© jb

Urban Living & Working

79

Transformation of a courthouse

Partner
Grüntuch Ernst Architekten & Bocci

Language
German, English

Program

The question of how to approach the revitilisation of abandoned places often comes down to programming. Who and what best suit the space and how can it be developed into an idea that offers a variety of uses for the city as a whole?

Grüntuch Ernst Architekten have joined forces with Canadian designer Omer Arbel in making the first step towards the re-programming of the judicial and prison spaces found at Kantstraße 79. The hybrid use of the courthouse is the first building block of the transformation of the site into a new location for creative communication.

“Who is that man moving slowly in the lonely building, stopping at intervals with an intent face? He is a rhetoric student forming a set of memory loci.”

— Frances A. Yates.

A former courthouse in Charlottenburg is transformed into the physical embodiment of the collective subconscious of a foreign creative entity from Canada.  A glass factory, studio, exhibition space and office are grafted onto an empty building with a rich history, in the hopes of creating a hybrid condition. Encouraging the external presence and the City of Berlin to come together in an unexpected manner.

Register: kant79(at)gruentuchernst.de

Booking [ssba]