Berlin’s Aedes Architecture Forum is one of the most well-known centers for architecture and architectural culture in the world. Founded in 1980 by Kristin Feireiss und Helga Retzer, Aedes has since put on 500 important exhibitions on current themes, featuring many of the world’s most eminent architects. After Helga Retzer’s unexpected death in 1984, Aedes has been run by Feireiss, together with Hans-Jürgen Commerell and a large, committed team of collaborators.
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Flores Residence, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, USA 1979. Image Courtesy of Thom Mayne
Running from 11 September till 15 November 2020, "Thom Mayne: Sculptural Drawings" is the latest architectural exhibition at Tchoban Foundation Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin. Curated by Kristin Feireiss, together with Esenija Bannan, the project questions the nature of architectural drawing and how it influenced the work of Thom Mayne, founder of Morphosis. The exhibition features Mayne’s works dating from 1979 through 2020 and leads visitors from “traditional” drawings and new experimentations with techniques, through to 3D paintings.
During the peak of Postmodernism, and the uprising of notions such as urban renewal and public participation, Aedes Architecture Forum, the first private architecture gallery in the world, opened in 1980 in Berlin. Founded by Journalist Kristin Feireiss and Helga Retzer, both neither architects nor regularly engaged with architecture at that time, Aedes aspired to encourage an international dialogue around the subjects of urban environment, space, and society.
Shortly after its inception, the center became an integral part of the contemporary international architectural scene, carrying out debates, seeking fresh ideas, showcasing the avant-garde, and highlighting young talents. Providing architects with a compelling space to present their architectural and urban ideas, Aedes hosted exhibitions for Zaha Hadid, Venturi Scott Brown, Cedric Price, John Hejduk, OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), Peter and Alison Smithson, and Bernard Tschumi to name a few.
Álvaro Siza was born in 1933, on the same year that the Bauhaus closed its doors. He is perhaps the last living modernist or, at the very least, the most significant voice to carry out the unfinished modernist project all the way into the 21st century. 'Siza – Unseen & Unknown' showcases this continuity through 100 sketches, as well as its contradictions. These drawings are from his most personal archive, in addition to small collections of close friends and family. Hence, they focus not only on the professional legacy but also on the familial one, where Maria Antónia Siza (1940–1973)
Thomas J. Pritzker has announced that the Pritzker Architecture Prize has added two deserving jurors to their esteemed panel, stating: “We are delighted to welcome to the jury two individuals of great insight - Kristin Feireiss and Ratan N. Tata. [...] From different countries and backgrounds, they share a commitment to the art of architecture and its social responsibility. Each will be a tremendous asset to the Pritzker Architecture Prize.”