DER GROSSE SPRECHSAAL Institute | Extension

Potsdam, Inner City

Winter 2022/23

This project has a very important political background. The Garnisonkirche in Potsdam was heavily destroyed during WWII and finally demolished in 1968. Shortly after that, the Rechenzentrum was constructed on the old foundations. It was used as a data processing center. Since 2015, the building is being reused as a studio complex for artists and small shops or prdouctions with relatively cheap rents. In 2017 the reconstruction of the old Garnisonkirche began, resulting in an inevitable dispute between the reconstructionists and the artists in the Rechenzentrum.

We had to design our building into this context so that it not only fits in but also take a stance in the whole situation. I was immediately on the Rechenzentrum side of the argument, so my designed heavily focused on giving more (common) space to the artists who have many people on their waiting list for ateliers. So the new building sits right behind the church and next to the Rechenzentrum, thus denying the whole reconstruction and creating a lot more space. It also creates a path, which also pierces through the church so that it connects to the street. The gaps between the 3 buildings also act as symbolic axis to mirror architectural elements.

BÄCKEREI ARBEITEN ARBEITEN SPRECHEN SPRECHEN SPRECHEN

RECHNENRECHNENRECHNENRECHNENRECHNENRECHNENRECHNEN UNFÖRMLICH BRÜCKEN ÖFFENTLICH

Another concept of this building is that it gradually converts from using baroque elements from the church to being much more geometric and rectangular. The two storey high baroque ground floor is used as exhibition space and also creates and frames an entrance to the patio of the Rechenzentrum.

The ground floor, first floor and second floor pick up the topic of a „Sprechsaal“ and interpret it as space where people can eat, drink and talk together. It is also convenient to start a conversation while waiting for food or while having a drink since the surrounding context is much less formal. A big open atrium like space connects all the stories which are used as „Sprechsaal“.

In contrast to the exisiting building with its concrete construction and weak insulation, the design is cosntructed mostly with cross laminated timber elements which are also visible to give a warm atmosphere. The floor is covered with linoleum, as an easy to clean and sustainable material.. The walls are mostly covered with clay plaster.

The facade is covered in aluminum shingles to give it a technical yet clean look. The windows are either additively attached to the outside of the facade to strengthen the form, or flush with the inside of the walls and framed with aluminum to underline the subtractive process of poche.

Exhibition Design for HPP Changing Context

Summer 2022

Introduction

HPP will be 90 years old in 2023 and would like to celebrate by creating a traveling exhibition about the transformation of the office since its founding. The task was to develop a concept that was as mobile and space-saving as possible, and that could at best be transported around germany in a van. the first idea was to fill a van with as much space as possible, which logically resulted in a lot of simple walls, which of course was undercomplex for a good exhibition. in order to develop a more interesting and varied concept, i orientated myself on the original variation kirigami. here, simple surfaces, mostly paper, are cut in such a way that they represent three-dimensional sculptures, which was very suitable for this task. several variations then emerged from this, of which four were selected as possible object carriers. From the whole course, this concept was also chosen in the end to be realized later.

The Objects are supposed toi be built from reused OSB sheets from HPP sites, since the task also demanded the use of waste materials. OSB has a noisy yet calm pattern and when sanded it has a quality feel without losing the clear reference to the site. Exhibits can be presented via multiple media. Obviusly simple plans can be hung on the objects or models can be put on top of horizontal elements. Another possibilty is to use a close field projector for animations or one can even print something right on the OSB sheet.

Construction Detail

Context As Device

Studio Experimental Design

Summer 2022

In this course we focused on fragmentation. First, we reconstructed buildings from Interbau 57 and IBA 87 which both happened in Berlin and tackled very contrasting problems. On the one hand to solve social housing in almost islated contexts, on the other hand to fill inner city gaps. Then we read and extracted the architectural languages from the buildings via fragments. The Piere Vago building for example is very rectangular and gridded yet becomes organic in the social areas such as entrys and the roof terrace.

The OMA building has a very influential detail for this project. The ground floor was used during the cold war by allied forces to turn around their vehicles such as tanks and so on. On top of that ground floor hall, there is a generous platform for inhabitants on the backside of the building, where children can play. So children play right above the tanks without ever having to see them.

After the reconstruction we merged the fragments to develop a new architectural language and design a diorama building. I tried to focus and exaggerate the contrast in the OMA building between the happy life the families could have right on top of tanks and other war machinery.

This heavily influenced not only the building but also the landscape. Since we were free to build whatever context we could imagine to sell our story, I used a coast with bunkers, tanks and tank traps to convey a feeling of a danger that could arrive at any time over the sea. At the same time, inhabitants could vry easily escape at any time into nature on top of the cliff via bridges.

The materials I are a mix of referenced materials from the original buildings and stylized materials such as terrazzo which convey a hard but rich feeling.

Merged Fragments