Description

The Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg is a foundation responsible for the upkeep of the palaces, gardens and heritage sites in the former region of Prussia in North Germany. The foundation’s new research and restoration facilities, the Wissenschafts- und Restaurierungszentrum (WRZ), is a workshop for the restoration of paintings, frames, textiles and paper, and also houses a graphic collection and the porcelain archives of the Königlich-Preußische Porzellanmanufaktur (KPM). The entrance building and canteen are housed in “Zum Alten Fritz”, which was originally a large public house on Köhlerplatz and more recently the front entrance of the Hans Otto Theater. Behind the pillars of the portico, the former theatre lobby complete with ticket counters has been carefully restored. Beyond it, the first of several courtyards leads on to the remainder of the new complex.

North of the former theatre, five new buildings have been erected to house the workshops, studios and a library. The WRZ consolidates the foundation’s array of previously disparate collections and workshops in one complex. The sharply contoured volumes are freestanding buildings, but their beige-coloured tiles and flat sloping roofs take their cues from the nearby historic buildings.

After the Second World War and the destruction of the Stadttheater, the Hans Otto Theater moved to the former public house “Zum Alten Fritz” until it was deemed unsafe for use in the 1990s. Alongside the reception and offices, the building houses the documentation and information centre in the former theatre hall into which a new spiral staircase has been inserted. The doors to the courtyards beyond are clad with perforated sheet metal panels that provide shade. Between each pair of buildings is a courtyard, with the south-facing walls solid and the north-facing façades open. The new buildings represent a new temporal layer within the historical surroundings and simultaneously transform the garden and urban constellation.

Walking through the gradually widening courtyard between the separate wings of the complex, one begins to sense what the cross-sections confirm, namely that the ridge heights of each building successively decreases to the north, mediating between the urban environment to the south and Sanssouci Park to the north. Newly planted trees in the garden complex create a buffer to the avenue of trees at the Grünen Gitter in front of the park. The arrangement of the buildings is derived from the site’s former use as a cultivation ground for the park. Historical plans show parallel rows of east-west oriented greenhouses, and in the 19th century the area was known colloquially as the “pineapple quarter” due to the tropical fruits that were housed in them over the winter months.

The restoration workshops reinforce this association with the orangeries of the past: as in the other wings of the building, their north-facing openings are almost fully glazed, with only isolated window openings in the south façade allowing bright light to shine in. The large windows, which extend over two floors, provide the row of individual workshops with ideal conditions for restoring items such as picture frames or furniture. The workshop façades are a post-and-beam construction with a 1.20 m grid and open onto the garden. Elsewhere particular views are framed by windows with deep internal reveals. The plain brick surfaces of the new ensemble, some of which have been laid in ornamental patterns, will be partially planted with climbing plants to reduce their brightness when seen from the park. Through their unpretentious design, Staab Architekten have drawn inspiration from the location and in the process have revived the charm of the “pineapple quarter”.

Originally published in Bauwelt 18.2017, pp. 20-29, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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