Anderhalten Architekten 24 Hours

Exhibition

On exhibition is an installation of three films about the recently completed buildings for the Institute at the Technical University of Applied Sciences in Wildau, the Diesel Power Station Art Museum in Cottbus, and the Institute for Industrial Design at Burg Giebichenstein in Halle. For the films, a fixed camera documented the cycle of use within a day, replayed in fast motion. By focusing on how architecture is used, Anderhalten foregoes not only typical pictorial and graphic documentation. The accentuated extension to the building fabric, resulting new spatial relationships and the characteristic use of (in part) unconventional materials are taken for granted as self-evident. By presenting the project as the stage for various sequences of action, their suitability for daily life, above all, is tested. The routes the users take and their actions repeatedly direct the viewer’s attention to new aspects and open changing perspectives. At the same time, the film presentation focuses on the changing perception of architecture. Dependent on its use, the time of day, weather, etc. the spaces and locations seemingly change scale and character.

“24 Hours” refers not only to the cycle of time within architecture and its permanent presence, in which it is the primary and secondary setting. It also refers to the complex work of architects devoting 24 hours a day to completing a work, and whose parts are assembled like individual hours into a whole and complete day.

Anderhalten Architekten are known primarily for construction within existing buildings and have completed the following projects: Academy of Sciences, Berlin (2003); Hanns Eisler Academy of Music, Berlin (2005); in addition to the University of Art and Design, Halle, the Technical University of Applied Sciences, Wildau, and the Diesel Power Station Art Museum, Cottbus (all 2007), which are the focus of the exhibition. The extension to the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in Berlin, as well as the Johann-Joseph-Fux Conservatory in Graz, will all be completed this year. Claus Anderhalten is professor of environmentally conscious planning and experimental building at the University of Kassel since 2008.