New Museum honoured with the BDA Prize Berlin 2009
Press release from 10/12/2009
On 9 October 2009, the BDA (Association of German Architects) Berlin Regional Association awarded the BDA Prize Berlin 2009 to the architectural firm David Chipperfield Architects and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation as the client for the reconstruction of the Neues Museum on Museum Island Berlin.
Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, says: "We are delighted that the architectural achievement has been honoured in this way shortly before the opening of the Neues Museum."
The jury's report states, among other things, that the architectural approach "succeeded in an outstanding way in creating a spatial atmosphere that is appropriate to the location and the task, as it makes the fourth dimension, time, tangible in addition to its spatial qualities." It also states: "On the one hand, the reconstruction of the Neues Museum symbolises the essential character of the city through cultural buildings and places that are the collective memory of the capital. On the other hand, it is a convincing contribution to a path beyond pure reconstruction. For the attempt to make history visible by repeating the historical form as if nothing had happened would be ahistorical."
The BDA-PREIS BERLIN is awarded every three years for exemplary, special architectural achievements and also recognises the successful collaboration between architect and client. This year, the BDA Landesverband Berlin awarded a total of five prizes and three honours. Among the sixteen honourable mentions was the second building of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the Bode Museum, which was reopened in 2006.