This is Modern

Exhibition

06/08/2014 – 08/01/2014

Palazzo Ca‘Tron am Canal Grande, Santa Croce 1957, 30135 Venice, Italy

 

With This Is modern, the German Werkbund Berlin presents the status of contemporary architecture in Germany: 22 renowned architecture firms show their designs for a German exhibition pavilion on the Biennale site in the Giardini in Venice. The existing pavilion, built in 1909 and modified in 1938, was hypothetically stated as needing renewal, reopening the question of a contemporary national exhibition building for the whole world to see.

The fact that the Werkbund is questioning its status specifically in the year 2014 and in the context of this year’s Architecture Biennale— which is concerned with the Fundamentals of architecture and with 100 years of Absorbing Modernity— is of course linked to the emblematic event of the Werkbund exhibition of 1914 in Cologne. 100 years after this first large-scale exhibition, the German Werkbund Berlin also addresses the question of what insights have been gained by the experience of 100 years of modernity, in the search for an appropriate approach to architectural creation.

Curators: Kai Gehrmann, Paul Kahlfeldt, Claudia Kromrei, Dieter Nägelke

 
05/23/2014 – 06/27/2014

Architekturpreis Berlin e.V., KutscherHaus, Kurfürstendamm 50a, 10707 Berlin

The architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners are leading stadium builders worldwide. They were significantly involved in the building of three new stadia for the soccer world championship 2014. The restructuring and renovation of two legendary arenas and a completely new stadium will be presented in this exhibition.

The concentration on the essential served as the basis for planning the three stadia—the Brasília national stadium, the Arena Amazônia in Manaus, and the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte. This meant a highly efficient interaction of architecture and construction. Integrated in a dialogue with the cultural background of the country and the identities of the places, all three stadia can be seen as exemplary architectures.

Large images of the well-known architectural photographer Marcus Bredt will be shown; models, plans, and texts elaborate the projects.

All three stadia are presented in the publication 3+1 Stadia for Brazil. Belo Horizonte – Manaus – Brasília – Rio de Janeiro.

 
03/19/2014, 7:00 pm

AEDES on Pfefferberg, Christinenstraße 18, 10119 Berlin

Can architects and planners renegotiate the ”urban commons”—shared spaces and shared resources? Can temporary actions or urban interventions in public space serve as the basis for another kind of planning? Which civil economy follows from such an urbanism of small acts?

Makeshift implies a temporary or expedient substitute for something else, something missing. Make-Shift City extends the term to embrace urban design strategies. “Make-Shift City” implies a condition of insecurity: the inconstant, the imperfect, and the indeterminate. It also implies the designing act of shifting or reinterpretation as a form of urban détournement. Austerity urbanism and the increasing scarcity of resources among the cities and boroughs of Europe in particular has far-reaching consequences for civic space. Where there is a lack of regular planning processes, gaps arise as open spaces that enable an ad-hoc informal urban design. What often results is a process of urban commoning: the renegotiation of shared spaces and shared resources. This urbanism of small acts is an emancipatory practice; a re-imagining of the city space and its potentialities.

Lectures and discussion:

Regula Lüscher, State Senate Department Director of Berlin

Leonie Baumann, director, Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee

Indy Johar, architect and political scientist, founder of 00:/

Markus Bader, architect, raumlabor Berlin

Moderation:

Francesca Ferguson, editor, curator for architecture and urban planning, Urban Drift Projects