Zeitschrift
archithese 5.2009
Rekonstruktion & Adapation
Several generations of architects have worked on the Dome-Römerberg part of Frankfurt am Main. Currently the traces of the 1970s, the Technisches Rathaus and the Historisches Museum, are to be eliminated for the sake of a small-scale ensemble that simulates the Middle Age craftsman’s city.
Reconstruction or new construction – this debate was already conducted thirty years ago – and finally led to the construction of the Römerberg East Row finished in 1986. In 1978 the city council had decided against a planned contemporary solution, meanwhile once again encouraging architects in the 1980 Dome-Römerberg competition – out of which the Schirn Cultural Complex arose – to work out alternatives to pseudo-historical reconstruction. The proposal by Adolf Natalini and Superstudio, which would have rendered superimposed layers of time readable, was unrivalled. The Florence office made a theme out of the rigid grid of the underground garage, which filled up the site in the interim, as well as the historic structure of the Old Town lanes. The proposal was „one of the most beautiful architectural poems brought forth by recent architectural history“, as judged by Oswald Mathias Ungers at the time. Nonetheless, in the end a historical, photograph-based image won out, classified with the warning by the State Historical Monuments Commissioner Gottfried Kiesow as a „document of the times for the 8th decade of the 20th century“. Nonetheless, one must concede that most of the tourists who drink their apple cider in front of the sunlit East Row hardly notice any difference between the original and the falsification. And the people of Frankfurt join the tourists, as well.
Today a reconstruction exaltation is on the rampage in Germany – whether in the inner cities of Frankfurt or Dresden, whether in Berlin, Braunschweig, Hanover or Potsdam. Here the castles, which once so strongly affected the cityscape, are planned to be reconstructed as backdrop façades containing new functions. The desire for the renewed resurrection of destroyed buildings has long since spread to milestones of the Classical Modern, as proven by the debate surrounding Walter Gropius’s master building in Dessau.
Meanwhile, whoever has visited the newly reconstructed Barcelona Pavilion by Mies van der Rohe or the L’Esprit Nouveau Pavilion by Le Corbusier in Bologna may not be able to categorically reject reconstructed buildings.
The authors varyingly focus upon a spectrum that stretches between reconstruction and adaptation. Buildings are also discussed that show how traditional architectural elements can be quoted – such as the examples by the historicist Carl Schäfer, the contemporary settlements by the office of Krier & Kohl or the Gothic Revival by FAT for a school of art in the Dutch city of Boxtel.
The editors
02 Editorial
Architektur Aktuell
14 Christian Kerez: Schulhaus Leutschenbach, Zürich | Hubertus Adam
22 UNStudio: MUMUTH – Haus für Musik und Musiktheater der Kunstuniversität Graz | Hannes Mayer
28 Bernard Tschumi: Neues Akropolismuseum, Athen | Roman Hollenstein
Rekonstruktion & Adaption
42 Marketing mit Moderne: Die Rekonstruktion von Bauten der Moderne | Jürgen Tietz
48 Neue Altstädte: Rekonstruktionsversuche in Dresden und Frankfurt am Main | Mathias Remmele
56 5×5 Jetztzeithäuser, Frankfurt am Main: Studie für Gegenwartsarchitektur auf dem Römerberg | Bernhard Franken
58 Geschichtsversessenheit und Geschichtsvergessenheit: Rekonstruktion als Praxis historischer Verdrängung | Sønke Gau
64 Besser Bauen als im Mittelalter: Carl Schäfer und der Historismus | Uwe Hinkfoth
70 Meilenstein der Denkmalpflege: Restaurierung des Neuen Museums in Berlin durch David Chipperfield | Jürgen Tietz
76 Zwischen Polemik und Relevanz: 25 Jahre Prinz Charles und die Architektur | Hannes Mayer
84 Neogotik in der digitalen Ära - FAT: Kunstschule SintLucas in Boxtel | Hubertus Adam
88 Fuck the zeitgeist: Traditionelle Architektur zwischen Rhein und Maas - Mit einem Interview mit Rob Krier und einem Statement von Christoph Kohl | Hubertus Adam
94 «In welchem Style sollen wir bauen?» «Stil» als Hilfsmittel einer neuen russischen Identität | Elena Kossovskaja
Rubriken
100 Wettbewerb Psychologia Balnearia: Wettbewerb für das Thermalbad in Baden | Elena Kossovskaja
110 fsai
113 Neues aus der Industrie
119 Lieferbare Hefte
120 Vorschau und Impressum
Reconstruction or new construction – this debate was already conducted thirty years ago – and finally led to the construction of the Römerberg East Row finished in 1986. In 1978 the city council had decided against a planned contemporary solution, meanwhile once again encouraging architects in the 1980 Dome-Römerberg competition – out of which the Schirn Cultural Complex arose – to work out alternatives to pseudo-historical reconstruction. The proposal by Adolf Natalini and Superstudio, which would have rendered superimposed layers of time readable, was unrivalled. The Florence office made a theme out of the rigid grid of the underground garage, which filled up the site in the interim, as well as the historic structure of the Old Town lanes. The proposal was „one of the most beautiful architectural poems brought forth by recent architectural history“, as judged by Oswald Mathias Ungers at the time. Nonetheless, in the end a historical, photograph-based image won out, classified with the warning by the State Historical Monuments Commissioner Gottfried Kiesow as a „document of the times for the 8th decade of the 20th century“. Nonetheless, one must concede that most of the tourists who drink their apple cider in front of the sunlit East Row hardly notice any difference between the original and the falsification. And the people of Frankfurt join the tourists, as well.
