KMA + INTERBAU 1957
Architecture and urbanism of the post-war modernism. Voices on the World Heritage Proposal
In the almost ten-minute film from the State Monuments Office, the people and initiatives that support the Berlin World Heritage proposal have their say. Among them Marcus Nitschke, managing director of D:4 and treppe b. The film is, as it were, an invitation in moving images to a journey to the favorite places of Berliners in the Hansaviertel and on Karl-Marx-Allee.
The state of Berlin has proposed that the major listed ensembles of Berlin's reconstruction be added to the German Tentative List of World Heritage Sites under the title "Karl-Marx-Allee and Interbau 1957. Architecture and Urbanism of Berlin's Postwar Modernism" and subsequently then proposed to UNESCO for inscription. Berlin's initial application in 2014 was acknowledged but deferred with a request for revision.
International Colloquium
In the context of the international colloquium "East West East: Karl-Marx-Allee & Interbau 1957″ on 25. and 26.10.2022 the re-submitted application will be discussed publicly. The organizer is the Hermann Henselmann Foundation in cooperation with the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin and the Akademie der Künste.
NEW RELEASE
AIV Forum 2-2021
grossWEST - AIV Schinkel Competition 2021
Documentation of the AIV Schinkel Competition 2021
Since 1855, the AIV Schinkel Competition has been an annual competition for young planners to encourage their creativity in solving future-oriented planning tasks. In addition to promoting young technical and scientific talent, the competition initiates a dialogue between the urban public, experts, administration and politics. It aims to arouse interest in an area, to develop sensitivity in dealing with the existing buildings, to show the significance for the surroundings and thus to contribute to the qualification of the task of formal planning. In this sense, the competition aims to generate a relationship between the general public and the planning area and to win them over for the design of the public spaces. Due to its independence, the AIV Schinkel Competition thus succeeds in introducing suggestions into ongoing planning.
16 Euro
ISBN: 978-3-96551-802-5
Orders to: Mail
Müncheberg church-community centre and day-care centre
Guests were welcomed to the completed community centre and daycare centre for the first time on Architecture Day.
The idea of building a church-community community centre with an attached day-care centre was developed in a local participatory process. An extensive range of cross-generational social, ecological and educational offers is made possible with the help of EU LEADER funding.
The old vicarage next to the church was replaced by a functional new building that takes up the shape of the church roof and connects it in a contemporary design. The new building and church renovation were all carried out using sustainable building materials.
The garden and the children's kitchen are central components of the educational concept. The handling of regional food from organic cultivation teaches conscious nutrition - the visitors of the meeting centre also benefit from the results.
Growing together - Landschaf(f)tstadt
Prof. Dr. Silvia Malcovati and Bernd Albers in conversation with Marcus Nitschke
Marcus Nitschke
Your contribution to the 2070 competition deals with the towns of Bernau and Schwedt in Brandenburg. How did you come up with these two places?
Silvia Malcovati
We started without a precise idea. At first, we started looking at places we had already looked at under other conditions, like Potsdam or Brandenburg an der Havel. Quite quickly, however, we realised how rich and diverse Brandenburg is. We then decided to explore the radials that had great significance for our design idea, especially the radials towards the north-east. A good hint came from the mobility experts, who pointed out to us how important at the moment the relationships between...
Competition entry Growing Together - Landschaf(f)tstadt © Bernd Albers/Silvia Malcovati
AIV Forum 2021
AIV Forum 1-2021
Journal of the Association of Architects and Engineers of Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.
Peter Lemburg, Marcus Nitschke (Eds.)
1/2021
Journal
21.0 x 29.7 cm
120 pages
ISSN 2567-5184
ISBN 978-3-96551-801-8
12 Euro
Orders: HERE
Church without a future?
Churches and their buildings in uncertain times
LECTURE from 15.12.2020
On the occasion of the 10th birthday of the Maria Gnaden Community Centre in Berlin-Hermsdorf, we took stock and took stock of the use of the building.
Is the community centre still fit for purpose and sustainable?
How can space programmes of church buildings be planned for the future in the face of stagnating or declining membership and pandemic constraints?
Will the house group model continue to prevail, shifting space capacity outside?
How can church buildings be financed and occupied today?
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE, OCT. 2020
Berlin East West: Modern
H#4 - Zeitungsmagazin Henselmann, fourth issue
As part of the updating of the German Tentative List for UNESCO World Heritage, Berlin 2021 is taking the opportunity to once again propose the listed ensembles Karl-Marx-Allee (1st and 2nd construction phase) and Interbau 1957 (Hansa Quarter, Congress Hall in Tiergarten, Corbusier House at the Olympic Stadium) for nomination.
