The Origins of Lechwelten

Since the 1960s and over several terms of office of different mayors, Lech has been thinking about what a suitable event hall and administration building for the village might look like. After all, it was about two buildings that have very essential functions for the community and will be decisive for the development of a future village center. No simple task, then.

As part of a development process for future spatial planning in Lech, the development of a future village center was identified as an important area. Part of this village center was to be the new development of the post office area. For this purpose, a multi-stage architectural competition was called out, which was embedded in a unique participation process. The challenge was to find the best concept for the development of the village and its population.

The competition was announced EU-wide in 2017, a maximum of 13 different projects / architectural firms could participate. The overall objective was to strengthen and upgrade the town center in the long term. The ideas were to be quality-oriented and fit in with both the townscape and the landscape, and the aim was to create an identity-forming project.

After receiving the proposals, a seven-member commission made an initial assessment. It consisted of three representatives of local politicians and four experts in the field of architecture. Of the exclusively anonymous submissions, seven concepts were selected to face the next "test" - namely the people of Lech.

Many influencing factors determine how someone perceives a building or a work of art: Is an object judged as new or rather familiar? How meaningful is an object to someone? The current emotional world also "has a say" when it comes to evaluation. Much of this happens unconsciously. There even exists a scientific sub-discipline - architectural psychology - which deals with this topic separately.

It was therefore important to involve the Lech's population in the decision-making process about the design of the new buildings. In addition to all the strategic and artistic considerations, the concepts had to appeal above all to the population!

A public exhibition was the logical consequence: The seven selected works were exhibited anonymouslyin Lech  (without the presence of the architects or the jury members!). All visitors were registered, only people with main residence in the municipality were allowed. They not only had the opportunity to view the ideas, but could also anonymously submit their personal opinions or suggestions for improvement in writing. At the end, the architectural firms were "sent" back to their planning tables with a whole series of notes to adjust their concepts.

The jury now had the task of evaluating the adapted concepts. The project of the Dorner\Matt architectural office emerged unanimously as the winner. The way the architects integrated the building into the site and interpreted the vision of a future village center appealed to the jury very much. In addition, the recognizability of the buildings - as an administrative building and an event building - was positively highlighted.

In 1973, Markus Dorner and Christian Matt founded their architecture firm out of a school friendship and have been very successful ever since. This is shown by any number of awards, such as the nomination for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2016, the Timber Construction Award 2019 or the Building Owner Award 2021.