First a look back: founded in 1938 as the "City of the KdF-Wagen near Fallersleben", the cityscape was dominated by barrack camps after the end of the war. The administration was also housed in temporary buildings - and spread across the city. This led to the desire for a new town hall building in the early 1950s. The market square on Porschestraße was deliberately chosen as the location. The town hall was to be centrally located and accessible to everyone. It was also to be perceived as a visible keystone of the town's development.

The idea from the outset was to design a modern town hall. The challenge was that there was still no recognized architectural design language for a democratic town hall building. Such a building was an absolute novelty for a democratic city structure in the German post-war years. There were no role models, no corresponding tradition to build on and no established building type. In fact, Wolfsburg's town hall was to be only the second municipal administration building after the reconstruction and extension in Stuttgart following the Second World War.

To make matters worse, the young municipality could not really afford a prestigious building and did not want to in view of the rampant housing shortage.

Making democracy visible in architecture

In 1954, the Wolfsburg architect Dr. Titus Taeschner won the competition, which is curious in that he had already made a career during National Socialism building the "City of the KdF Car". In fact, the design probably goes back to the young Braunschweig architects Justus and Helga Herrenberger, who drew the competition entry for Taeschner. The design was based on the idea that the town hall - as Taeschner stated at the inauguration - should "express its inner essence" and thus make democracy visible in the building, i.e. it should represent the separation of powers.

And so the town hall reflects the political spirit of its time with the high-rise administrative building (executive), the flat-roofed building with the council chamber and civic hall (council wing, legislative) and the district court (now town hall C, judicial) - even though, strictly speaking, there is no separation of powers at municipal level. And yet the three buildings stand for the three elements of the democratic system: administration, council and court. Among experts, this was regarded as the prototype of a modern town hall - until the 1970s, the town hall of the Volkswagen city was virtually style-defining.

The "modern" town hall is functional and pragmatic

The focus was on functionality. In addition, the glass front of the town hall was intended to express transparency and proximity to the citizens: political decision-making processes were to be visible to the outside world. This also represents a clear counter-design to the "city crown" planned by the Nazi regime on the Klieversberg, which - according to Peter Koller's plans - was intended to underline the National Socialists' claim to power and rule as an awe-inspiring monumental party building.

Compared to the town halls of other cities, Wolfsburg's is not a "palace of the council" as a demonstration of power and strength. Nor is it a castle that signals a need for protection. Nor is it a "jewel box" that flaunts its wealth. Our town hall is a largely simple, pragmatic building in the "Bauhaus style" and thus typical of post-war modernist architecture: functional, functional, rational.

Piazzetta gives way to the City Ring - Town Hall B is built

Until the 1970s, all three parts of the building were connected by a piazzetta. It was only when the city center was redesigned - when Porschestraße became today's pedestrian zone - that the piazzetta had to make way for the City-Ring. Today, the council wing and Town Hall C are separated by Pestalozziallee and the district court has moved to Rothenfelder Straße.

Town Hall B on Hollerplatz, on the other hand, is a new addition. This was because the high-rise building had become too small for the growing administration at the latest after the municipal area reform in 1972 - which turned Wolfsburg into a large city overnight and increased the population to over 125,000. In 1989, a combined architectural competition was held, which resulted in the construction of the art museum as well as Town Hall B (architects Schweger & Partner, completed in 1994).

Town hall as an instrument of identity creation

Much has changed since the 1950s. Wolfsburg is a dynamic city and is constantly evolving. Wolfsburg was then, and still is today, a young municipality. This is why the town hall also served as an instrument for creating identity. For example, the beginnings of the city's history up to 1958 are immortalized on the entrance doors of Town Hall A, albeit with somewhat irritating accents: The founding of the city during the National Socialist era is not remembered with a single word; the number of inhabitants mentioned at the end of the war also unceremoniously included Soviet prisoners of war, concentration camp inmates and forced laborers* without mentioning them. Instead, the names of the councillors and the four "female councillors", as they were known at the time, are inscribed on the doors.

The floor of the civic hall is adorned with various natural stones depicting the map of the city at the time, without the incorporation that was not to follow until 1972. The foundation stone that marked the beginning of Wolfsburg's town hall history almost 70 years ago can also be seen at the transition between the council wing and the administration tower. Centrally located and accessible to everyone. Just as the architects had envisioned back in 1954.