Charleston Place

PRESS RELEASE - Haldensleben Germany, June 24, 2015

In the wake of the tragic shooting of nine members of the congregation of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on 17 June 2015, the community of Haldensleben in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, makes a gesture of solidarity with its sister-city in the United States.

A new monument which has been worked on over the past two years by students of the American College of the Building Arts (ACBA) in the parkland between Haldensleben and Hundisburg will be named the Charleston Place.

Many people with family and work ties to Charleston live in Hundisburg, Haldensleben and the surrounding towns and cities. IFA Rotorion, which has a large plant in Charleston, is just one example.

In addition, since 2011, students of the American College of the Building Arts (ACBA) in Charleston, South Carolina, have been spending their summers in Hundisburg-Haldensleben as part of Project CHARME, supporting the 20-year renovation of Schloss Hundisburg and the surrounding parkland.

The random-rubble masonry construction that ACBA students have been working on since 2014 is already taking firm shape. It is on the site of an old “ruin folly”, a wall that was intentionally left in a ruined state in the mid-nineteenth century, to imitate the ruins of antiquity, as was the fashion at that time. The wall was originally part of a glasshouse built by the then-owner of the Schloss and parkland, Johann Gottlob Nathusius. His intention was to grow in the glasshouse  an example of every known plant species on the entire planet. A particular source of specimens was America, a country he admired enormously for its political and social values.

This folly was later called the “Mackensenburg“ but the new construction will bear little resemblance to its predecessor,

Like Schloss Hundisburg, Charleston is an architectural gem which was almost entirely destroyed - in Charleston’s case, in the American Civil War and then again through earthquake and fire and through Hurricane Hugo in 1989 - but which rose again to become a site of great beauty.

Those of us who know Charleston well, recognize that this is a city which works constantly to heal the wounds of the past, including slavery and racial segregation, and secure a bright future. Horrific events like the killings at Emanuel AME do not divide the city, they are an opportunity for the community to unite more resolutely than ever.

We in Germany recognize that no society is perfect. Every community has scars from the past to deal with. Here in Haldensleben, we continue to wrestle with the ghosts of Nazism and Communism and the struggle to adapt to the reunification of Germany in 1990. Like Charleston, our region has risen from ruins many times over.

By naming the folly Charleston Place, we: 

• thank the people of Charleston, South Carolina for their contribution to the beautification of our landscape
• offer the community of Haldensleben a spot in which they can contemplate their relationship with the outside world, just as Johann Gottlob Nathusius did when he tried to show the entire planet’s flora in his gardens,
• acknowledge, through the ruined appearance of the folly, that every society undergoes processes of change, renewal and rebirth and that perfection is unattainable, and
• signify our love and support for the people of Charleston, South Carolina in this moment of tragedy.

Photo of the current status of the project. The structure will be close to finished by mid-July 2015. 

 Contributed by Caroline von Nathusius

Random Rubble Masonry

 
This summer, the partners and sponsors of Projekt CHARME have invited two stone carving students and myself from the American College of the Building Arts in Charleston, SC to learn and practise the craft of random rubble masonry in the tradition of the Saxony-Anhalt region of Germany. All of us having previous experience in coursed masonry in stone and brick, so we're expected to become quick learners of random rubble masonry, ambitiously entrusted with a project to re-erect two walls of a 19th century orangerie in the "Landschaft" or public nature park of Althaldensleben. The walls incorporates quoins, windows, door and cornice elements as well.

Building in Stone

Architecture utilizing this tradition of random rubble masonry is exceedingly durable and to my eyes conveys  a rustic sublimity. Several structures in Hundisburg including two medieval towers, the local church as well as the fortification walls of the old "Burg" or citadel how incorporated into the present "Schloss", castle date back 800 years. All of these charming, hand built structures are still in continuous use and fine condition with minimal maintenance requirements.

