Neue Nationalgalerie refurbishment

 

The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is an icon of twentieth-century architecture. Planned and built from 1963 to 1968, the steel and glass structure is the only building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Europe after his emigration to the USA.

 

After almost fifty years of intensive use, the listed building required a comprehensive refurbishment. The existing fabric has been refstored and upgraded to current technical standards with a minimum of visual compromise to the building’s original appearance. 

 

Today is awaits new directorship under the auspices of Klaus Biesenbach, who formerly directed Künstl Werke in August Strasse, Berlin. It necessitates a curatorial approach to embrace the vanishing divide of the city and much like the building itself, restore architecture as an art that can be narratively understood. It requires the appeasement between the institution that houses the architect and the trades they use for construction; to display a skill worthy to make architecture more than a visual delight, but a mindset that can challenge the crisis of our collective imagination; to set the path straight.