. The greatest reward is, after all, how the church is used: what was previously the oppressive ‘Good Friday church’ in the centre of Stuttgart has become the cheerful ‘Easter Sunday church’.

Project: Stiftskirche, Stuttgart
Architect: Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Bernhard Hirche, Hamburg
Stainless steel cables: Carl Stahl, Süssen
Glass-sail production and assembly: Böhmler Metallbau GmbH, Stuttgart
Photos: Hans-Georg Esch, Hennef/Sieg