Neither was stone masonry reserved strictly for the church or castle. The entire town of Hundisburg below and the neighboring Haldensleben typically have ground floors of random rubble masonry, above which you'll find timber framing with lime plaster rendered stone infill on the first and sometimes second floors. This method of construction, also known as half timbering, keeps the oak timbers elevated and thus protected from rot. Many of the homes have the name of the "Holzman" or timber framer and date of construction carved directly into the wood. Apparently there was a building boom here in the early 17th century with many residences dating from that period.



Rubble and Randomness

As the name might imply, the stones used are rubble indeed. "Bruchstein" is the name used locally, literally meaning broken stone. And you can see why! The stones are extremely hard, practically impossible to dress or shape by hand tools. I've been informed that they are igneous stones, clearly of the "plutonic" or extrusive type, having cooled rapidly they manifest no crystallization. That does not diminish their density or hardness, however. The most effective way to get them down to usable sizes in the past was to "break" them against each other.

The rubble is random as can be with a gradation of sizes or small boulders to small flat stones one might skip across a lake. All of these come in a variety of shapes and sizes that must fit together like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Our particular stones come from the Schloss Hundisburg grounds of which the Lanschaft was formerly a part. They in turn were originally quarried from a nearby hill. The quarry long abandoned has filled up into a scenic little lake that serves as a pleasant public summer destination for the locals.


Mise en Œuvre

Dry stack or mortarless random rubble masonry is a big tradition in Scotland and many other places.
Nevertheless, in the Saxony-Anhalt, regional German tradition mortar is used. Traditionally is was always lime mortars; however, on our project the lime is gauged with cement to give an early setting and corresponding compressive strength so that we can work a little faster. As the Bruchstein has a higher degree of impermeability and compressive strength than the blended mortar, neither I nor the local "Steinmetz" or masons see any long term issue with the change in formula.

There are some differences in working with Bruchstein than in my experience. The most obvious is the random nature of the placement of the stones. Although we continue to string lines and use levels to assure the walls are plumb, I have had to forcibly resist the tendency to seek out stones that would result in a regular "coursing" or horizontal banding that is typical of the English and American traditions. Just to imagine how one piece of rubble could fit into another was at first a real challenge. The first week I was practically blind, very slow at selecting pieces but my vision has rapidly sharpened since. One truly has to let oneself go, allowing the stones to arrange themselves in an irregular tapestry. The single conscious decision that you must keep in mind is to make sure you are consistently using stones oriented to tie back into the middle of the wall. If not you might end up with essentially a veneer of stones at the face that would result in long term structural instability.

Another adjustment I've had to accustom myself to was not pre-wetting the stones beforehand. This is typically done with most stone types so that the mortar achieves a better bond. The Bruchstein is so impervious that even dampening them will result in your stones "swimming", sliding out of position. A stiff mortar we've learned is the best mix.

In addition to Bruchstein  we are incorporating "Braunstein", a rosy coloured brownstone. The Braunstein is comparatively much softer and workable with mallet and chisel. Students last year dressed several pieces into orthotopes or extruded rectangular units, edges tooled and centres punched to serves as both structural and decorative quoining. Additionally, we're utilizing odds and ends found in the castle boneyard of tooled "Sandstein" the local yellowish sandstone to cobble together a door and couple of windows. Again, students last year carved a couple of pieces needed to complete the ensemble. The German tradition of tooling is much rougher than what I'm accustomed to from the English tradition. However, I'm quite impressed with it as it reads very well from a distance and allows more room for error, increasing the speed of working significantly.

At the time of this writing we're about half way into our stay and likewise about at the midpoint of our project. The door and windows are taking shape, the castle masons have been impressed with us, now providing us every support and the local folks walking through the park have warmed up as well, taking the time to converse in my broken but improving German. It feels good to know that there is still so much to learn, I'm lucky enough to have the opportunity to do so and work with brother craftsmen who despite language barriers are generous enough to share.

