©Südwesttextil
On 10 July, the “Texoversum” was ceremonially opened in Reutlingen. 18.5 million euros were invested by the employers’ and business association Südwesttextil in the building, which it donated to the state of Baden-Württemberg for the campus of Reutlingen University. Bodo Th. Bölzle, President of Südwesttextil, explained the vision behind the investment at the opening: “At the Texoversum, we want to show what we can achieve together for the textile and clothing industry in Baden-Württemberg, but also what textiles can do, what textiles want and what textiles move.” The state’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, stated in her ceremonial address: “I am certain: the Texoversum will provide new dynamism in the textile innovation scene.” University President Prof. Dr. Hendrik Brumme also emphasised the relevance of the building for the innovative strength of the industry: “With the Texoversum, we can further expand the diversity of textile possibilities on the campus of Reutlingen University and lead the location into the future as a heavyweight in the field of textiles.”
The new building was created as part of the master plan for the Reutlingen campus. The design was created by three Stuttgart professors – Markus Allmann, Achim Menges and Jan Knippers – and their offices Allmann Sattler Wappner Architekten, Menges Scheffler Architekten and Jan Knippers Ingenieure. Menges and Knippers developed the unique façade from carbon fibres, whose production with robots has so far only been used for supporting structures for pavilions, such as at the Federal Garden Show in Heilbronn in 2019. To the outside world, the novel façade signals the innovative power of the textile industry; inside, staggered work platforms on an area of almost 3,000 square metres combine workshops, laboratories, think tank spaces, classrooms and the renowned textile collection to form an open, spatial continuum where people with different skills and ideas can come together. Where a transfer of knowledge between research and practice takes place, students from different courses of study will have the opportunity to develop textile projects and pursue innovative ideas.
To make the changes clear, the university’s previous “Textile & Design” faculty will rename itself “Texoversum Faculty Textile” in the coming winter semester 2023/24, when the building will officially be in use. The newly founded joint venture “Texoversum LDT Nagold” will also operate under the umbrella brand “Texoversum” in the future. Further sub-brands are being planned. The logo, formed by a distinctive “X” of overlapping lines and areas next to the word “Texoversum”, was developed in cooperation with the Karlsruhe advertising agency “bunte büffel GmbH”.
Baden-Württemberg is home to around 200 textile and clothing companies with 24,000 employees, especially in the fields of technical textiles, clothing and house and home textiles. Furthermore, there are a large number of textile machinery manufacturers and suppliers. For the textile industry, which has been undergoing structural change for some time, the development of new materials and surfaces for innovative products in the field of technical textiles is of central importance.
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