Special tour
2-phase realization competition Reconstruction Palace / Humboldt Forum Berlin
2008
Does the desire to restore the "Historic Center of Berlin" legitimize an unreflected reconstruction? Does the extraordinary significance of the site and its new content not demand a differentiated approach, which can only be achieved through an ambivalent approach to the subject?
If, in the spirit of the Humboldt brothers, curiosity about the world is directed from here towards the foreign and different with its outstanding treasures of knowledge and art, the concept of a journey through time from the Baroque to the modern era with the intention of interpreting the historical urban planning order as an outstanding quotation from the past and, as a kind of didactic offer, leading via the morphology to a reduced contemporary architecture, seems to us to be an adequate approach. This idea can only be comprehended by millions of citizens and visitors to this place by complementing it, by "making the change visible".
The idea of an "ideal plan" and an "ideal city" is a thing of the past. The course of history and all social circumstances implement breaks, demand adaptation, change and intelligent interpretations .....
Stylistic means and construction techniques, demands for ecology and efficiency, which are in any case due to the high demands placed on contemporary museum buildings of superlatives, conservation and museum education concerns and, last but not least, a "budget framework that cannot be stretched at will" mean that the historical façade required in parts can only be used as a backdrop anyway.
We see nostalgia, romanticism and the desire to revive the past, the illustration of cultural values, even if this will only succeed in snapshots without context, as strong, undeniable guidelines. The west façade with the main portal and dome will be restored to its former glory, while the long sides will be transformed into a "modern east façade" as an analogy to the historical process. Past and present are ambivalent.
In keeping with the special task, both the reminiscence of the historical façade and the reduced "modern" façade are being conceived and developed with the help of façade experts with a worldwide reputation, using the latest findings from materials research and construction technology.