Exhibition: Peter Behrens in Berlin and Brandenburg

The craft of researching, analysing the material found, documenting, taking stock and presenting what has been researched, learnt using the example of Behrens buildings, provides students with a tool that enables them to take a position in the debate about our existing buildings and to substantiate this position. A debate that is becoming increasingly important in view of the need to rethink all building processes.

The aim of the project is to develop methods for seeing, visualising, understanding and learning and to convey their own attitudes to the respective projects on the basis of the visualisation methods. Through critical analysis, students learn to choose their focus and to reveal more about the buildings in the various disciplines than we can learn from purely technical drawings.

The research on Peter Behrens' work that Prof. Dr Silvia Malcovati and Prof. em. Hartmut Frank have already carried out in the past forms the basis and is the starting point for a focussed look at the buildings in our region of Berlin and Brandenburg. For years, students in Hamburg have been making models, which have now moved to Potsdam. The aim was to supplement and edit this collection with plans, renderings, photographs and other models based on the results of the course.

By exhibiting the projects with the different methods of architectural representation, we hope to bring the appreciation of Peter Behrens' diverse work from memory into the present in order to utilise it for the future.

Thanks to the co-operation and support of the DIEAG group of companies, it was possible to carry this view from the past into the future. The project was enriched with historical material about the Peter Behrens building in Oberschöneweide and extended to include the BE-U development project for the Behrens-Ufer. The retrospective of Behrens' work in Berlin and Brandenburg can thus also be viewed from the perspective of the future, in which the challenge is to build a new, inclusive and sustainable neighbourhood with the transformation of the Behrens-Ufer that is rooted in the tradition of the site.

The exhibition in the breathtaking light hall of the Peter Behrens Building presents not only the teaching and research project of the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences, but also designs and scenarios for the future development of the area by renowned architectural firms that are shaping the future around the Behrens Building.

Participants:

• Initiators: Prof. Dr Silvia Malcovati, Prof. Bernd Bess & Prof. Hartmut Frank
• Scientific coordination: Emilia Machleid, Ivonne Frey & Phoebe Vogler, Helene Schön
• Teaching staff: Jens Weßel, Roberto Zitelli, Michael Fenske, Jan Niklas Schmeing
• Architecture photographers: Maximilian Meisese
• Students: Andreas Aisenbrey, Maxim Blacher, Olga Born, Julia Boger, Gideon Bramwells, Daniel Chudicek, Leonie Ettmüller, Monika Elendt, Tabea Gregor, Silvia Grossinger, Daniel Günther, Peer Günther, Jakob Hafke, Luisa Haselbach, Tobias Hofmann, Fiona Holm, Menso Karpf, Raphael Kasinske, Woochul Kim, Paul Krüger, Martin Lange, Chloé Le Mézo, Jan Matthaeus Mahler, Simon Marchese, Stephanie Marmillot, David Möller, Janaina Marquart, Phuong Binh Nguyen, Elmar Nitzborn, Jean Noukon, Luna Poppenhagen, Chantal Reichl, Alexander Reznik, Julia Richter, Julia Riedel, Leon Roloff, Sanjar Sabitov, Leif Schmidt, Helene Schön, Lena Sillinger, Reto Schaffarczyk, Lajana Tiedke, Nina Tiemann, Linda Tran, Nicolas Von Dühren, David Weber, Winona Witte, Luca Wloch, Maximilian Woharek