The South Axis – The Lower Market

With its history of more than a thousand years, Mühlhausen has the second largest monument by surface area in Thuringia. Important trading routes met at the upper and lower market of the former imperial and royal city for over a century. In the lower city, the Erfurter and Felchtaer Streets along with the lower market were part of one such trading route, called the South Axis of the city. As a consequence of the changing economic conditions, the growth of the city and the traffic routes, the Felchta and Erfurt Gate were abandoned. Deep wounds were left behind in the spatial gaps. Slowly, the old surface materials and the former division of the city areas were lost. The uniformity of the spatial value, the usage of space and the design returned at the beginning of the renovation of the city. Through the slow process of discovering the From-Gate-To-Gate labyrinth, the relationship between the sections of the former South Axis could successfully be given new life, city entryways redeveloped and marked.

Corresponding to the historical city layout and the archeological discoveries, the historic entryways to the city, the Erfurt and Felchta Gates were reproduced and the lower market re-organized. A blue band of basalt now links the individual areas with each other and leads from gate to gate. The same design principles, layouts and materials connect the city spaces. The reconstructed city gates and the lower market are the highpoint of the design along this band, a designed confrontation with the issue of time, even.

THE LOWER MARKET

Like a backdrop, the Divi-Blasii Church and the facade surrounding the plaza for an open-air theater, where the loge, the surrounding buildings and the church represent an impressive backdrop and the area in front the apse of the stage. The remaining area symbolizes the audience area, which is reserved for the audience. In this manner, a plaza with multiple uses has been created whose surface has been consciously kept free of fixtures and knows no limitations on its potential uses.
Time as a synonym for continuous motion and repetition is the topic of the surface design. All of the elements have been woven into each other and stand for the duration of time in their constant conversion between becoming and decaying. While scrolls run like a temporal axis from the church as the origin of all trade through the plaza into the future, a waterway coursing over steppingstones remains the surface. In contrast, one finds an area for retreat for relaxation and reflection at the western portal of the Divi-Blasii Church.