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Logo of the Berlinischen Galerie

Competition archive
of the Berlin Senate
for Building

Constructed and non-realised architectural designs for Berlin from 1945 to the present day.
The archives of the Senate Offices for Urban Development are transferred from the Senate Offices for Building and Housing 1992 and the Senate Offices for Urban Development, the Protection of the Environment and Technology 1999.

Photography by Sauerbruch Hutton Architects, colorprint, 42 x 60 cm
© Berlinische Galerie, 2011, Foto: Ralph Hinterkeuser

The photograph shows two apparently identical glass buildings with undulating façades on the left and right. Between them a space with concrete paving. The glazing in unfussy frames is hung inside with monochrome slat blinds – shades of green to the left, various colours to the right.

The archives of the Senate Offices for Urban Development documents the public building competitions of the former Senate Offices for Building and Housing and the former Senate Offices for Urban Development, the Protection of the Environment and Technology.

In 1992, the Architecture Collection took over the inventory of the former Senate Offices for Building and Housing. Comprising more than 1,300 architectural models, around 150,000 plans and drawings, and the written archives pertaining to them, this collection is an almost complete documentation of urban competitions in West-Berlin since 1948. It includes such important competitions as the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek (American Memorial Library, 1951), the Berlin-Pavilion (1956), the Jewish School (1991) and the Jewish Museum (1992).

The archive of the Senate Offices for Urban Development, the Protection of the Environment and Technology entered the collection in 1999. The documents date back to the 1970s. The Architecture Collection has been able to take over 160 models of the capital city competition for the Spreebogen in 1993, the first to be internationally launched after reunification. In addition to works from all over Europe, proposals from China, Japan, Australia, USA, Turkey and India are also represented. Further important competitions in the collection include those for the Spreeinsel (1994) and the Kulturforum (1998).

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