This revives and pushes a Berlin project that was launched in 2012 by the three application initiatives, the Hansaviertel Citizens' Association, the Friends of the Corbusier House and the Hermann Henselmann Foundation. Although the evaluation by the International Expert Commission of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder was not successful at first attempt, the experts gave the applicants good chances for a subsequent qualification - as long as the scientific justification of the "outstanding universal value" (OUV) was deepened and a convincing concept for action with regard to the future World Heritage was developed by the Berlin administration.
TV REPORT ARTE
City walk with Marcus Nitschke
City Country Art
The Other Berlin by Fritz Lang
Metropolis: The Other Berlin by Fritz Lang
Berlin experienced a radical change in the 1920s. While the then modernist city was at the heart of the European art scene, artist and filmmaker Fritz Lang had a pessimistic view of the metropolis. In "Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler", "M" and "Metropolis", he created diabolical characters who painted a bleak picture of Berlin society shaped by the First World War.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE DAY 2020
A contribution by Hanna Düspohl
In cooperation with and sponsored by the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin
In keeping with the 100th anniversary of Greater Berlin and the limited possibilities for visits in times of Corona, the Triennale der Moderne presented a special online offer for those interested in culture and architecture under the motto Vielfalt Moderne | Moderne Vielfalt: The focus was on diverse projects of the six Berlin Modernist settlements that were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008.
In the video you can see a presentation of our exhibition in our treppe b gallery. The exhibition focused on the ring housing estate in Siemensstadt built in the 1920s by renowned architects such as Walter Gropius, Hans Scharoun and Otto Bartning, which was juxtaposed with the Corbusierhaus (built in 1957).
Book publication
In the 150 years since its foundation in 1871, the Verband Deutscher Architekten- und Ingenieurvereine e.V. (Association of German Architects and Engineers) and its affiliated architects' and engineers' associations have made the most important contributions in the field of civil engineering and construction technology. The commitment of the members has shaped the history of technology in the young German Empire, but also discussed social issues in society and helped develop standards for water and environmental protection.
Now the commemorative publication for the 150th anniversary has been published by treppe b!
It provides an overview of the history and also shows impressions of the activities of the architects' and engineers' associations in the present. Numerous contributions provide a diverse picture of the voluntarily active designers of our building culture and society.
The demands for shaping our future - together with the planning and designing professions of engineering and construction - provide impulses for the future activities of the association.
You can order the commemorative publication here >>.
Completely different rooms
Interview with Sebastian Behmann
Studio Other Spaces is an art and architecture practice founded in 2014 by artist Olafur Eliasson and architect Sebastian Behmann.
What is the working method of Studio Other Spaces?
A project must have potential, open up themes that are interesting. Our works emerge from dialogue and in the context in which we operate.
We believe that the quality of the relationship with the client significantly influences the quality of the work. We do a very detailed analysis, not only spatially but also socially and economically and then we respond to that on different levels through our work.
In addition to the quality of the space, we are interested in how and in what form the space can bring people together and connect them, and whether its form is suitable for generating community. The clients have to be able to answer our question as to whether they have an idea of how the space should be filled with content. This is where we come in and try to get involved. So it's about defining the space, not about pure aesthetics. That's why our strongest projects are those where we are in close contact with our clients. It's important to us to create a real collaboration, where you work together and complement each other. Of course, this also makes the work more complicated, because everyone has their own ideas and perceptions, but such hurdles give a project more depth.
Sebastian Behmann and Olafur Eliasson © Anders Sune Berg
Other Spaces' sounds like a different, maybe a better world. What is the goal of the office?
Of course we want to change the world!
Besides an interest in the past, the most important thing is to create something that depicts the future and gives perspective. It's about designing a future in dialogue with institutions, private individuals or museums, and ideally building it.
And where does the name Studio Other Spaces come from, or rather what does it initiate?
It has several levels: On the one hand, we are interested in heterotopias and in built utopias. These are, for example, sacred buildings or museums, in other words buildings that are not rooted in everyday life, but where one formulates spaces with a certain aspiration that want to carry and change something. That is an important aspect of our work. On the other hand, we go into the everyday world. We process and negotiate things in such a way that they can be experienced and reached by everyone: For example, we are currently working with David Chipperfield Architects on part of a hotel in Paris. This is a relatively mundane task. But here we are adopting processes that we know from our many years of collaboration in the art world. The dialogues become different as a result and we often choose a different way of developing things. A lot of what we have learned in art flows into architecture. In the end, the works are good when you don't see any difference between art and architecture.
Fjordenhus © Anders Sune Berg
You talk about the connection between architecture and art. What potential arises from the connection, especially paired with perceiving and experiencing spaces?
