Every design for Mannheim

Mannheim first appears in the Lorsch Codex, but the city as people know it began when an Elector Palatine laid the foundation stone of the Friedrichsburg fortress in the early seventeenth century. The town planned beside it was laid out as a grid, and that grid survives: central Mannheim's blocks carry letters and numbers instead of street names, which is why it is called the Quadratestadt, the Square City.

Schloss Mannheim closes the grid to the south, the vast baroque palace of the Electors that now houses the university. From here the court drew musicians from far and wide – the Mannheim School once brought Mozart to town – and the city later earned the nickname of the city of inventions, with the automobile and the bicycle among them. The Wasserturm, rising above the art nouveau Friedrichsplatz, became the civic symbol, while the Jesuitenkirche, the Kunsthalle Mannheim and the Technoseum fill out the picture.

Anyone who grew up here learnt to give directions like "meet me at Q-something" before they learnt most street names elsewhere. On this map, every square is a memory of a school, a flat or a friend.