Towering like an infinite mountain of stone, a building devoid of windows and doors is hand-drawn in the tradition of the old masters. Elsewhere, colored strips of tape address the same project, visualized as a sequence of stacked layers. In yet another image, this time presented in a more realistic style, the cityscape is framed by two men gazing out at the viewer with a grin.
It’s a daring experiment that Tchoban Voss Architekten undertake in their exhibition “Images from Berlin.” Instead of presenting their projects with the usual means, they have delegated this task to 11 visual artists. The aforementioned works stem from a confrontation by Gottfried Müller and Valery Koshlyakov with the Museum for Architectural Drawing. Meanwhile, the Living Levels are approached by the duo Vrubel & Timofeeva as an everyday urban environment. Gary Schuberth and Scott Tulay contemplate the spectacular cantilever of Hotel nhow, while Thomas W. Schaller has the Stern Center in Potsdam rise dramatically into the sky. Nikolai Makarov and Michele Alassio take on the interior of the synagogue in Münsterche Strasse, as well as the Russian Pavilion at the 2012 Architecture Biennale in Venice. Interpretations by Alexander Brodsky and Vladimir Dubossarsky complete this kaleidoscope.
At first glance, the images have seemingly nothing in common – except for their representation of architecture. While some emphasize it in the foreground, others use it as a backdrop. Some focus on the overall composition, while others hone in on fine details of the façade. Nevertheless, there is a thread that holds them together: they are representations, which are simultaneously true to the original. Another common basis is the architectural language itself, arising from Sergei Tchoban’s significant contributions to the city of Berlin over the course of 20 years.
Tchoban Voss Architekten opened their office in Berlin in 1996. Since then, Sergei Tchoban has gone on to design, plan and implement numerous new buildings, including the Cubix movie theater at Alexanderplatz, Quartier DomAquarée, Hotel nhow Berlin at Osthafen, the synagogue in Münstersche Strasse, and the Living Levels residential high-rise on the Spree River.
