Anti-monument Humbolt university in Berlin

Technical University of Berlin (TUB), Faculty VI Planning – Building – Environment, Berlin, Germany

Project idea

The architectural studio "Anti-monument" was part of the master's program at TU Berlin during the winter semester of 2023/24. The project involved identifying unused buildings within Berlin, analyzing their current condition, and to propose solutions for their preservation.

The considered building belongs to Humboldt University and was built in 1981 in the GDR as a section building for physics and electronics. The structure of the six-story building is a reinforced concrete frame in the “SK Berlin 1972 construction system”. It has a frame bearing structure with the column grid with only a few reinforcing walls. Facades are made of prefabricated exposed concrete parts with sandstone cladding. The renovation of the aging prefabricated building is required due to the outdated building materials, building technology, pollution (artificial mineral fibers and asbestos) and inadequate fire protection.

Project description

It was decided to keep the existing structure and replace the facade.
The surrounding of our building has very strong architecture. We prioritized simplicity in the facade design with some details as external staircase on the façade. The façade system represents a double wall system without an insulation, the material of façade panels is recycled polycarbonate.

Our design aimed to introduce flexibility and openness to the interior spaces, departing from the rigid layout of the original university.
One of our special details of the design is gyroid, a minimal surface in created an open space. We demolished some floors to create the open space and the shell as some kind of a metaphor of knowledge digitalization and spreading knowledge in internet era.

Technical information

In our project we did two types of CO2 calculations, first one was to evaluate the existing structure, how much we keep if we use the existing structure. We considered all main structural elements as underground walls and foundation, core walls, columns, beams, staircases. The heaviest part of the building is slabs, what was not unexpected, because the result directly depends on the volume of material.
Our second type of CO2 calculations was to evaluate CO2 emissions from new façade and to evaluate three different materials as polycarbonate, glaze and acrylic and to choose the best one.

Documentation

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