The city of Höxter has been awarded the prestigious Westphalian Building Culture Prize by the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL) in Münster for its comprehensive urban transformation carried out in preparation for the 2023 State Garden Show. This marks the fifth major recognition for the city's remarkable renovation project, adding to an impressive collection of awards that includes the German Landscape Architecture Prize and the gold medal at the European Cities Competition Entente Florale.

The Westphalian Building Culture Prize is awarded every five years to outstanding projects in urban planning, architecture, and open space planning that make cities and communities more livable, sustainable, and identity-forming. The award ceremony took place at the LWL Museum of Art and Culture, where five projects realized between 2015 and 2025 were honored. An independent jury, chaired by Reiner Nagel, Chairman of the Federal Foundation for Building Culture in Potsdam, selected the winners from approximately 200 submissions.

Höxter applied for the prize together with garden show planner Franz Reschke, and the jury was particularly impressed with the city's comprehensive urban redevelopment. The transformation focused on several key areas that have fundamentally changed the character of this historic city. In Höxter's old town, the rampart facilities were upgraded with new plantings, pathways, and play areas to create enhanced inner-city recreational spaces. The Weser promenade, which begins at the edge of the old town and leads out of the city, has been transformed from a purely functional walkway into a scenic attraction that fully realizes its picturesque potential along the river.

The jury praised the promenade's diverse range of recreational and play facilities that now line the waterfront. Where the Weser River curves, an archaeology park has been created that makes the ground monument of the destroyed city of Corvey accessible to visitors. This sensitive archaeological site has been carefully developed through a boardwalk system with attached exhibition cubes that tell the story of the lost settlement. Ground plans of former structures, including a church, have been traced to help visitors envision what once stood there, while audio plays narrate the history of the site.

Modern technology has been seamlessly integrated into the historical experience through augmented reality features that make the surgeon's house and the Hellweg digitally visible to visitors. Adjacent to the nearby World Heritage site and the Carolingian westwork of the former Corvey Abbey, the Remter Garden has been created as a new interpretation of a monastery garden, connecting the present-day improvements with the area's rich medieval heritage.

The scope of Höxter's transformation extended beyond the waterfront and archaeological areas to include comprehensive improvements to the pedestrian zone and the railway station. This multifaceted approach demonstrates how building culture can strengthen a location's appeal both internally within the city community and externally as tourist attractions, particularly in smaller cities beyond major metropolitan areas.

Mayor Daniel Hartmann expressed his satisfaction with the recognition, noting that this represents further evidence of how positively the city's development is perceived from the outside. 'The people of Höxter can be proud of how much their city has gained in the eyes of visitors and guests,' he stated. The award site is now managed and further developed by the successor organization Huxarium Garden Park Höxter, ensuring the continued evolution of these prize-winning improvements.

The other winners of the 2025 Westphalian Building Culture Prize include the Green Hamlet in Münster, the reception building of the LWL Open Air Museum Hagen, and in Paderborn, the Jacoby Studios and St. Michael Elementary School. Short films about all five winning projects premiered at the award ceremony, and the recognized projects will be presented to the general public in an exhibition planned for spring 2026. The prize is supported by the Ernsting Art and Culture Foundation (Coesfeld), the Hagemeister Brick Works (Nottuln), and NRW.Bank (Düsseldorf/Münster), highlighting the collaborative nature of promoting architectural excellence in the region.