On a small strip of land between the Emscher River and the Rhine Herne Canal in Germany sits a rest stop whose colorful appearance belies its radical purpose. The structure’s artful design consists of pipes leading from two toilets and the Emscher (the most polluted river in Germany) that converge at a small community garden and drinking fountain. The garden is, in fact, a manmade wetland that collects, treats, and cleans the effluence from the toilets and river—making it drinkable.
Danish architecture firm ADEPT has been announced the winner of a competition to redevelop Berlin's Marinehaus as part of the city's Stadtmuseum group. This iteration of the competition was launched in 2018 (following a similar competition ten years ago) and will rehabilitate the Marinehaus for public use after nearly 20 years of closure.
This article was originally published on November 2, 2015. To read the stories behind other celebrated architecture projects, visit our AD Classics section.
As Norman Foster describes in his firm’s monograph, Foster 40, “Our transformation of the Reichstag is rooted in four related issues: the Bundestag’s significance as a democratic forum, an understanding of history, a commitment to public accessibility and a vigorous environmental agenda.”[1] Foster’s description sounds straightforward enough, but the process of creating the New German Parliament at the Reichstag was only the latest entry in the long, complex, and contentious history of the building.
Swiss practice Herzog & de Meuron have released revised plans for the Museum of the 20th Century project in Berlin's Cultural Forum. Designed to house the extensive National Gallery on 20th century art collection, the project was made in partnership with the Berlin State Museums and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Herzog & de Meuron originally won the competition to design the museum building in 2016, and the revised design features new plans and a facade that opens the building to the outside.
This article was originally published on Metropolis Magazine as "How a DIY Floating Universiity in Berlin Could Be An Unorthodox Prototype for Design Education."
On the north side of Tempelhofer Feld, an airport-turned-park in southern Berlin, lays a large ditch. Surrounded by lots and bungalows and noticeable only to those in the know, this 19th century basin holds rainwater drained from the airport’s defunct runways before it is fed into Berlin’s canal network.
In the next chapter of his ongoing Urban Geometry project, self-taught Spanish photographer Andres Gallardo captures the elements of color, form, and materiality of post-war architecture in Berlin. This photo series, with installments featuring the modern marvels of Beijing, Seoul, Copenhagen, and Tallinn, among other cities, has become representative of Gallardo's personal growth from his humble start in his career as a professional photographer.
Artist David Louf, aka Mr. June, has earned a reputation for creating striking urban art, most recently using three-dimensional murals that play off architectural elements. As Colossal reports, within the last year Mr. June's geometric abstractions have become increasingly architectural as they aim to challenge viewer’s perceptions. Producing work since 1985, Mr. June recently completed a 130-foot diameter dome in North Carolina and a 3D mural for Urban Nation in Berlin.
A team of architecture students at the CODE department of the TU Berlin have built PLUG-IN, a pavilion addressing the Home not Shelter! Initiative. Built as a collaborative process between students and refugees, the pavilion was realized under the direction of Prof. Ralf Pasel and his team. PLUG-IN physically expands the living space to creates a responsive project that goes beyond housing needs. The project was specifically proposed and built for the Dutch Embassy in Berlin.
Architecture and Landscape in Norway, a photography exhibition by Ken Schluchtmann, will open this fall in the Felleshus of the Nordic Embassies in Berlin. Featuring architecture, landscapes and roads in northern light, the exhibition situates Ken Schluchtmann in a long tradition of landscape representation in Norway. Opening on October 5, 2018, the show is part of the "European Month of Photography." The exhibition will displays images taken along the National Tourist Routes in Norway.
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