The revitalisation of the spacious canteen building on the former Robotron site, located in the middle of the currently emerging Lingnerstadt district in the centre of Dresden, offers the opportunity to put a post-war modernist GDR building with a high identification value for the Dresden population to a new, cultural use.
Based on a utilisation and operating concept developed between the City of Dresden and the main user, Kunsthaus Dresden, and other users such as OSTRALE and House of Urban Culture, the building is to be developed into a place for cooperation and collaboration in the fields of contemporary art and culture.
The utilisation of spatial and programmatic synergies between the future main users and the multifunctionality of the building are intended to promote visibility, participation processes, activities and discourse. To further strengthen this, the future use of the building will also offer space for external parties, cultural organisations and the general public.
The subject of the competition was the conversion and refurbishment of the existing listed Robotron canteen into an exhibition and art centre. The design comprised the refurbishment and permanent, year-round use of the existing building of the former Robotron canteen, the so-called "revitalisation" of the building within the strictly limited framework of the budget provided. The utilisation is concentrated on exhibitions and events on the ground floor and small sections of the basement. Parts of the canteen will remain unrenovated.
This is followed by the ideas section of the competition. The planned measures in the ideas section build on the measures in the realisation section. The aim of the ideas section is to develop a perspective for the building with extensive utilisation of the Robotron canteen.
What can you expect in the exhibition?
12 competition participants / architectural firms have developed their designs based on the competition brief and submitted them for assessment. At the jury meeting on 21 January 2026, a jury of expert and specialist judges evaluated all the entries and selected the most suitable design idea. This decision was justified and can be found in the minutes of the jury meeting. In the exhibition, the submitted plans of all competition participants are shown, the respective authors and their position in the process are named.
The competition winner, KNERER UND LANG Architekten GmbH, Dresden / Munich, is expected to be commissioned with the realisation of the necessary measures
. Planning must begin immediately to ensure completion in 2028 and handover to users in 2029
Funded by the federal programme "Promotion of investments in national urban development projects 2024" and a generous donation from the Arnhold family.