Contributed by Patrick Webb

Projekt CHARME

Schloss Hundisburg

So for the summer of 2015 I'm working at Schloss Hundisburg, an ostensibly Baroque era castle complex and parkland estate adjoined by a small village situated in the pastoral German countryside about a 2 hours drive west of Berlin. However, I'll save the specifics of my work for a subsequent post and first discuss a little about how I arrived here with a brief history of Haldensleben-Hundisburg and the fascinating project called CHARME.

Haldensleben-Hundisburg

The area of Haldensleben and Hundisburg have evidence of established human occupation dating back some 5,000 years. However, the "modern" period of continuous occupation with the associated names for the towns date back a millennia, to the establishment of what is now known the Straße der Romanik or "Romanesque Road" along which many medieval communities were first introduced to Christianity and a vibrant culture of trade ensued.

A fortification was established in Hundisburg, a walled enclosure and tower keep overseen by knights  swearing fealty to the archbishop of nearby Magdeburg. The left tower of the current castle is original to this medieval period. In 1452, ownership transferred into private hands of the Alvensleben family who continued to develop the grounds, first as a Renaissance castle and subsequent to the 30 years war, greatly expanded them into a majestic Baroque castle and gardens by the early 18th century.

Ownership of the castle transferred once again in 1811 to Johann Gottlob Nathusius, a most successful early German industrialist. Johann acquired about the same time the nearby Althaldensleben Monastery as his personal residence and over the course of the 19th century he and his sons developed the land between the castle and monastery into a 271 acre country park.

During WWII occupying Russian troops accidentally set fire to the castle, causing significant though not total destruction. During the period of the communist East Germany the castle lay abandoned; however, upon German unification ownership transferred to the public realm, the city of Haldensleben, its current trustee. With municipal funds and support from the European Union the castle was largely restored in the 1990's with smaller projects ongoing.

CHARME

CHARME stands for "Charleston Haldensleben-Hundisburg - American Restoration Art Meets Europe". As the name implies the emerging non-profit it is a vehicle for cultural collaboration, specifically in the area of hand craftsmanship between citizens of Charleston, SC and the towns of Haldensleben-Hundisburg, Germany.

After German unification, the Nathusius family returned to Haldesleben and local industrial production with the acquisition/merger of IFA Rotorion, growing it into one of the world leaders in the automotive supply industry. While establishing an additional production facility in Charleston, SC current CEO of IFA Rotorion, Felix von Nathusius and his wife Caroline, befriended John Paul Huguley, founder of the American College of the Building Arts and the idea of cultural collaboration between the communities of Charleston and Haldensleben-Hundisburg through the medium of architectural craft blossomed.

An initial project in the summer of 2012 had then recent ACBA graduate Emily Fairchild Gillett creating pilaster bases in plaster as part of the interior castle restoration. In the summer of 2014 a more ambitious project was taken on, to construct a folly in traditional german rubble masonry upon the foundations of a 19th century orangerie that had fallen to ruin. Under the guidance of ACBA Professor Simeon Warren, Juniors Samuel Friedman and Charles Shuler proposed designs and carved quoins and door surround pieces for the folly using traditional German stone tooling techniques. Now in the summer of 2015 it is up to rising Junior student Jackie Urgo, recent graduate Cody James and myself to build the structure using traditional German methods of rubble masonry construction.

The CHARME project has been getting notable press in the German news with a number of articles in print, radio and television broadcasts. We look to take the results of our summer effort back to Charleston and ensure we get a similar recognition of this burgeoning collaboration stateside. Could this be the start of Charleston and Haldensleben-Hundisburg establishing a sister city relationship complete with an annual festival of craft, music, art and culinary delights? We would like to think so!

Next steps for Projekt CHARME are to establish perhaps an even more ambitious restoration project for the summer of 2016 as well as creating internship opportunities for German students in Charleston to fully reciprocate the cultural exchange.

2015 participants, advisors and sponsors of Project CHARME

Contributed by Patrick Webb