"Art in architecture" for the Berlin State Library
Press release from 12/17/2009
Olaf Metzel (Munich) and Tobias Rehberger (Frankfurt am Main) have won the art-in-architecture competition for the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin's Unter den Linden building. From tomorrow, all submitted designs will be on display in the Potsdamer Straße building. On 20 November 2009, the winners of the two-phase competition for the artistic design of public areas in the Unter den Linden building were selected from 15 entries. The jury unanimously recommended the winning works of the two artists for realisation.
Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, emphasised: "I am delighted that we can set additional aesthetic accents with these artistic works in the main building of the State Library. The works by Metzel and Rehberger will perfectly complement the redesign of the building."
Tobias Rehberger proposed a total of eight abstract "clock objects" for the various reading rooms, three of which were unanimously recommended for realisation (in the music reading room, the rare book room and the reference library), a fourth also unanimously, provided it can be realised within the budget. The kinetic wall objects function both as abstract structures and as clocks. In its judgement, the jury said that Rehberger had succeeded in "creating a visual focus in the reading rooms that accompanies reading in a lively way. Formal and colourful references to Op Art, kinetic art and comparable design trends were made here in order to achieve a balance between disruption and harmony in relation to the furniture."
Olaf Metzel's "Any questions?" project is planned as a 6.8 x 5.2 x 3.4 metre sculpture made of deformed aluminium panels printed on one side, which will hang from the ceiling in the central reading room. It will create an arrangement that looks like crumpled printed paper floating freely in the large hall. "The lightness of this multi-faceted sculpture complements and contrasts with the strict order of the main reading room," said the jury.
The old Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin building on the boulevard Unter den Linden, which was built almost 100 years ago and damaged in the war, is being completely renovated according to plans by architect HG Merz and a reading room is being added to replace the one that was destroyed in the war. Throughout the building, publicly accessible areas have been defined that are suitable for artistic intervention. Once all parts of the building have been completed, the building will accommodate around 500 user workstations and over 50,000 square metres of main usable space. The central reading room is to be built by autumn 2010 and opened to the public in 2011, while the general refurbishment of the entire building is to be completed by 2013.
The 15 works submitted in the art-in-architecture competition will be shown in an exhibition for three weeks from 18 December 2009. Also on display are the works submitted in the previous competition, which was only held for an area visible from the street and in which the jury did not recommend any of the entries for realisation.
Exhibition:
Results of the "Art in Architecture" competition for the Unter den Linden building
18 - 23 December and 28 - 30 December 2009, 4 - 8 January 2010
Exhibition space of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Haus Potsdamer Straße 33
Opening hours: 12 - 5 p.m.; closed on Sundays and public holidays.
Free admission.
Opening:
Thursday, 17 December 2009, 5 p.m.
Press representatives are cordially invited.
Download images from the website of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning