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Broken tile mosaic
at Edingen-Neckarhausen town hall
From the initial idea
until the final implementation
As part of our thesis to become a certified mosaic artist, we were approached in April 2018
the idea of donating the resulting work to our Edingen-Neckarhausen community.
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We wanted to beautify our immediate living environment and thank the community and its people for welcoming us so warmly.
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Our initial idea was to upgrade a somewhat unsightly wall opening in nearby Kothe Park in Edingen with a natural stone mosaic.
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A corresponding draft and a sample mosaic were quickly created and so we were able to submit our proposal to our mayor at the beginning of May.
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The community responded enthusiastically to our initiative. However, the problem arose that Kothe Park is only leased by the municipality. As a counter-proposal, we were shown the possibility of creating our mosaic on a retaining wall on the Neckar directly below the town hall of Edingen-Neckarhausen.
A nice idea, we thought. Because with this central location we could let even more people benefit from our mosaic.
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But the changed location also brought a few new challenges and we had to rethink our concept.
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The location almost directly on the Neckar is at risk of flooding. The mosaic therefore had to be very robust and easy to clean. Because of the children playing there, we had to avoid any risk of injury at all costs.
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We finally decided on a mosaic made of broken tiles. The use of tiles offers the possibility of working in a frost- and weather-resistant manner. Furthermore, you have a high degree of creative freedom and can achieve a relatively high level of detail.
Last but not least, you can work much more colorfully than with natural stones and the mosaic becomes a little friendlier and happier. Bad weather conditions in particular increase the luminosity of the tiles even slightly. It's almost as if the colored tiles store the sun's rays and emit them again when the sun isn't shining.
For the motif, we decided to take up and include the special shape of the wall. Furthermore, we wanted to create a direct connection between our mosaic, the environment and the people who live here. The viewer should immediately recognize what our mosaic is about. Find yourself and the community in it.
The tower represents the landmark of the municipality of Edingen, which can be seen from afar. The water tower.
This is followed by meadow orchards and the transition from the countryside to the Neckar river. In reality, this transition does not always seem to be clearly defined in Edingen-Neckarhausen. It blurs with its small Neckar islands, tributaries, the lock and the many small private jetties.
The newly created fish nursery between Edingen and Neckarhausen could not be missing in our motif.
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Finally, we were allowed to present our design along with another sample mosaic to the Municipal Technical Committee.
We were able to answer the committee's critical questions regarding durability, cleaning and the risk of injury to everyone's satisfaction, and our design was well received by everyone.
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A small newspaper article even appeared inMannheim morningabout our project.
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Now we can finally get to work!
Transfer of the design to its original size
Cutting the tiles and sticking them on the reinforcement mesh
Preparation for transport
Installation on the wall
Feature
cleaning
The final result
Official handover of the finished mosaic
to community representatives
right: Mayor Simon Michler
Left: Head of Building Authority Dominik Eberle
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