humboldtforum - stadtschloss berlin by franco stella architect

berlin’s plan is to erect a fake baroque palace, a copy of the hohenzollern stadtschloss
that once stood on the site where the avenue 'unter den linden', and on the other end
the brandenburg gate is.the italian architect, franco stella, a student of aldo rossi, won
the building’s competition in december 2008. the briefing was to design and faithfully
reproducing three of the four original facades and much of the interior courtyard, leaving
only the fourth to the designer’s imagination (it will be a modern one). work on
the 'humboldtforum', as the new palace will be called, is announced to begin in 2010,
but it seems that the outcome is uncertain, because its projected cost is 0 million
and germany may simply not have the money. also, there may not be enough qualified
stonecutters in the whole of europe to do the job.


rendering of the humboldtforum- stadtschloss berlin by franco stella architect


architect vittorio lampugnani unveiling the model
photo © dpa


model of humboldtforum - stadtschloss berlin by franco stella architect


model of humboldtforum


model of humboldtforum


computer rendering


courtyard of the humboldtforum


courtyard of the humboldtforum


franco stella at the building site
photo © ddp


the 'berliner stadtschloss' in a 19th century painting

the berliner stadtschloss (berlin city palace), was a royal palace in the centre of berlin.
the palace bore features of the baroque style, and its shape, finalized by the mid
18th century, is attributed to andreas schlüter. the palace incorporated earlier parts seen
in 1688 by nicodemus tessin. it was the principal winter residence of the kings of prussia
from 1701-1918 and a museum following the fall of the german empire in 1918.
damaged during world war II, the palace was demolished in 1950 by the gdr authorities
in spite of west german protests. following the reunification of germany, it was decided
to rebuild the stadtschloss, but actually it’s hard to find a thinking berliner these days who
likes the schloss idea.