Today a reconstruction exaltation is on the rampage in Germany – whether in the inner cities of Frankfurt or Dresden, whether in Berlin, Braunschweig, Hanover or Potsdam. Here the castles, which once so strongly affected the cityscape, are planned to be reconstructed as backdrop façades containing new functions. The desire for the renewed resurrection of destroyed buildings has long since spread to milestones of the Classical Modern, as proven by the debate surrounding Walter Gropius’s master building in Dessau.
Meanwhile, whoever has visited the newly reconstructed Barcelona Pavilion by Mies van der Rohe or the L’Esprit Nouveau Pavilion by Le Corbusier in Bologna may not be able to categorically reject reconstructed buildings.
The authors varyingly focus upon a spectrum that stretches between reconstruction and adaptation. Buildings are also discussed that show how traditional architectural elements can be quoted – such as the examples by the historicist Carl Schäfer, the contemporary settlements by the office of Krier & Kohl or the Gothic Revival by FAT for a school of art in the Dutch city of Boxtel.
The editors
02 Editorial
Architektur Aktuell
14 Christian Kerez: Schulhaus Leutschenbach, Zürich | Hubertus Adam
22 UNStudio: MUMUTH – Haus für Musik und Musiktheater der Kunstuniversität Graz | Hannes Mayer
28 Bernard Tschumi: Neues Akropolismuseum, Athen | Roman Hollenstein
Rekonstruktion & Adaption
42 Marketing mit Moderne: Die Rekonstruktion von Bauten der Moderne | Jürgen Tietz
48 Neue Altstädte: Rekonstruktionsversuche in Dresden und Frankfurt am Main | Mathias Remmele
56 5×5 Jetztzeithäuser, Frankfurt am Main: Studie für Gegenwartsarchitektur auf dem Römerberg | Bernhard Franken
58 Geschichtsversessenheit und Geschichtsvergessenheit: Rekonstruktion als Praxis historischer Verdrängung | Sønke Gau
64 Besser Bauen als im Mittelalter: Carl Schäfer und der Historismus | Uwe Hinkfoth
70 Meilenstein der Denkmalpflege: Restaurierung des Neuen Museums in Berlin durch David Chipperfield | Jürgen Tietz
76 Zwischen Polemik und Relevanz: 25 Jahre Prinz Charles und die Architektur | Hannes Mayer
84 Neogotik in der digitalen Ära - FAT: Kunstschule SintLucas in Boxtel | Hubertus Adam
88 Fuck the zeitgeist: Traditionelle Architektur zwischen Rhein und Maas - Mit einem Interview mit Rob Krier und einem Statement von Christoph Kohl | Hubertus Adam
94 «In welchem Style sollen wir bauen?» «Stil» als Hilfsmittel einer neuen russischen Identität | Elena Kossovskaja
Rubriken
100 Wettbewerb Psychologia Balnearia: Wettbewerb für das Thermalbad in Baden | Elena Kossovskaja
110 fsai
113 Neues aus der Industrie
119 Lieferbare Hefte
120 Vorschau und Impressum
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