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The exhibition marking the halfway point of the IBA Heidelberg has opened: A rich accompanying programme attracted almost 1000 visitors from Thursday to Saturday, many of whom were visiting the exhibition venue, the Mark Twain Center in Heidelberg's Südstadt, for the first time.

The IBA SUMMIT, the biennial meeting of mayors, university rectors and urban planners from international "Knowledge Pearls" in Heidelberg, heralded the opening days of the IBA interim presentation on 26 April. Prof. Dr Eckart Würzner, Lord Mayor of the City of Heidelberg welcomed the guests from Stanford, Cambridge, Lund and Leuven with an introduction to the IBA: "The IBA Heidelberg is on an excellent path. It demonstrates how various strengths of our city can be interwoven. These include, for example, promoting education, developing environmentally friendly mobility, creating new living space and promoting climate-neutral urban development. The IBA has made a significant contribution to the sense of a new beginning in Heidelberg.

The vernissage of the exhibition took place at the Mark Twain Center on the evening of 27 April. Gunther Adler, State Secretary for Building, Housing and Urban Development in the Federal Ministry of the Interior spoke on the occasion about the "IBA" format from the federal government's point of view. According to Adler, the IBA is an important piece of German building culture that enjoys international renown and is worth every effort to pursue its claim to excellence. The IBA tradition encompasses many aspects: International relevance, next-practice projects, sustainable impact on the region and building culture standards. For the IBAs currently underway, it is sometimes difficult to fully meet these claims to excellence under the given framework conditions. "Nevertheless, we are seeing overwhelming results, which encourage us as a federal government to continue the quality offensive together - also within the framework of the IBA Heidelberg," the State Secretary emphasised. "We need the IBA to show us how we can find answers to relevant questions of current urban development using new and unusual methods and means - this is more urgent today than ever. The IBA's courage to experiment and to go beyond existing boundaries is important to address the quality of living, working and living in our cities in the future."

Jürgen Odszuck, First Mayor of the City of HeidelbergThe IBA's interim presentation provides an excellent overview of what it is doing in Heidelberg: it gives important new impulses on how we can further develop Heidelberg as the knowledge city of tomorrow. It promotes excellent building projects in our city. And it offers innovative approaches on how we can design processes more effectively and lead to even better results."

Michael Braum, Managing Director of the IBA Heidelberg, was pleased about the great response to the exhibition opening and welcomed the guests: "Innovation in the knowledge society uses its intellectual and creative resources. This changes the value system of the industrial society, in which diligence stood above creativity. Today, in the knowledge society, creativity may be more important than diligence. This also has implications for the city. Our cities will change more dynamically in the 21st century than they did in the course of industrialisation. This requires a new way of thinking in urban planning and architecture. The IBA would like to make a contribution to this, which can now be seen in this exhibition."

Carl Zillich, Curatorial Director of the IBA Heidelbergexplained the exhibition concept: "Before we present realised building projects for the knowledge city of tomorrow in 2022, we have focused at the halfway point on the actors, processes and ideas of the first five years. Together with the exhibition makers from 'Stiftung Freizeit', we have developed analogue and at the same time interactive forms of presentation. Thus, for different interests, individual glimpses behind the scenes of the IBA, the urban development of international science cities, but also Heidelberg institutions and initiatives are on offer. Numerous architectural models, pictures and plans have already aroused curiosity about the construction sites, which are now marked all over the city."

The opening days closed on Saturday, 28 April with a colourful programme, during which many young families in particular got an impression of the exhibition and the IBA projects. 

The exhibition of the IBA interim presentation is now open until 8 July daily from Tuesdays to Sundays from 15.00 - 20.00, including public holidays.

More information about the exhibition, guided tours, registration or booking of individual group tours at:
www.iba.heidelberg.de

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