Photographer: Ute Zscharnt | ArchDaily

More Than Gray: 15 Projects That Explore Red Pigmented Concrete

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Concrete is often seen as the material of modernity, defined by its structural strength, raw finish, and unmistakable gray tone. It became the default palette of 20th-century architecture, a symbol of functionality and permanence. Yet, concrete is not bound to this chromatic identity. Its color is a byproduct of the cement, aggregates, and chemical composition used in its mix, and it can be intentionally altered through pigmentation. Among the many hues explored, red stands out — not only for its visual intensity, but for its ability to root buildings in place, evoke cultural references, and imbue architecture with a material presence that feels both elemental and expressive.

Building History: German Museums Revealing Culture and Place

Eric Baldwin — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 05:30:00 +0000

Museums reveal local and shared heritage. As cultural institutions embedded in the fabric of modern life, each museum serves as a window into history and human exchange. Made to promote understanding and provoke new ideas, these monumental buildings are inspired by spatial exploration. With some of the most influential museum projects in the world, Germany is home to a range of diverse institutions showcasing unique approaches to curating, taxonomy and spatial organization.

Building Blocks: Rethinking the Facade in Berlin

Eric Baldwin — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 07:30:00 +0000

Berlin is a city defined by an eclectic mix of style and a rich history. It's built environment has been dramatically shaped by a series of municipal construction programs, and in turn, a past of extensive demolition, planned residential areas, and diverse new cultural projects. Combined with influences across Europe, Berlin's contemporary architecture showcases new ideas on building concepts, forms and facades.

Leona Lynen Explains How to Fight Gentrification in ReSITE Podcast

Christele Harrouk — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 09:15:00 +0000

Design and the City is a podcast by reSITE, raising questions and proposing solutions for the city of the future. In the fourth episode entitled Fighting Gentrification, Leona Lynen, a city-maker advocating for the collaboration between civil society and administration, talks about the case of Berlin and her new co-operative project.

Campus Joachimstraße / David Chipperfield Architects

Paula Pintos — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 12:00:00 +0000

David Chipperfield Architects‘ office in Berlin is located in the district of Mitte, within walking distance of the Museum Island. The existing office premises have been expanded: four new volumes extend the five-storey brick building situated at the rear of the property, which was originally built as a piano factory in 1895. While the new, four- storey front building closes the street facade, the volumes inserted into the courtyards re-interpret the existing situation. They are suspended in ambivalence between restoring the situation from before the war damage and a new idea of a block interior: simple cubic volumes form independent structures, which can be perceived from different perspectives, while continuing the history of a typical courtyard structure and transforming it into a flowing exterior space.

Spotlight: David Chipperfield

Finn MacLeod — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 03:30:00 +0000

The career of British architect David Chipperfield's (born 18 December 1953) has spanned decades and continents as an architect, designer and professor. Since 1984, he has been at the helm of David Chipperfield Architects, an award winning firm with over 180 staff at offices in London, Berlin, Milan, and Shanghai. Chipperfield is an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects and Germany's Bund Deutscher Architekten, and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2004. In 2012, Chipperfield curated the Venice Biennale of Architecture under the theme Common Ground.

Real Takes on Real(ly Successful) Housing Experiments

PLANE—SITE — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 06:00:00 +0000

The challenges associated with the provision of adequate and affordable housing around the world demand that architects respond with original solutions that challenge traditional building forms, typologies and methods of delivery.

David Chipperfield's New Museum Island Gallery Opens in Berlin

Eric Baldwin — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 13:00:00 +0000

David Chipperfield's James-Simon-Galerie has opened on Museum Island in Berlin. The project serves as a new entrance between the Kupfergraben canal and the Neues Museum. The design was made to welcome large numbers of visitors while housing all the additional facilities needed by the museum. Featuring an iconic colonnade above a stone plinth, the project was made to express a classical piano nobile.

Amorepacific Headquarters / David Chipperfield Architects

Andreas Luco — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 06:00:00 +0000

Creating a building with a distinct identity was the primary aim for the project. This decision was underlined by the need to mediate between two distinctly different urban conditions: Whilst the historic neighbourhood features a small- scale architectural hierarchy with an inherent urban quality, the masterplan is clearly inspired by visions of the early modern movement, where solitary buildings define urbanity by forming a city of objects.

Museum Tonofenfabrik Lahr / Heneghan Peng Architects

Rayen Sagredo — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 03:00:00 +0000

The former Tonofenfabrik (Clay Oven Factory) is situated in the historic centre of Lahr in Germany, close to the remains of the medieval castle ‘Storchenturm’ and the medieval town wall. In danger of complete deterioration, the listed building has been reinvented as a City Museum utilizing this strategic urban location to create a destination for tourists and residents alike involving them with the history and heritage of Lahr in a way the old museum in the city’s park was never able to. The old industrial brick building was not only transformed into a modern museum, but the somewhat incomplete ‘L’ shaped volume has been completed by a new stair tower forming a coherent ensemble of old and new.

23 Examples of Impressive Museum Architecture

Becky Quintal — Thu, 18 May 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Designing a museum is always an exciting architectural challenge. Museums often come with their own unique needs and constraints--from the art museum that needs specialist spaces for preserving works, to the huge collection that requires extensive archive space, and even the respected institution whose existing heritage building presents a challenge for any new extension. In honor of International Museum Day, we’ve selected 23 stand-out museums from our database, with each ArchDaily editor explaining what makes these buildings some of the best examples of museum architecture out there.

Museum of Modern Literature / David Chipperfield Architects

Cristobal Rojas — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 03:00:00 +0000

The Museum of Modern Literature is located in Marbach, on a rock plateau overlooking the Neckar River valley. As the birthplace of Friedrich Schiller, the town’s park already held the Schiller-National Museum, built in 1903, and the Archive for German Literature, built in the 1970s. Displaying artefacts from the extensive Twentieth Century collection from the Archive for German Literature, notably the original manuscripts of Franz Kafka’s ‘The Trial’ and Alfred Döblin’s ‘Berlin Alexanderplatz’, the new museum also provides panoramic views across the landscape.

Coop Housing at River Spreefeld / Carpaneto Architekten + Fatkoehl Architekten + BARarchitekten

Daniel Sánchez — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

The Coop Housing is a jointly developed and administered project building upon experience gained from many previous self-made projects.

AD Interviews: European Architects on the Mies van der Rohe Award

Katie Watkins — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award is one of the most important and prestigious prizes for architecture within Europe. First established in 1987, the prize is awarded every two years, and a look at the projects over the years offers unique insight into the development of architecture across Europe. To better understand the significance and uniqueness of the award we spoke with two previous award winners – Kjetil Trædal Thorsen and Craig Dykers from Snøhetta and Dominique Perrault from Dominique Perrault Architecture – as well as Peter Cachola Schmal, an architect, critic and the director of DAM, the German Architecture Musuem, and Josep Lluís Mateo of Mateo Arquitectura and a professor of Architecture and Projects at ETH-Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule/ Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.