I really enjoy doing things differently: For example, we built an elevator at Fjordenhus1 in Vejle (Denmark) that has special features
. For one thing, you can feel the wind when it's moving, because it's only separated from the stairwell by grids, and for another, it moves particularly fast. You really have the feeling of moving. The elevator is designed to make you bend your knees when it starts, and when you stop again you have to hold your bag so the key doesn't fly out. It goes against what you're used to. It's the only way to question what you see.
Fjordenhus © Anders Sune Berg
Your buildings are about a perceptual experience for the visitor. How do you build atmosphere?
At Fjordenhus, the visitor comes over a bridge into the open foyer, just like on a ship. He experiences what the city is all about: the lapping of the water, the wind and the light reflecting off the ceiling. These sensory experiences create a sense of place and answer the question: where are we? As in church construction, we use the available means to create a dramaturgy and an atmosphere. The arc of tension runs through the whole building and has a lot to do with the lighting mood and the acoustics. For example, not all rooms are lit in the same way. The foyer has no light of its own, but is only illuminated by the adjoining rooms. A dynamic that one is no longer used to today. From the metallic loud staircase, you then enter the first entrance room, which is very muffled with the help of acoustic stones. This gives each room its own sound quality: either deliberately loud or deliberately quiet and muffled.
The whole interview can be found in: Kunst und Kirche - Magazin für Kritik, Ästhetik und Religion, 3.2020, pp. 54-56.
The interview was conducted by Hanna Düspohl and Marcus Nitschke, D:4 Architekten Berlin.
AIV-FORUM 1-2020
Journal of the Architects' and
Engineers' Association of Berlin e.V.
AIV Forum 1-2020
Journal of the Architects' and Engineers' Association of Berlin e.V.
Peter Lemburg, Marcus Nitschke (eds.)
1/2020
Journal
21.0 x 29.7 cm
121 pages
ISSN 2567-5184
12 euros
Orders: HERE
Heinrich Hermes, Photographer
1958-2018
Photographs, drawings and prints by the artist and photographer Heinrich Hermes from the last 25 years were on display in the exhibition of works at Galerie treppe b. The artist selected and curated the works for the exhibition "Towards the end. Works 1987-2018" selected and curated by himself.
Unfortunately, Hermes could not attend the opening on 13.12.2018 due to illness. One day later, on 14.12.2018, he died.
In deep friendly attachment, a farewell party was held in his exhibition, in the midst of his works, on 26.01.2019. In deep friendly attachment we continue to remember him.
Speech by Marcus Nitschke on the occasion of the farewell party
A speech after
How few photos are enough to give an impression of an architecture? How few works of art and attempts at materials, forms and styles are enough to give an impression of art? And: how many works are enough for an artist's life?
For more than twenty years Heinrich Hermes photographed the architectures of our office D:4 and again and again he amazed us with how few motifs he came back from his site visits. But with a clear eye he saw what was decisive and surely found the characteristics. His few pictures showed more than the many that were taken elsewhere. It always remained his photographs that put our ideas and memories into the picture.
The architecture was commissioned work. Art was a way of representing everything that is there from its own perspective, of realizing it as an image. Heinrich's early photographs show in black and white the dissolution of objects into images and at the same time the medium, the craft, with which this is done, better: accomplished. The presentation of the medium and the material charges the images with associations: this looks like the early days of photography ... Here there is already the series, the formal principle that brings order and structure to art.
To make a form out of the material, as an outline -, to appropriate this form - to repeat it -, that is the next step. The outline of a vessel, a bowl, an ideal bowl, cut out of rubber, as a fine pencil line, as a silkscreen: the form is the content of what one sees, undramatic, unspectacular. One is supposed to enjoy the sight of them, that is the intention. Unfortunately, never many have mustered the calm to do that.
A third phase of work is the transformation of words into pictures, putting words in the place of illustrations, making them look like a picture themselves. This word-picture way of working then also becomes books, a discreet way of letting others know about it. At the same time, the word-forms in the books are like poems that can convey a personal content: Statements about the conditions in which one finds oneself, between time criticism, experimentation and loneliness.
The word formations and picture motives are thought as a series in a small-format frame which are for a time before eyes and which can be changed then with other motives to another rhythm. The most beautiful thing would be to live with it. The selection that can be seen here today is his selection.
Book A was published posthumously.
Heinrich Hermes
Günther Rösch
Marcus Nitschke
Edition Y100 and stair b
ISBN-13: 9783757810832
Publisher: Books on Demand
Publication year: 2023
12,00 Euro
Photos: Henry Hermes
Above: Queen Luise Memorial Church in Berlin-Schöneberg
bottom: Fricke Container in Heeslingen