Jürgen Mayer H., Sebastian Finckh

This "e.gram," or electronic diagram, is a small glass model of the municipal building at the center of Scharnhauser Park in Ostfildern, Germany. Unlike typical presentation models, built to impress clients with a large-scale realistic view of a finished building, this model expresses the conceptual underpinnings of the project.
The central core of the solid glass block has been laser etched so that a linear model of the Stadthaus appears to be suspended within the material, while its transparent faces remain smooth. The Stadthaus itself has been called a "transparent town hall" because it uses new media and electronics to manage data and make it accessible via the Internet in a form of virtual space. Finckh and Mayer’s three–dimensional glass model illustrates the complex composition of interior spaces and the mixture of political, economic, and cultural programs that are contained within the building's simple exterior structure. It reveals and exposes the internal configuration of the Stadthaus in much the same way that the municipality hopes to disclose its inner workings to its citizens.