From the Room to the City: Munich--A European City

A novel presentation of the European city structure based on the example of Munich.

Over a period of ten years, as part of their joint teaching at the Technical University of Munich, British architect Stephen Bates and his Zurich-based colleague Bruno Krucker explored, investigated, and analyzed the Bavarian capital in collaboration with their students. The resulting in-depth study evaluates the city’s building history and ideas for its future in detail and is now being presented in the form of a highly attractive compendium.

This richly illustrated book takes a close look at the European city in general, using Munich as an example. Its features are illuminated through a variety of means: atmospheric photographs, precise plans, drawings, images of models, and texts reveal the multilayered and complex character of the place with all its particularities, coincidences, and intentions. Like many other European cities, Munich has also been subject to incisive changes, whether through planned expansions, infrastructural developments, or war damage. This volume highlights how big plans and visions have often remained piecemeal, bound up with the paradigms of a generation, yet precisely because of this, they have proven to be unmistakable elements that shape Munich even until today. Moreover, individual new structures have resulted in continuous changes to the character of Munich’s streets and demonstrate that the unfinished and unplanned are just as much a part of a city’s beauty.

Stephen Bates is a founding partner of Sergison Bates architects with offices in London, Zurich, and Brussels. He is professor of urbanism and housing at the Technical University of Munich. Bruno Krucker runs his own architecture firm in Zurich. He is professor of urbanism and housing at the Technical University of Munich. Simon Burko is a Munich-based architect and architectural photographer. He is a teaching and research assistant with Studio Krucker Bates at the Technical University of Munich.