Berlin Atlas 1
Architecture as a critique of what is there
Editor: Urs Füssler and Andrew Alberts
German, Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA) Berlin, 2021
Contribution: MUSEUM OF THE 20TH CENTURY, KULTURFORUM BERLIN by IMKEWOELK + partners
In no other European city did the construction and destruction of structural figure, the abandonment of space, no man’s land and urban appropriation by nature show themselves as in Berlin. Where else, if not here, could the urban landscape envisioned by Hans Scharoun be further developed?
Between the Philharmonie and the Staatsbibliothek, the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Church of St. Matthew, there is no room for another monument. The new museum is located below the surface of the city. It is connecting the museums of the Kulturforum, the Philharmonie and the Staatsbibliothek. Its surface is suitable for public manifestations and aesthetic practices of all kinds.
Initially pure form [ornament], its place later becomes wilderness in parts, and reset to form [ornament] by rain, sun and its use. This flowing out of form and back into form, represents an allegory for the changing history of Berlin. A city that was characterized by the formation and dissolution of space, structure and certainties in the 20th century.
The newly added tower forms the main entrance to the new museum, accommodates the temporary exhibition areas and integrates the visitor center of the entire Kulturforum. As a vertical element, it enters into a spatial dialogue with the existing buildings. In line with a conception more closely connected to nature, a living landscape is created that opposes geometry, as a metaphor for utopia and freedom.
