Quartier Mühlkanal – Mühlkanal Neighbourhood

A riverside town in a rural setting

Schachenmayr yarn spinning mill was an iconic employer in Salach for generations. Plans to breathe new life into the rural industrial wasteland as an urban quarter are part of a key project for the whole area that is being negotiated using a very active consultation process.

If you take the Filstalbahn train from Stuttgart to Ulm, you will pass through woods, fields, smaller industrial plants and rivers and after three quarters of an hour reach the site of the former textile factory, located directly between the tracks and the river Fils. The local authorities are working with the local community and with planners as well as IBA’27 to develop the site of the abandoned factory on one side of the tracks and the former »Krautländer« allotments on the other side into an urban quarter with a good social mix aimed at serving the needs of the community. The plan is based on the winning concept in an urban planning competition that recognises the emotional power of the disused factory by bringing manufacturing and commerce back to the historical factory halls and adding different types of housing that are sympathetic to the setting. Existing terraced houses for workers will join with buildings comprising several residential units to form an urban block. Free-standing residential buildings and a neighbourhood hub will face the group of listed buildings to form a central square. A public community centre with offerings for all age groups on the former allotments site directly opposite will combine the centre with the Mühlkanal neighbourhood, where a ›Bürgerpark‹ (citizens’ park) along the renatured Fils river will become a magnet for the entire region.

Location	Salach, Göppingen district
Size	8.3 ha, including 7.2 ha on the Schachenmayr site and 1.1 ha on the Krautländer allotments site
+	space for approx. 800 residents
Project start	IBA’27 Project since 2020
Timeline	2018 Workshop facilitated by IBA’27 2019 Planning workshop with public involvement 2020 Decision on urban planning competition: helsinkizurich (Zurich, Helsinki) and Cadrage Landschaftsarchitekten (Zurich) 2021 Design competition for community centre: Studio LEK (Munich) and ah Landschaftsarchitekten (Stuttgart) 2025 Completion of community centre 2027 Neighbourhood under construction
Project initiator	Salach municipal authorities