Berlin's City Palace
July 8, 2009
After nearly 20 years of debate over the construction of the City Palace, the German government launched an architecture competition in 2007 to find a suitable design. The jury deliberated for a year before revealing the winning design, penned by the little-known Italian architect Francesco Stella.
Winning architect accused of being ineligible
Only Stella's design adhered to the "stringent demands we made with this competition," said Wolfgang Tiefensee, Germany's minister for transport and urban development. Particular praise was awarded to the inclusion of a spacious interior courtyard and the building's seamless integration into the capital's distinctive skyline.
But the realization of Stella's vision for the City Palace may be in jeopardy. Earlier this week, the Berlin architect Hans Kollhoff lodged a formal protest with the German Federal Office for Building and Planning, claiming that Stella "did not fulfill all the requirements necessary to participate in the competition."
Kolhoff had been a contender himself, but only managed to secure a joint third place together with three other design studios.
The accusations arise from claims that, between 2004 and 2006, Stella did not earn the required minimum salary of 300,000 euros ($419,000) and did not employ three full-time employees in his studio, as stipulated in the contest rules. The Italian architect denies these allegations.
This is no doubt an embarrassing revelation for the German government, which failed to check the eligibility of the competition's participants beforehand. After initially expressing public doubt, Hermann Parzinger, president of the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage, stepped forward and threw his support behind Stella. "Franco Stella understands the needs of the building's future users very well," he said.
Plans for the interior revealed
After long debate over the future use of Berlin's Spreeinsel and much deliberation over the exterior plans, attention can finally be turned to the Palace's interior spaces. It is planned that the City Palace facade will house the Humboldt Forum, envisaged as a center for culture, art, and science. The "future users" of the building are slated to be the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage, the Humboldt University, and the Berlin Regional Library.
Representatives of the three organizations told reporters Wednesday in Berlin that the Humboldt Forum would offer nothing less than "a new view of the world."
Wednesday evening, German Presdient Horst Koehler revealed plans of how the interior could look, opening a preliminary exhibition which runs through Jan. 17, 2010. Topics like migration, exchange and power are addressed with exhibits that feature everything from African masks to microscopes.
Parzinger described the concept as one of "mobility" and experimentation, reported the Berliner Morgenpost. These principles apparently leave room for changes to the Forum's contents at any time - an approach that corresponds well to the path the City Palace project has taken thus far.
A never-ending project?
The plot of land on which the East German parliament once stood has been the subject of intense debate for more than two decades. After having been found to be contaminated by asbestos, the announcement of the building's closure just prior to German reunification in 1990 raised a number of questions that would occupy the minds of Berliners for many years.
Should the building be restored or demolished? What would take its place and what form would the replacement take? Although these questions have been answered, new ones have already been risen.
Even after the clouds over Stella's eligibility have cleared, there promises to be further debate in the future over how the vision for the Humboldt Forum can best be implemented. For how long this question will occupy the city of Berlin is anyone's guess.
Author: Andrew Shale
Editor: Kate Bowen