The "simplicity of the single element"
Press release from 06/19/2024
Art-in-architecture competition for depots and workshops of the National Museums in Berlin decided
The winning design "Ode to Care" by Rayyane Tabet will enrich the inner courtyard of the depots and workshops of the National Museums in Berlin-Friedrichshagen. The competition was organised by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR). From 18 June to 1 July 2024, all competition entries will be presented in the Ernst-Reuter-Haus, the Berlin headquarters of the BBR.
The aim of the art-in-architecture competition was to complement the depots and workshops with a creative engagement with the site. The artist Rayyane Tabet from San Francisco convinced the jury with his design for a monumental marble sculpture and was awarded 1st prize. The 2nd prize went to the artist Karin Sander (Berlin / Zurich). The work of artist Florian Slotawa from Rosenheim made it onto the shortlist. The jury met in Berlin on 24 May 2024 under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr Georg Imdahl. The invitational competition with ten participants was organised by the BBR on behalf of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK).
The winning design "Ode to Care" is a monumental, stepped, non-accessible sculpture in the form of 115 stacked Euro pallets made of marble. It refers to the use of Euro pallets to store thousands of sculpture fragments from the Tell Halaf Museum in Berlin, which was destroyed in 1943.
The grandeur of the valuable marble contrasts attractively with the simplicity of the individual element, which is only recognised as a building block of the sculpture at second glance.
only recognisable as a building block of the sculpture at second glance, according to the jury. On the one hand, the combination of the usual working tools such as the pallets with the valuable historical cultural artefact as a reference to the location is convincing. On the other hand, the formal-aesthetic effect that can be expected between the walls in the inner courtyard and the stepped-edged sculpture is effective.
The artwork will be placed in the inner courtyard of the building, which measures around 20 by 20 metres and will be enclosed on three sides when the first construction phase is completed. The courtyard will only be closed and double in size when the second construction phase, which has not yet been scheduled, is realised.
On behalf of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and under the direction of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning, the first new section of the depots and workshops of the National Museums in Berlin is being built on the site at Fürstenwalder Damm 388 in Berlin-Friedrichshagen according to plans by AV1 Architekten GmbH, Kaiserslautern. The workshops and depots of the National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage, which are currently attached to the individual museums, will be brought together in this building in the Friedrichshagen district of Berlin.
The handover to the user is planned for 2025. This will be followed by the initial set-up. The SPK's central storage repository for the Berlin State Library, Ibero-American Institute and bpk picture agency was already put into operation at the Friedrichshagen site in 2014.
The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning is presenting all competition entries from 18 June to 1 July 2024, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., at Ernst-Reuter-Haus, Straße des 17. Juni 112, 10623 Berlin. Admission is free.
All award-winning competition entries will also be on display on the BBR's Art in Architecture website.
Information on the Art in Architecture competition Depots and Workshops of the National Museums in Berlin:
https://www.bbr.bund.de/kunst-am-bau-wettbewerb-depots
Information on the building project Depots and Workshops of the National Museums in Berlin:
https://www.bbr.bund.de/staatliche-museen-depots
Press material for download:
https://www.bbr.bund.de/presse
IMAGES FOR EDITORIAL USE
Art-in-architecture competition for the depots and workshops of the National Museums in Berlin
Image material for editorial use in connection with the competition decision for art in architecture for the depots and workshops of the National Museums in Berlin. Advertising or other uses as well as permanent archiving are excluded. The source "BBR / Rayyane Tabet" must be cited as photo credits. Download: www.bbr.bund.de/presse