Lufthauch eines kalten Berges

As part of the anonymous ideas competition Initiative Schlossaneignung, the entry Lufthauch eines kalten Berges, TEAM TAU Tina Born / Enrico Niemann, 2024 was selected together with 20 others from a total of 156 entries.
The jury consisted of Hito Steyerl, Julia Grosse and Annette Maechtel.

The dome of the Berlin City Palace, like the rest of the building, was severely damaged by Allied bombs around 1945 during the Second World War.
Photos from this time show the palace dome only as a skeletal steel structure that stands out symbolically against the sky.
Based on the idea of a rupture, a deconstruction and a gap, we imagine dismantling the dome of the City Palace to such an extent that once again only its supporting structure is visible.
The reduction to the structural elements refers on the one hand to the damage caused by the war, while on the other hand creating a new location that contrasts with the rest of the building, its current façade and the overall building concept.
With the dome shell removed, air can flow between the metal struts. Urban birds and bats occupy the space undisturbed. Over time, unplanned, wild vegetation settles in and eventually the metal corrodes to such an extent that it disintegrates. People do not enter this place.
Contrary to appropriation, rather in an act of letting go and giving way, the former ‘crown of the building’ is left to those forces that naturally elude human influence.


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    Entwurfsansicht ohne Vegetation
    TEAM TAU Tina Born / Enrico Niemann, 2024

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    Entwurfsansicht Front
    TEAM TAU Tina Born / Enrico Niemann, 2024

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    Entwurfsansicht Detail
    TEAM TAU Tina Born / Enrico Niemann, 2024