aac Workshop, Hamburg, Germany
03 March until 26 March 2021 at the Campus Rainvilleterrasse in Hamburg

This workshop was under the guidance of Prof. Dr.- Ing. h.c. Volkwin Marg and Dipl. -Ing. Hubert Nienhoff

Documentation of results (web-optimised)

This year the aac's spring workshop focused on a new visitor centre for the Kulturforum Berlin.

The term “Kulturforum Berlin” generally refers to the urban ensemble of the Staatsbibliothek and the Philharmonie, built in the 1950s by Hans Scharoun as well as Mies van der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalerie, supplemented by further museum buildings added in the following decades.The Kulturforum was originally created based on the idea of building a new cultural centre in West Berlin on the edge of the Tiergarten, which would complement and counterbalance the historical centre in the eastern part of the city. Despite the important individual buildings, a square or forum character and an identity-forming townscape have never emerged.
 
This unresolved urban planning situation as well as the future development with the expansion of the museum areas and the undeveloped open space in the middle of the Kulturforum next to the St. Matthäus-Kirche were repeatedly the subject of heated discussion in the media and among architects and urban planners. With the winning proposal for the new 20th century museum by Herzog & de Meuron, another decision in regard to it has been made. Thus, the question of the design of a central entrance building, which allows orientation in the conglomerate of museums, is again being raised.

The so-called Museumsplatz, the area in front of the Gemäldegalerie, will move into the new centre of the Kulturforum due to the elimination of the former central square between St. Matthäus-Kirche and Potsdamer Straße. An upgrading of the entrance situations of all adjoining museums, the creation of a place with service functions such as information, tickets, cloakrooms etc., a starting point for guided tours as well as extension areas for the Kunstgewerbemuseum with attractive gastronomy are to be realised here.

The aim of the workshop was to find a seminal solution for the design of an appropriate entrance area for all museum buildings by dealing with the history of the site and the complex spatial contexts.

In addition, in cooperation with the square next to the St. Matthäus-Kirche, the aim was to strengthen the quality of the open spaces in order to turn the new centre of the Kulturforum into a lively and inspiring square.

16 participants will worked on designs in groups of four people. Each team was accompanied intensively, continuously and personally by an experienced tutor during the entire course. The groups were mixed internationally in order to enable an intensive exchange between young architects with different cultural backgrounds.

The workshop took place in compliance with all applicable Corona prevention measures at that time.
A detailed digital tour of the Kulturforum Berlin served as a start to the workshop and highlighted the Forum's current entrance situation to the participants. Input lectures and critiques by Nikolaus Bernau (freelance journalist) Martin Bez (bez+kock Architekten) and Prof. Johannes Kuehn (Kuehn Malvezzi Architekten) complemented the workshop programme.

Participants: Karin Chau, Carolina Fanelli, Lisa Franziska Geuer, Raphaël Klucker, Lisa Viktoria Krön, Dominik Malz, Felix Maximillian Müller, Luis Neuber, Hanie Norouzzadeh, Alicja Nowak, Michael Olufemi Akpele, Costantino Da Pieve, Rabea Prange, Elko Romann, Lür Schäfer, Lucy Wang
Tutors: Walter Gebhardt, Prof. Philipp Kamps, Sona Kazemi, Anja Meding

Visiting Professors - Experts - Guest Critics: Prof. Stephan Braunfels, Martin Bez, Prof. Johannes Kuehn, Nikolaus Bernau, Dr. Hans Stimmann, Hans Joachim Paap