10th Berlin Biennale – “We Don’t Need Another Hero” at Akademie der Künste
For the 10th Berlin Biennale, the exhibition architecture was developed for two of the venues, the Akademie der Künste and KW Institute for contemporary Art, responding distinctively to the existing spaces.
In the case of the Akademie der Künste, completed in 1960 under Werner Düttmann, the intention was to revive the qualities of the exhibition spaces, which over the years in use have faded into obscurity.
On the upper floor there are three exhibition rooms that surround an inner courtyard and thus could be naturally lit if they had not been covered. The largest exhibition room was conceived with a shed roof, which could not be perceived in its full height because the windows had been darkened.
The building, in this way somewhat under-performing for many years, were enhanced by revealing the openings and emphasizing the former qualities by inserting a drywall in the main space. This unfolding cross section creates ruptures with the existing structure emphasizing the joists and the shape of the shed roof.
