Meißen is a town with a history of more than one thousand years and many important landmark buildings that survived the war undamaged. The town wanted to develop its attractiveness to tourists by creating a better connection to the castle on the mountain, an historic ensemble that, as it was arduous to reach, had profited little from bus tourism. The municipal authorities therefore set up an
invited competition procedure for architects to find a design for a car park building, a bus park, and a transport system that would allow the historic town centre to be reached quickly from the distant side of the castle mountain. Our design, which handles the existing historic fabric in a very restrained and respectful way, won first prize in this procedure.
A modest pavilion provides an area protected from rain and wind, with space for all ancillary functions. It is not heated, but is protected against frost. Travelling in the glazed cabin of the inclined lift offers an experience of the scenery as soon as the cabin emerges from the pavilion and moves, hovering above the slope, in the direction of the castle walls. Practically without touching them, it stops just short of the walls so that you enter the town through the battlements without the need for any further interventions in the historic fabric. The upper arrival platform thus consists of only a door system and a threshold.
The elevated track is fixed to the lower bearing point and, by the use of inclined support frames, is positioned flexibly in the longitudinal direction. These frames are cross-braced in the transverse direction and take the horizontal wind forces on the cabin. A counterweight moving on the lower flanges of the tracks was chosen as the most favourable system in terms of energy consumption.
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